About

Monty Mariner

Current Sailing Boat

 

My current boat is a Ketch rigged, Pilot house, Colvic Countess 33 which I bought in 2000 and was featured in Yachting Monthly in November 2008.

 

About me

I sail the UK S coast, C.I’s and French N coast, mainly single handed, but also with friends.

Jul – Sept 2012 : I coast hopped around S Brittany,
May – Sept 2013 : I crossed Biscay and headed SW around Galicia, N Spain.
June – Sept 2015 : I went down to Spain again but then sailed E along to Santander.
May – Sept 2017 : I managed to get down to Lisbon, Portugal.

I joined the  Royal Corps of Signals and trained as an Electronics Technician.

The Army taught me to sail, but before I bought a boat my main sport was Sub-Aqua Diving. I also learnt to dive in 1972 whilst I was in the Army (I joined a British Sub-Aqua Club ‘special’ branch when stationed in Germany). I qualified as an Army Diving Supervisor, so I could then lead military diving expeditions.

I am so grateful to the Army who paid for me to dive in Norway, Belize, Bermuda, UK and NI (plus the mud holes, quarries, rivers and lakes in Germany and Holland). I dived as my full time sport for 14 years but gave it up after I bought my first sailing boat in 1985, I couldn’t find the time to do both!
 

Previous Boat (bought 1985)

I have now owned my own sailing boats since 1985, my previous boat was a 22ft Swin Ranger which I owned for sixteen years, selling her in 2001, keeping two boats is overkill! In that time I took it down through the French canals  to the Mediterranean twice, once in 1995 then again in 1998 taking about five months for each trip, doing half of the circuit single handed and the other half with my daughter.

I wrote the first trip up on: Puffin goes to the Med