Steve Pike

SIXTEEN years ago surfer Greg Bertish had a dream while he was in hospital for open heart surgery.

He was going to help hospital patients get back on their feet. The first inkling of this plan came after he was admitted at the age of 30 with a rare tropical bacteria that was eating his heart valves. After his first gruelling open-heart surgery, the bug came back, and he became re-infected. He ended up spending almost 200 days in hospital over a six -year period.

He had a lot of time to witness how little literature there was to support patients during their operation and to help their recovery. He began to work with the Heart and Stroke Foundation and later, after another operation, he began to volunteer at the Red Cross Childrens’ Hospital.

There he saw many disadvantaged young kids in desperate situations, with very little hope, and limited tools of finding a way out of their despair.

Meanwhile, he had fully recovered. The bug was at bay. He went on to become an SA Lifesaving champion and was selected for the South African Standup Paddleboard team for the world championships. He also returned to surfing, riding bigger and bigger waves, including the scariest of South African waves, Dungeons.

There is nothing like a wall of water to make you feel insignificant and small. But like his brother Chris, who recently SUPped across the Atlantic, he believes in the power of positive thinking to overcome adversity – only he has expressed this belief in a different way.

As a keen sailor, with a lot of experience sailing the solo dinghy Optimist, or ‘Oppie’, an idea began to percolate in his mind. He began to think about the little sailboat as a metaphor.

By personifying the boat, he saw a way to help the kids, through an inspirational association. It was a story of a little boat with a big heart