Originally born a New South Welshman, Mark moved to the Whitsundays in 1998 to work on Hamilton Island. His love of sailing and being on the water stems from growing up sailing with his father and two brothers. Mark says, “we started off like most in the small dinghies, the Manly Juniors, Flying Elevens and then into the NS, the Manly Graduates and the Lasers”. We sailed on the Shoalhaven River at Nowra and battled the tides, the rocks and the sandbanks – it was great fun”

The Whitsundays are certainly a better place to sail and when Mark moved to Hamilton Island he worked in restaurants such as The Beach House, Toucan Tango and the old yacht club Tavern. Mark worked on Banjo Paterson on his days off crewing to take guests sailing to Chalkies Beach before taking the plunge into real estate in Airlie Beach.

19 years on and Mark is married with three beautiful children and runs a large real estate business in the area employing over 40 staff. “Being an avid Wednesday afternoon twilight sailor and Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island Race week entrant, I am looking forward to helping make the sailing club the best club in the area”