There are obviously big days in our lives, getting married, birth of children, new jobs, moving etc. There are plenty of other important days any two connected days stand out to me.

In about 1976, aged 11, I was holidaying with my family in the English Lake District. With holiday money in my pocket I’m in a bookshop and buying the Observer book of small craft. Within this book was this picture that quite simply changed my life

The book has many dinghies detailed but the International Canoe was completely different to anything else, the moth however was also a bit different. This sparked my interest in design and from that point would sketch boat designs when ever I could.

Fast forward to 1990 I am living Sydney, Australia. One Saturday afternoon my friends are on the beach and I’m inside the Power House museum… sketching boats. As I sat there I suddenly had a revelation and a week later was back in the UK applying for Engineering courses at university