Scaled-down superyachts

Not every model that emerges from John Bertola’s traditional workshop in Southend-on-Sea, on the Thames Estuary in south-east England, is of a real boat. He’s currently creating a small-scale fantasy yacht for an Indian client to sail across an artificial lake. But most are perfect representations of existing craft, whose owners are happy to wait months and spend thousands to have a mini model of their treasured boat to keep at home or in the office. For some they are conversation pieces, but for others they are essential.

It is perhaps unique to the world of boat ownership that those who possess them can often be a long distance from them. “Having a model helps people to cure their separation anxiety,” says Brad Poulos, known as Captain Brad, a model maker in San Diego. “The minute you step off the boat, you feel sad about leaving all those amazing times behind. But you can have it, in miniature, on your desk or in your hallway.”

In some cases, it can keep the memories alive even after the vessel is no longer theirs. “People hold on to a painting they’ve commissioned after they’ve sold the yacht on,” says Christopher Wheat, an artist in upstate New York who specialises in marine scenes and boat “portraits”. While Martyn Mackrill, who is based on the Isle of Wight in England and is passionate about maritime history, remarks that the moment an owner sees , built on the Clyde in 1911. “The minute the owner saw the picture he wanted it.”