Tom Cunliffe

Decades ago in another life, my wife and I sailed a 12-ton gaff cutter around the oceans with no engine – but time changes all things. Our voyaging in 2020 is very different. During those years in Arcady, our only worries were hurricane seasons and the onset of North Atlantic winter gales. We had no jobs, no house, little money and no aspirations to alter this happy state of affairs. Now, we have property, family, responsibilities, bank accounts and a full diary of commitments. We still live on board our yacht every summer and run up some respectable distances but, like most folks muscling along in the manic 21st century, time is no longer on our side.

Cruising with a big engine, as most of us now do, places us in a world at variance to one where sailors live cheek by jowl with the elements, giving