A yachting journalist for over 30 years, Phil Draper writes the news for Motor Boat & Yachting Magazine and conducts sea-trials for various international magazines, power and sail. He also runs his own boat/yacht market research agency (phildraperassociates.com)

In normal times he would spend up to two months of every year travelling the world, talking to those that design and build boats and the equipment that goes in them, visiting yacht yards and touring boat shows.

He lives with his wife near Aldeburgh in Suffolk, where downtime is metered out between walking the dog and playing with various family boats.

Present shore-based distractions include researching aspects of Roman Britain and Winston Churchill, both of which figure in the two novels he keeps telling himself, and anyone else daft enough to enquire, that he will eventually get around to finishing one day.