Watching Howard’s Way on a Sunday evening as a teenager, I always saw boating as a pastime of the super wealthy, but I loved the sea and wanted in. My route to the water was meant to be the Royal Navy when I was 16 but after narrowly failing my final exam to become an engineer and being too impatient to wait the full year before being able to resit it, I ended up with a career in IT. My access to the sea was limited to occasional sailing or fishing trips with friends and family. Owning my own boat didn’t seem like something I would ever be able to afford.
Fast forward to June 2017 and I was with my girlfriend (now wife) in Malta in a hotel overlooking the marina. Tina shared a mutual love of the sea and talked me into renting a small RIB for the day. It was glorious, especially when a local boat came into the bay selling fresh Italian ice creams! A birthday trip to Monaco only stoked our boating desires as we gazed longingly at the superyachts in the harbour. Perhaps if we started small?
STEP 1 : THE TRAINING COURSE
As a first tentative step, Tina booked us onto an RYA Day Skipper course in Plymouth. After passing the theory and practical, we headed to the London boat show determined to find a way onto the water. Having fallen in love with the early 1980s twin-engine, displacement cruiser we trained on for our Day Skipper course, we were looking for a modest semi-displacement motor cruiser. Unfortunately, there was nothing similar within our limited budget. Just as we were about to leave the show, we stumbled across a stand for a boat club called Pure Latitude, promising “All the enjoyment of owning a boat with none of the responsibility.”
Denne historien er fra June 2024-utgaven av Motor Boat & Yachting UK.
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Denne historien er fra June 2024-utgaven av Motor Boat & Yachting UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Lofoten or Bust- Part 4- Grandezza owner Per Harrtoft heads back to Sweden after an epic 3500nm adventure deep into the Arctic Circle to visit the mythical Lofoten islands
After ten memorable days in the Lofoten Islands in the far north of Norway, we are on our way back south towards Sweden. We have already made it as far as Trondheim, a charming place even if it was raining so hard we had to cycle round the city centre clutching umbrellas. But now we are back on board Deamare, our Grandezza 40 Fly, eating up the miles at a steady 31 knots.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YACHT TRANSPORT
As the name suggests it's a means of having your boat moved professionally from one location to another. It might be as simple as hiring someone to tow your RIB a few miles down the road or as complex as shipping a superyacht halfway around the world.
HANDLE A SINGLE SHAFTDRIVE BOAT PART 1
Single shaftdrive boats are relatively rare these days but the reduced costs of buying, servicing and fuelling such a simple but reliable drivetrain does mean they are making a bit of a comeback.
COCKWELLS MOTOR LAUNCH
There can be very few boats that have appeared three times at the Southampton Boat Show and been sold off the stand each time.
INSTALLING AN AUTOPILOT
Rick Channon makes solo boating simple with a Raymarine Evolution Autopilot
GOOD AS NEW
Why fit a brand new engine when Volvo Penta's remanufacturing service can rebuild you an old one to the same standard for a fraction of the price?
BENETEAU SWIFT TRAWLER 54
Alex Smith heads to France's Beneteau HQ for a UK exclusive on what might just be the best Swift Trawler yet
ΧΟ EXPLR 44
Can XO's all-new aluminium flagship really make it big in the Med?
BUYING OUR FIRST CLASSIC
Instead of whiling away their retirement playing bowls, Rob and Shona Adams decided to invest their time and money in a classic Silver gentleman's yacht. Would the gamble pay off?
PRINCESS S65
Torn between the V and F Class flagships? The new S65 might be the boat you've been waiting for...
