Ron Bakir
What a wonder to be Ron Bakir – well it certainly looks that way anyway! I caught him casually ambling along the beach at Surfers Paradise on the fantastic Queensland coast with the latest in jet skis burbling away in the shallows. Sailing has been a passion for Ron Bakir since he first came to Australia. A native of Lebanon, he had never even seen a real sailboat until he was a teenager and fascinated with a round-the-world challenge that was all over the news back then, he had always been keen to try his hand at sailing. When Ron Bakir came to Australia all those years ago he had a dream of learning to sail and buying a sailboat – even of crewing on a clipper round the world race but that was not to be. These days he has realized much of his sailing dreams – the Jet Ski was his transport to and from his yacht which bobbed gracefully 250 yards out on its mooring. Ron had just come back to collect some passengers when I caught his eye and he gave me a few minutes of his time to explain his fascination with the sea. “I worked so hard when I came here I didn’t even have time to vacation, much less learn to sail” he said with his inimitable smile, “but as business got better and more opportunities came my way I managed to make the time to get sailing lessons – since then I have become a proficient sailor and take my yacht up the coast to Brisbane regularly. My involvement as CEO of Homecorp Developments means that I get to travel up and down the coastline and as some of the villas we build are in remote places, I take the chance to sail up there and visit them rather than making the drive. It’s a lot slower but it gives me time to enjoy the weekend and arrive at a location fresh from a great day’s sailing rather than a Monday morning drive. It’s just a case of making my sailing hobby fit in with my busy lifestyle!” With that he looked at his watch, mentioned the tide and his waiting passenger, waved a cheery goodbye and returned to his Jet Ski. After a moment of getting steadied with his passenger, Ron Bakir was gone in a wash of surf presumably to do what he loves most – sailing the ocean waves in his 38 foot sailboat. As I turned away I wondered where he would be this time tomorrow and felt a twinge of jealousy. I was right. It must be great to be Ron Bakir…
Ron’s Resources