Mister Basquali
Mister Basquali
We bumped into Mister Basquali recently at the Icebergs pool. He moved to the US over 20 years ago so it was fun to see him on one of his sojourns back home. Basquali is here to spend time with a good friend of his who is dying.
We had dinner with him later that week at the Bondi Golf and Diggers Club where they do an excellent curry from scratch (Thursday nights only). We had forgotten what a positive spirit he is (e.g. he agreed to having this photo taken even though he knew nothing about what we are doing here. “Yes!”).
Of course we were curious to know what his connection to Bondi is.
“I grew up in the seventies in the St George area. At high school I was often teased and bullied for being chubby. In the early 80’s Grant Kenny the Ironman exploded onto the scene and I watched him in person compete in The Australian Surf Life Saving Championships at Wanda Beach. He had a body that made Adonis look like Fatty Vautin. I remember thinking to myself at the time, ‘I bet he doesn’t get teased at school.” Inspired by his physique and the countless pretty girls in bikinis that followed it, the following weekend I took the long train and bus ride from Kogarah, walked into Bondi Surf Club, and signed up to do my Bronze Medallion, thus beginning a very long love affair with the ocean and this most beautiful part of the world. I didn’t become an Ironman nor did I attract the girls but after 6 months of training I was never bullied at school again. Thanks to Bondi, I am eternally grateful.
How do you spend the first hour of your day?
“It depends where I am and the season. When I am in Sydney, it doesn’t matter what time of the year, as soon as I wake up I grab my speedos and go for a swim. Sydney offers such an overwhelming embarrassment of aquatic riches so like to mix it up. My first day here I start in Bondi then make my way down the coast to Malabar. Each day I go to a different beach. Yesterday I went to Balmoral which was also magical. I have lived in the US the past 20 years so for 7 months of the year I substitute the ocean with a lake in Upstate New York. In winter we live in Vermont on a ski mountain so I walk our dog on the slopes at dawn when the light is beautiful.
Is there one thing you’d like people to know about you?
“I like striking up conversations with strangers. You just never know where a random encounter may lead. I made a documentary in 2008 and it involved interviewing random strangers in the street on a road trip from New York to LA. In the course of doing this I had a profound realization that I am judgemental and wrong at least 50% of the time, yet for most of my life I thought I was right 90% of the time. This epiphany was brutally shocking, yet life changing and unbelievably liberating. It opened up a whole new world of possibility for me. For 40 years I never believed that marriage worked - until I met my wife in 2008, who, incidentally, was a stranger I struck up a conversation with in the street. (Ed. let’s all have that epiphany).
What motivates you?
When I am back here it’s all about the water and connecting with people who I admire and like. I am inspired by kindness and laughter.
One of my greatest joys in life is swimming from Ben Buckler to the icebergs and following it with a coffee and catch up at the Crabbe Hole. Life really doesn’t get much better than that. (And that’s something I’m definitely not wrong about). It's what I miss most about living overseas.
