Beneteau Sailing Yachts

Brendan Hunt, the founder of Vicsail, has been involved in boating for most of his life. He dates his ambition to sail the world from the time his librarian mother brought home a bundle of books on sailing when he was 12 years old. Fuelled by the romance of the sea and stories of great bravery and perseverance under adversity, Brendan's dream became a reality 10 years later when he crewed on a 15 metre gaff-rigged timber ketch from Coffs Harbour to New Zealand.

Sailing was everything he'd imagined it to be from the books he had been reading.

"Two of my biggest thrills," he says, "were seeing ocean all around me for days on end and for the first time in my life, seeing the sun set in the west over water, not land."

Later that year, Brendan bought his first boat: a 7.3 metre Huon Pine cutter called "Tuvalu" and took a year off teaching and headed north, sailing single-handed along the east coast of Australia and around the Whitsunday Islands.

A year later, after returning to his home base of Geelong, Brendan bought a 9.3 metre half-tonne racing sloop called "Jabiru" and with future wife and business partner Jo, set off in 1981 on a one year Pacific cruise visiting New Caledonia, Vanuatu and the Loyalty Islands. Since then, a love of sailing has led to a Melbourne - Osaka Race, Sydney to Hobart races and lots of family cruising.

Vicsail began in 1983 as a navigation and sailing school, however, Brendan soon realised the high demand for marine brokerage.

He started with three boat listings - a friend's boat, his younger brother's and his own!

Vicsail has grown from these humble beginnings to be the largest network brokerage in Australia and now includes three offices in Victoria, one in South Australia and two in New South Wales.

Brendan understands first hand that every sailor, or potential sailor, possesses different needs and levels of expertise. He actively encourages his team at Vicsail to race and cruise whenever they can and to ask questions, so that they, like him, understand your needs and do everything that they can to locate the right boat to suit you .