AFTER returning home from his first ever Sydney to Hobart, Griffith's Duncan Pixley has reflected on his time at sea.
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"Doing an iconic event in itself is fantastic," he said.
"The team building and the sense of comradery you take away at the other end is excellent."
Pixley sailed as part of the Sailors with Disabilities crew, a long running group which works with disabled children and disadvantaged youth.
Their 16-strong team featured a blind mainsheet trimmer, dyslexic skipper and a driver who suffers from cancer. They also held positions for amputees, MS sufferers and spina bifida patients, overcoming all odds to finish 66/163.
"It's not about what you can't do, it's what you can do when you work with others to find your way around any problems," Pixley explained.
"Really it's not a bad way to take to life, everything is achievable. Don't dwell on what you can't do, make notes of it and find your way around it."
Everything is achievable. Don't dwell on what you can't do, make notes of it and find your way around it
- Duncan Pixley
The crew completed their 632 nautical mile journey aboard SWD Kayle. The Lyons 54 which boasts the monohull circumnavigation of Australia record.
Crew members trained rigorously for months before the race to retain that high reputation, in an effort to ensure smooth sailing come race day.
"You want the team to be functioning pretty well because you never know what the conditions will be like," Pixley said.
"We were just lucky on the day it was quite benign."
Despite a minor technical blip on day one, SWD completed the event with a time of three days, five hours, 53 minutes and 56 seconds.
"We didn't do badly but we had a few hopes that we might have gone a bit quicker," Pixley explained.
"But we've all got our limits on this boat, what we can and can't do. Mine was experience, having never sailed before in my life until last year."
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