They’re getting younger

t pays for anyone to be wary when claiming to have spotted a trend, but in the little global fraternity of traditional sailing, you have to be as careful as a drunk on a ladder. If one boat owner, say, chooses to retain the Formica in his galley when refurbishing a post-war cruising yacht, it’s possible, given the sample size to call it a ‘trend’, but not necessarily advisable. What about of 1885, over two decades (1979-1999), a job that he started while still a teenager. That was considered amazing at the time, and every reference to his great work included mention of his age. Then there was Ashley Butler, who restored the 38ft-long (LOD), 1903-built Morecambe Bay prawner yacht , starting in 1997 at the age of just 19. He sailed it from Cornwall across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. For some time after that, not much blipped our radar, and we could have let those instances lie as oddities to be remembered in isolation.