THE JIM LOTT STORY Lifelong voyage
Born in 1947, Lott started messing around in boats during holidays at the family bach on Waiheke Island. After learning to sail in various dinghies (including an elderly X Class) he graduated to crewing aboard the keeler Caprice, a Knud Reimers design built in Norway.
Captain Noel Baddeley, a family friend who headed up the Auckland Nautical School, inspired Lott to learn celestial navigation as a teenager. His first ocean voyage came in 1966, when he helped bring a yacht from Suva to Auckland. “It was on the nose the whole way and I didn’t enjoy it much, but you quickly forget the bad bits and I wanted more.”
Back home he began an architectural degree at Auckland University and, with his father John, started building a Des Townson 7.9m Serene. Sadly John unexpectedly died a year later and, with money tight, Lott dropped out of university to finish what became Andromeda.
Working for Fisher & Paykel during the day, to buy the 9.2m Woollacott keeler .
