http://www.boatinternational.com | April 2018PHOTOGRAPHY: ROBERT HARDING; TIM WRIGHT
fleet I had one in Sydney, one in Europe and one
in America and we would do the regattas all
around the world. It was pretty exciting sailing
and good, close one-design racing,” he says. The
Kokomo team notched up many victories,
including back-to-back wins in the Farr 40
Australian Championships and the Australian
Farr 40 circuit in 2007 and 2008. After a short
break, Walker returned to race in the Farr 40
Australian Nationals in 2016 despite twice having
undergone replacement hip surgery.
As well as his love of racing Walker is also apassionate diver, a hobby which was born during his spell in the navy. “I did all
my clearance diving and instructing courses back in the navy when I was 20. From
that date on I have been a very avid diver,” he says. “It took me a few years after
that to be able to aford a nice big boat. We have a 39 metre powerboat, which we
have had for 23 years, which is really our dive boat and we have gone all over the
Pacific with it.”
It was diving that led him to his latest Kokomo – the island of Yaukuve Levu,
which had been abandoned part way through development following the coup
in Fiji in 2006. The island was initially found by a friend visiting on one of his
boats and it took more than a year for Walker to be persuaded to visit in person- “I didn’t think I needed an island in Fiji,” he says, smiling. However, once
confronted with the fantastic diving and the ability to moor a yacht, even at low
tide, Walker’s imagination began to take hold, despite his wife Sue questioning
whether they really needed to own a Pacific island.
After climbing to the top of the hill on the island to get phone signal, a deal
with the bank was made and the Kokomo Private Island project began. “I bought
the island for A$2.8 million and that was the cheapest part. From there it sort
Kokomo Private Island is
encircled by the Great
Astrolabe Reef, the fourth
largest in the worldOWNERS’ CLUB
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