On Boxing Day each year, Stephen Byron faces up to the perils and challenges of being wet and tired on a yacht racing from Sydney to Hobart, considered to be one of the most difficult yacht races in the world.
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No, the managing director of Canberra Airport does not go flying for relaxation - he turns off his phone and bonds with shipmates as the wind howls and the waves pound.
It is a welcome disconnection from the day-to-day concerns about how his new world-class terminal will fare as passenger numbers continue to drop under cuts to the federal budget.
His uncle George Snow used to own maxi yacht Brindabella and Byron has done 23 of the celebrated races. He caught the sailing bug when he joined a crew to return a yacht to Sydney after the race many years ago.
He enjoys the challenge with its element of calculated risk weighed against careful preparations.
Safety gear has been upgraded since the 1983 race was hit by a strong storm - five boats sank and six people died.
''That was pretty tough,'' Byron reflects. ''We got through before the worst of the seas but we were certainly hit by 85 knot winds, which is just unheard of.
''Whilst boats might be swamped, the idea was that, by and large, so long as you weren't washed overboard, you'd stay with the boat and things would sort themselves out and other boats would rescue the crew.
''So it was a bit of a shock getting into Hobart and finding that out [about the deaths]. Members of our crew knew some of those fellows and we expected them all to be found and it didn't turn out that way.''
The most scary times on a boat come at night when a crew member has to scale the mast to sort tangled rigging or go to the bow to change sails as waves crash over.
''It's a competitive thing where you have to manage the risk of making sure the boat gets there,'' he says. ''There are a lot of situations in sailing where it's outside the normal risk envelope and you work as a team to solve a problem and to support each other.
''For me, that's part of the exhilaration - in that sort of team it doesn't matter who you are or what other job you have in your day life; you're part of a team and you're working to support each other.''
Byron is talking amid the bustle of the stylish terminal, following this week's long-awaited confirmation that Badgerys Creek has been chosen - again - as the site for Sydney's second airport. When it is operational in a decade, the new airport could be attractive for freight operators because of its proximity to massive distribution warehouses in western Sydney.
Canberra long positioned itself as a de facto second airport for Sydney but Byron insists it was always to be seen as an overflow option. And the record shows he has always argued in favour of Badgerys Creek going ahead.
Byron and his father, Terry Snow, a successful developer, bought Canberra Airport after the Howard government decided to privatise airports around the country.
They paid $66 million and took over in May 1998, posing the obvious question - how were they going to make a return on that substantial investment?
''I think we had that same scepticism and fear ourselves, and I think the evidence was that, relative to others, we had significantly overpaid,'' Byron says.
''If you never take your eye off the ball and never relax and you're sort of always partly fearful, then it helps to manage the risk better. Certainly there have been a lot of times where there have been elements of that fear in managing the financial exposure over the years.
''But we did have a view that, fundamentally, the aviation industry would change with competition, that the Ansett-Qantas duopoly that relied on high air fares set on the same day by each other to the same level without competition, would one day be broken. I think Terry played a significant role in encouraging both Impulse Airlines and Virgin Australia to set up operations and help provide lower air fares and competition that would help change the model and one day would lead to more people travelling.''
In the early days after the sale of Canberra Airport, the retail and business park precincts did not exist. The terminal was relatively small because, in the game of political vote-buying, the safe electorate of Canberra missed out.
The new owners decided to build the retail precinct and Brindabella business park to provide a revenue base from which to leverage loans to build the new terminal. This has provoked envy and some criticism they are taking business from Civic.
The business park was formerly a paddock where a local farmer grazed sheep under a short term lease.
''The government had plans to do a business park there,'' Byron says. ''When we said we are going to do it, the farmer said, 'I've seen it all before. You let me know when you want me to bring the sheep back.'
''But we did do it and and Terry set the objective very clearly that we should do it all quickly, within five to seven years, because it would equip us with the capability to then move ahead and build a terminal.''
Back in the day, the runway was shorter and narrower, capable of handling only up to 737s. The new owners widened the runway, but US President George W. Bush's Air Force One 747 damaged the surface when it landed in 2003. Later the federal budget provided $28.5 million for runway extension and strengthening. The owners paid to lengthen the main runway to 3280 metres and to the strength needed for a 747 or A380.
''Now you can fly out of this airport to anywhere in the world that you can fly to out of Sydney, in any aircraft with a full load,'' the managing director says.
Will he be able to fully utilise the runway by hosting regular international direct flights, not just the occasional charter?
''I have absolute confidence that, over the next 12 to 24 months, we will achieve international flights,'' he says. ''I think what will happen is that once there is the first one, it will show up the extent of the market, the size of the region, the desperation to avoid going through Sydney and transferring terminals, being delayed, missing planes, being stressed, struggling with luggage, being exhausted, coming home and losing half a day of business. I think we will then see more airlines flying to more than just one destination.''
Singapore Airlines is showing most interest but the airport hopes to also attract Cathay Pacific, Etihad and Emirates.
The ACT's business community says Canberra will be well established as a hub for flights to Asia and possibly the United States many years before the proposed airport at Badgerys Creek begins operations. Adelaide, with a population of 1.2 million, has more than 30 direct international flights a week while the national capital has none, despite having a population of 350,000 with another 400,000 to 500,000 living within a two-hour drive.
''I tell you, Canberra is at least half as good as Adelaide - from a tourism point of view, from a regional point of view, from a size point of view. We are more than half as good as Adelaide,'' Byron says emphatically.
Tony Abbott wants the Badgerys Creek airport to be curfew free, and Canberra Airport's curfew-free status is set to stay, a factor in attracting international flights.
''It's important because it is highly likely that some of these international flights might be at odd hours of the night,'' Byron says.
In relatively recent times, Brindabella Airlines has folded and Qantas and Virgin have cut some direct flights into the ACT.
So what is the future for Canberra Airport with Badgerys Creek airport in prospect and the Abbott government's first budget looming?
''The reality is we have a tough time in the near term with the efficiency dividend and ongoing cuts to the federal public service,'' Byron says. ''Passenger numbers have been falling at Canberra Airport now for three years. Since January 2010, with the efficiency dividend, they have fallen each month for 39 months and they will fall some more over the coming six to nine months with the cutbacks in the federal budget.
''But on the other hand, I think as the budget position is resolved and, if you like, the federal government gets back to doing business and the public servants are allowed to do business and allowed to travel again, we will see the growth of Canberra, and I think over the next five years the airport will truly realise its potential.''
With those worries, it is a good thing the MD has another way of de-stressing.
''Mountain bike riding is really my thing outside of sailing, and you can do a lot in an hour,'' he says. ''The nice thing about mountain bike riding is you really switch off from everything; a bit like sailing, you're disconnected.''
