Measuring the vagaries of the weather, at all times, must be an occupational habit for Warriewood solo yachtswoman Lisa Blair OAM. Her sailing exploits in some of the most isolated places on earth have seen her survive to become a multi-world record holder.
It happens to be a breezy day when we meet and have a chat, as a cold front pushes through Sydney. Then again, how cold is cold when you sail the Southern Ocean in what seems like a 15-metre toothpick!
Indeed, this adventurer only seems limited by her imagination in what she, a yacht and a mountain of preparation, can achieve.
Now 41, she looks at her life as comprising ‘sliding door’ moments, where she could go one way or another. At these times she often chooses the path less, or even never before, travelled.
She recalls one moment that altered her direction.
“I am looking to do my first around the world race and I’m thinking about (solo sailing legend) Jessica Watson, when I see an ad on tele which changes my thinking,” she says. “Its catchline: ‘Just do because the world is changed by doers’.”
It sets a course for Lisa’s life and a relentless ‘can-do’ mindset takes hold. This one sentence gives rise to eight world records (and counting), a robust climate action philosophy, a keynote speaking schedule and an international following.
But as with many high-achievers, Lisa’s childhood was peppered with trauma. While she was outgoing at home and always ‘the loud one’, she suffered extreme bullying at school and psychologically withdrew. Dyslexia and a severe overbite, requiring speech therapy and jaw realignment, made her an easy target for bullies.
She and her sister grew up about 30-minutes west of the Sunshine Coast in the bush, where there was no mains power. TV was limited.
“We are on solar power, and we pump water up from the creek. We love playing in the bush. I don’t get to see the latest Simpsons or Neighbours, or all the stuff that makes you cool.”
Following the school years, Lisa recalls her mum driving her to Southern Cross University, in Lismore. “I’ve just had five years of chaos and hell,” she says. “Difficult times. I remember thinking ‘nobody here knows me’. So, she effectively reinvents herself.
“I rock up, go in with a big smile on my face, say hi to everyone, and I become the little social butterfly. I make some great, quality friends who help me process everything. I learn to trust people again.”
One of her first jobs was on the Whitsundays. She had six-months off from study and worked in its resorts and bars. “Then I see all these sailing boats and think ‘Oh, maybe I’ll just have a crack at that’. I put my CV into one company, and I get a job for five months starting the following Monday.”
The job really piques her interest in sailing.
She worked as a hostess on two boats, one a maxi-racing yacht with 32 guests, and then a yacht known as The Blue Canoe catering for 14. A hostess looks after the guests’ needs, cooks in the galley, scrubs bilges, cleans toilets and much more.
“But I also started to understand how you puzzle through getting a boat from A-to-B across a section of water, just using sails,” she says. “The trigonometry of all that and the complexity of it … I find it really interesting. And then there’s all these other systems onboard, like electrical systems and engines. I just start shadowing the skipper.”
Eventually the sea becomes part of her. “Going to sea is like going home. It really is. It’s like the stress of land washes away. There’s such a simplicity in the ocean, especially with long form, ocean sailing.
“It starts as a voyage of self-discovery. How much can I achieve? How far can I go? Although it’s no one’s direct fault, I feel the expectation that I won’t really amount to much.”
But ‘amount to much’ she does and besides the records and the acclaim, she becomes an ambassador for a number of not-for-profits and charities, including local fundraising organisation Coastrek. She is also considered one of the most fearless people on the planet.
Moreover, her smile enchants all who come into contact with her, and she becomes a new face for climate awareness and action. SBS screens a rousing documentary about Lisa’s first Antarctica record, called Ice Maiden.
I ask the first woman, and fastest person, to circumnavigate Antarctica solo, if adventurers are allowed to be frightened?
“You can’t call yourself a true sailor if you’re not scared of sailing in the Southern Ocean,” she says. “It has claimed so many lives over the years and is the world’s most dangerous ocean. And you’re going at it alone, not with a crew of eight or 10, but solo … well you should have fear because it gives you a healthy dose of respect.”
Lisa finds some social settings a challenge: “It can be hard to have a genuine conversation. Sometimes at barbecues, I just say I’m a sailing instructor in Sydney Harbour. Attention is not something I search for. But I understand the value of a public profile to create change.”
She admits to spending time between projects seeking warmth, eating take away and watching tele. “People think I’m a high-achiever all-the-time, but I’m not,” she says. “I really enjoy just decompressing.”
Lisa still speaks with her mum every day.
“She’s a great sounding board, and a very logical thinker when there are challenges. She helps me when I get a bit overwhelmed by stuff,” Lisa says.
“My sister also stays across it. Both of them would probably wish I did something else with my life, so they wouldn’t have as many grey hairs! But I think they’re very proud of what I’ve achieved.”
Jessica (Watson) gave her some advice before she set her first Antarctica record.
“She tells me to make sure to take time to enjoy and embrace the little moments on the journey,” she recalls. “You get so caught up in delivering expectations: like writing blogs, getting the sponsors in the first place and then keeping them happy – sometimes these little moments can get lost.
“So, I sit on deck and watch every sunset. And I try to take time to sit in the middle of a storm, where the world is being torn up around me, and just embrace it.”
