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.

I continued to look at the weather incessantly, until December came around – at last a double high pressure system lay over Victoria, producing a week of pleasant but windless days. It wasn't an idyllic northwesterly, but it was something. This was my chance.