As part of our How to start Boating series, MBY Editor Hugo Andreae, Deputy Editor Jack Haines and Aquaholic columnist Nick Burnham share the stories of how they were first bitten by the boating bug
Hugo Andreae – MBY Editor
“I was born into a boating family and grew up messing around in sailing dinghies and rowing boats with the occasional assistance of a Seagull outboard if I could ever get it started.
“But my first proper boat was a beige Fletcher Arrowflyte with a Mariner 60hp outboard that my brothers and I bought secondhand from a bloke in the street while wearing the rosiest of tinted glasses.
“The Perspex screen was so badly crazed you couldn’t see through it, the brown cockpit carpet was 90% mould and you had to mix the two-stroke fuel by hand.
“But we thought it was the dog’s nuts and would make us irresistible to girls. That never happened but it did cement my love affair with boats.”
Article continues below…
How to buy a used boat: Everything you need to know to buy with confidence
How to get into boating: Training courses and boat sharing for beginners
Jack Haines – MBY Deputy Editor and Chief Boat Tester
“I got into boating through my father who caught the bug from his father, who ran an Orkney Longliner with a Seagull on its transom.
“Our first boat was a 17ft White Shark with a hilariously unreliable Evinrude 115hp 2-stroke outboard called Sporty Forty. I will never forget the day she was delivered.
“Dad and his friend Jerry, excited beyond words, left me, my mum and sister in the chandlery at Salterns Marina and headed out to sea.
“As they zig-zagged across the channels the shop manager asked if they knew what they were doing. In unison the three of us replied: ‘No!’ We learnt a lot on that brilliant little boat and have not looked back.”
Nick Burnham – MBY columnist and founder of AQUAHOLIC
“I remember from an early age badgering my father to launch a Mirror dinghy languishing in the garage that he’d built before I was born.
“Instead, he bought a Drascombe Lugger and The Family Burnham was afloat, with varying degrees of enthusiasm!
“Boat show visits stoked the flames, and when I was about 14 that old Mirror was finally prised from the garage for me to sail at Junior Sailing events.
“My first motor boat was an Avon 280 Rover RIB with a Mercury 8hp, then a Monterey 218LSC, a Skibsplast 660D and finally my current Jeanneau 805 Leader, Smuggler’s Blues 2.”
Our How to start Boating series is brought to you in association with Pantaenius.
