IT'S A KIND OF MAGIC

PART THREE David Vandyke's decision to enter a boatshare syndicate was fuelled by his longing to reignite the wonder of childhood. Did it succeed, or did the reality of luxury yacht ownership bring him back to earth with a bump?

- David Vandyke

When I was five years old the world was magic. I was certain my father could remove half his thumb and return it into place at will. Colour TV was unimaginably fabulous and my world was full of wonder; bird song, lightning, cars, the cinema – they were all magical experiences to me.

As I entered education the magic began to whittle away. I was told not to be childish, to stop daydreaming and be responsible. By the time I was halfway through school the magic had gone, never to return. Sure, there were snippets of it, but the sense of wonder had been educated right out of me.

Most people would think this a good thing. Reality is what we live in. To exist any other way would be asking for trouble. But can’t we balance this a little better? Can’t we hold onto magic for as long as we can and only return to reality when absolutely necessary? The answer to this conundrum is yes! And it stares at you from these very pages every month.

MAGIC CIRCLE 

It’s not what’s in the magazine that is the magic (although it’s pretty damned fine); it’s the promise of the lifestyle it evokes. I was contemplating these thoughts when my wife and I took our first journey of 2023 onboard Freedom, the Azimut 58 we own a 1/8th share of. It wasn’t even a particularly nice day. The sky was a gunmetal grey, the wind was blowing and there was a chill in the air. We were motoring towards Pollensa for lunch when it hit me. I no longer needed to search for magic because it was here, on this boat, moving about on the water. And it wasn’t a five-minute movie sequence or a three-minute song; it was days and days of it.