Powerplay

Growing up on the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales, Wellington-Stones’s earliest memories are of attending the Windsor drag-boat races, where his dad and grandfather competed. Never far from the coast or a lake, he too became an accomplished waterman, enjoying every aspect of boating and water sports. Even so, his path first led to jobs in other industries, including the family business, before he realised that merging his passion and profession was the winning formula.

Ocean magazine: How have boats and boating featured in your life?

Scott Wellington-Stones: My first experience with boats was in a bassinet at the Windsor drag-boat races, where my father and grandfather were both avid racers. We moved to the Central Coast when I was six. My grandparents lived on Brisbane Water and they bought me my first boat – a 10-foot tinnie with a 4 hp Yamaha. From that moment, I was hooked!

My family owned a 46-foot Cresta, and nearly every weekend we’d be out with family and friends with my tinnie in tow. Lobster Beach and Pittwater were the go-to destinations. Then, when I was 12, my family moved to the Gold Coast, Queensland, and the boating lifestyle continued.