I dreamed of having my own boat for years before I could finally afford one. And, as my family will attest, after becoming a skipper, I have spent considerable amounts of time and money on pampering the succession of boats I’ve owned over the past 15 years or so.
I’ve always loved the pleasure boats that carry passengers up and down the Thames and I wrote in a recent column that as a youngster in the 1950s I used to enjoy watching the steamers coming and going from the pier at Richmond as they carried passengers upstream to Hampton Court or downstream to Westminster.
It was well worth the wait. My brother Alan and I finally took Terra Nova out for a run two weekends ago and it was wonderful to be back out on the water.
