Brought up at Heswall, on the banks of the Dee Estuary to the soundtrack of tinkling halyards from the sailing club next door, Jake’s first interactions with boats came earlier than memory serves.

Upcycling, recycling, repairing and reusing were obsessions decades before they became ‘on trend’.

An enthusiast of marine invention and innovation, Jake built his first (vaguely) working hydrofoil at age 15, and has been improving, repairing, tweaking and hacking small sailing, motor and human-powered boats ever since.

He has sailed single handed round Britain and double handed across the Bay of Biscay in a £500 Hurley 22, bailing all the way, and as a long-time yachting journalist has had the opportunity to sail abroad in plenty of locations. But his heart is in creek crawling in small boats, preferably in the places too shallow for the harbourmaster’s launch.

Jake owns 13 boats at the last count, the largest of which is a Swift 18.