Most people I know who enjoy life afloat began their boating careers in Optimist or Mirror dinghies. I began mine building a 48ft ferro cement ketch. I was 22, I had just finished my apprenticeship as a trainee journalist and I was hoping to start doing a bit of travelling. My boyfriend at the time was a keen sailor and had been brought up by parents who sailed and had built their own small plywood boat.
We decided it was a good idea to have a boat we could live on – it’s much easier to
