THE GREAT LOOP

PART 1

On the whole, I describe boating as a passion, not a hobby. Anything that requires such a large chunk of capital, an ongoing supply of hard-earned funds and endless time spent on maintenance and logistics should not be called a mere hobby. I can’t tell you how many times someone has said to me that the best days of boat ownership are the day you buy it and the day you sell it. Well, not for me. As far as I’m concerned it’s about daring to dream – a childhood passion that set me on a path to one day doing and seeing the things I’d read about within the glossy covers of this very magazine.

I started sailing at the age of eight on the Welsh Harp reservoir in North London in a wooden pram dinghy that my father purchased in a sorry state and refurbished over the winter. At 24 I bought my first motor boat, a 28ft Maxum sportscruiser.