Josh's Boat Page
So who am I and where did my love of boats come from?
Well, I was born in Yorkshire on Yorkshire Day 1991 and my parents started sailing around the same time. Ideal conditions to become a born sailor then!!! Going on a few trips on our boat we had at the time (a GP14 called Joyride) I soon got used to being on the water. I wasn't old enough to sail on my own yet and soon my parents decided dinghy sailing wasn't for them as you get cold and wet and even have to pull a boat up a ramp at the end of the day. Looking around they found a Kingfisher 20 in the Lake District and moved onto bigger boats, which had a great effect on my life. Many happy holidays were spent onboard Snowgoose on Lake Windermere and I remember plodding along slowly just by the force of the wind with a kind of quietness and happiness you don't get anywhere else.
The joy only lasted so long though and in 1999 we sold Snowgoose and moved to Germany. On our first charter holiday in Holland we spotted a Dutch built Victoire 822 which we fell in love with despite her being in a sorry state. We bought her and my dad and I spent many days rewiring her, kitting her out with new devices and generally making her into a boat on which we could spend long holidays with the whole family (5 people and then just 1 dog).
While in Germany I joined the local sailing club and worked my way up to Youth leader, teaching kids and adults to sail as well as coaching kids and teenagers and preparing them for regatta sailing. I sailed 420s quite successfully and spent a lot of time at the sailing club, training and coaching. A new hobby also cropped up; designing and building model yachts.
The yacht bug had infected me though and I was always happiest sailing larger yachts. I crewed on every yacht I could get on and enjoyed every second sailing. I was able to experience sailing different boats in different areas, the North Sea, Baltic, Ijsselmeer and loads of inland lakes. Being at sea is an indescribable feeling and especially long passages are great, you get to see a lot, no day is the same, you see the sunset like nowhere else, the illuminescence of the sea at night as the boat pushes through the water and you'll never see the sky so full of stars than when you're out at sea, away from any light pollution you get on land.
An added bonus is there is no mobile phone network, noone can get hold of you.
Doing my "Abitur" in Germany I was sure I wanted to have a career in boats, but I wasn't sure what. Looking around after my final exams I got in contact with a professor from Strathclyde University and he asked to see my marks. Then the unexpected happened and I was offered a place to study Naval Architecture and Small Craft Engineering at Strathclyde. My dreams were about to come true, but also change direction over the next few years.
In 2011 I moved to Glasgow to start my studies and soon found a whole new world of boats, bigger and better than I had experienced before. First of all there is a Universities Royal Navy Unit in Glasgow which I joined. This got me out on the Clyde on a P2000 and since then has given me the chance to take part in "Joint Warrior", an international training excercise. While on this I spent time on board an American warship, did seatransfers via RIB and gained insight into life on a warship. I have been on a nuclear submarine and have spent a week on board HMS Defender doing sea trials off the south coast. In all these experiences were great and pointed my future plans in a new direction. I started getting into warship design and even designed one as part of a course at uni.
I also got a job at the chandlery in Kip Marina and met new people. I was given more opportunities to sail, on a first generation Round the World Clipper "Clyde Challenger", an X-Yacht 442, a First 7.5 and many more. The west coast of Scotland is about the best sailing you can get, the scenery is stunning.
A fellow Naval Architecture student, Sam, who got me the job at Kip Marina had the same desire to own a small yacht, however for both of us the financial situation was not in favour of owning a yacht and so we took the obvious step and bought one together. The Jag however was far from ready to be sailed, she had been stranded on a beach and the previous owners attempts at repairing her were not very good. In all it was a great decision and gave us the opportunity to gain more experience at doing GRP work.
My parents moved to Wales in 2012 and took Fritha with them, but with Golf, fly fishing and walking the dogs their interest for the boat slowly faded, resulting in them handing the boat down to me to look after. I am looking forward to sailing on the Clyde with her, but a lot of work awaits me.
This summer I am doing an internship at Hanse Yachts in Germany, gaining experience in the yachting industry and seeing how these boats are built. It is highly interesting seeing how they are put together, I have a few ideas now which I would like to implement in my own boats, but that will have to wait until I return to Glasgow in September to commence my MEng.