The love of boats, sailing and the sea can be a kind of madness, sometimes an all-consuming obsession that devours ambitions, labour and money. But it is a sweet kind of compulsion, one that brings comradeship (with fellow obsessives, perhaps), skills, satisfaction and a perverse sense of freedom.
I challenge you not to be warmed by the story of Mike Ludgrove (see our feature on page 54), who threw everything into building a beautiful modern classic yacht. The fruits of this self-sacrifice are a testament to, and a lasting legacy of, his skills. What satisfaction it must give him when he sails past another yacht and her crew turn round to look admiringly at his treasured masterwork.
It always jars with me when I hear manufacturers talk of new boats…
