In 2015, a break-up of 40 years of marriage upended life as I knew it and cast me adrift on a sea of grief and confusion. Under pressure to sell or buy out, I decided to take on Aziza as sole owner and soon realised that to have the freedom to sail at whim I would need to learn how to sail single-handed.

Dreams sometimes overpower reality. Lyle Hess understood that, and he didn’t want one of his wooden boats to be the cause of unhappiness. "I warn people, 'Don't build a boat if it's beyond your means, or if it's going to cause family trouble.