Q8. What are the main attractions of living in Thailand and how does it compare with other countries you have lived in?


Thailand is not hassle free but if you follow the law, it is freer than most western countries. It is certainly more flexible. Thailand runs on a platform of respect. Thai people respect each other, particularly the elderly. Across the board politeness is expected. Finally, good sailing conditions, turquoise water and fabulous food rounds off the package.


Q9. I read about your involvement with the renovation of Cariad, which sounds like an extraordinary project. Indeed, you have written an article in this edition. But in brief what would you like to say about your involvement?


My involvement began 33 years ago when I carried out a routine survey on Cariad in Singapore. 16 years later in 2006 I was asked to carry out a follow-up survey while the vessel lay abandoned and derelict off the port of Bangkok. It took 30 seconds to sum up that she was uninsurable. The potential buyer, a British businessman, said he would purchase her anyway and accept the cost and challenge to restore this piece of British maritime history. I accepted his invitation to project manage the restoration.


In 2008, fifty-five people and 3 million dollars later, we launched a perfectly restored Cariad. Unfortunately, this coincided with the world financial crash and the owner was forced to sell.


The new owner treated her like a trophy on a shelf. He carried out almost no routine maintenance, inclusive of 13 years without drydocking the timber hull. Teredo worms chewed up her beautiful new planking. She also rotted from the inside because the caretaker never ventilated. She partially sank three times, completely submerging the engine room each time.


In 2021 Cariad was purchased by Tim Hartnoll, CEO of X-Press Feeders Shipping Line, a man with the passion and money to restore Cariad to former glory.


In January 2022 we again inherited a derelict vessel. We rounded up the same team and started the heart-breaking process of restoring Cariad for the second time. Currently we are already 16 months into the project and hope to re- launch in August this year.


Q10. As a fellow wordsmith, I am interested to know what motivated and inspired you to write ‘World Wanderer - 100,000 miles under sail’ and the follow up ‘Beyond Boundaries’. Please tell me.


When I circumnavigated in our 30- foot sloop these were early ‘cruising’ days. When I arrived home, there was a book inside my head wanting to get out. I typed the manuscript on an old Olivetti typewriter – the one if you made a mistake, you had to redo the whole page.


In November 1969, typewritten manuscript under my arm entitled, World Wanderer –100,000 Miles Under Sail, I sheepishly entered the lobby of the Angus & Robertson publishing house on Sydney’s Castlereagh Street, an Australian flagship institution. I left the manuscript with a pleasant receptionist. Five days later I received an invitation to attend a meeting at the publishing house. My manuscript had been separated into sections along with photos, which now covered a polished table. I was in a state of shock because I was a 25-year-old youth off the streets but was treated with respect, politeness, courtesy and enthusiasm. The book quickly went into print.


In 2019, forty-eight years later, my second book Beyond Boundaries was published. The first half of Beyond Boundaries details becoming a surveyor; the second half as a Noble Denton surveyor; then latterly returning to my roots as a yacht surveyor.


Q.11 What hobbies do you most enjoy?


Sailing.


Q12. If you could change one aspect of your life if you were able to live it again, what would it be?


I would change nothing.


142 | The Report • June 2023 • Issue 104


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