JUNIORS
When juniors get going there’s no stopping them By Dylan Westoby
M
When I turned 16 my birthday present was a skipper’s course with Mike Higgs. I finished writing my final exam at school in the morning and started my skipper’s course that afternoon. I concentrated on everything he told me and passed the exam with ease, becoming a legit Cat B skipper. Shortly after that we did a trip up to Sodwana. My dad had just done up a 15’ 6” Trimcraft monohull called Lucky
Y passion for fishing started at a very young age. My first trip to sea was off Port Edward with my dad, James, and my grandfather, Tony, when I was six. I caught a nice bull dorado that day and I’ve been hooked ever since. I have had many incredible fishing days since then and can somehow remember all the finer details of just about every Clyde Westoby, Dylan Westoby and trip. My dad always tells Drew Reynolds with their morning’s haul. me that there are never two days the same on the boat; there are so many variables and we never know what we are going to get. I guess this is what makes ski-boating and fishing so intriguing. By the age of 15 I was very fortunate to have a very large collection of trophy fish pictures on my iPhone and lots of very fond memories. I have always dreamt of one day being able to skipper a boat myself, land a big fish and share the “stoke” with some mates. Fortunately I didn’t have to wait too long.
Strike and fitted her with a 70hp Suzuki 4-stroke. It’s the ideal little boat for backline fishing and easy to handle on the beach. Unfortunately we were greeted with big surf and not the most ideal conditions for me to “cut my teeth” on, so Dad decided to take the wheel on this occasion. Although I felt confident enough to take the wheel, I realise that one must always respect the sea and not be foolish. We had an amazing trip and caught loads of fish. A few weeks later we headed for Mozambique. After a very long drive on a sandy road, we eventually arrived at our destination — a very well organised camp in a magnificent bay in southern Mozambique. Brenton Leisegang had invited us to join his family, the Reynolds and the Butchers at his camp for two weeks. The water was crystal clear, the other boats had come back with some decent couta and the waves were peeling off the point; I didn’t know SKI-BOAT March/April 2020 • 67
