| Mr John’s sailing career started in 1963 at the age of ten, when his father bought a 20ft sloop which his family sailed in North Wales. He soon fell in love with the sea and the sailing which lead him to take up a career at sea becoming a Certificated Class 1 Master Mariner and at the same time his sailing endeavours gained him an Ocean Yacht Master’s Certificate. During his professional career he was fortunate enough to spend several years ‘Before the Mast’ on the Sea Cloud, a three hundred and fifty nine foot, Four Masted Barque (Square Rigger). This was a luxury passenger vessel that once belonged to the Post Family and Barbra Hutton amongst others |
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| He worked his way, up first crewing for other people in dinghies then off shore; eventually buying his own boat in 1973. At the time this was the smallest production cruising boat in the world; a Voyager 13ft Trailer-Sailor, which he sailed in the Irish Sea. |
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| 20´ ´Classic´ Sloop |
| 13ft Voyager (Trailer Sailor) |
| Sea Cloud |
| He soon moved up to a 21ft Scimitar two man keel boat which he raced successfully in the Menai Straits, North Wales. With 22ft tides and 12knot currents he soon found sailing in this area provided a good grounding in seamanship. After putting to rest ‘the bug for racing’ he went on to buy a Hurley 22ft fin keel cruising boat with which he was able to venture further a field reaching the Irish Coast and the Isle of Man.
In 1976 he then bought his first offshore cruising boat, a Shipman 29ft which started the ‘Mr John’ series; after fitting the boat out, he single handed to the western Mediterranean where he cruised for several years. |
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| ´Mr John´ Shipman 29´ |
| In 1981 he bought ‘Mr John II’, a new Sigma 33c in which he did four Atlantic crossings. Still Single Handed, he cruised the Caribbean and the East Coast of the States.
In 1984 after returning to the UK he part exchanged the Sigma 33c for a new Sigma 36, ‘Mr John III’ and once again crossed the Atlantic to the North East of the U.S.A. cruising Long Island Sound and areas between New York and Boston. In late 1985 whilst in Newport R.I. ‘Mr John III’ was sold. |
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| ´Mr John II´ Sigma 33c |
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| ´Mr John III´ Sigma 36 |
| ´Mr John III´ Sigma 36 |
| ´MrJohn´ Shipman 29´ |
| The History of ´Mr John´ |
| After flying back to the UK, ‘Mr John IV’ was purchased within a few weeks in Plymouth, Devon. This was a Holman & Pye U.F.O. 34, older style racer/cruiser in which he immediately departed south; crossing the Bay of Biscay in early November and into the Mediterranean. In 1986 he proceeded to cross the Atlantic once more to the Caribbean and onwards to the Pacific via the Panama Canal.
Between 1987 and 1990 he made several forays into the Pacific Islands whilst based in New Zealand, covering Tonga, Fiji, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands. In mid 1990 after 27 years sailing, mainly Single Handed, he flew back to the UK leaving the boat in the Royal Suva Yacht Club in pursuit of a ‘Mrs John’. After a few months and after rigorous testing he flew back with the prospective and very apprehensive ‘Mrs John’ (Paula). And so from Suva onwards their travels took them to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Australia and crossing the Indian Ocean, up the Red Sea and into the Mediterranean. In 1994 this circumnavigation was concluded in Spain. Meanwhile in September 1993 the prospective ‘Mrs John’ did become Mrs John and towards the end of 1995 ‘Mr John IV’ was regrettably sold. |
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| ´Mr John IV´ U.F.O. 34´ |
| Beginning of 1996 we moved onto ‘Mr John V’ a 42ft Sea Trader which was purchased in Durban, South Africa whilst he was working on a container ship. We sailed from Durban across the Southern Atlantic to the Caribbean and onto Europe, eventually returning to the Caribbean where we spent several years. In 2001 we sailed to the East Coast of the U.S.A. arriving in Annapolis in September where ‘Mr John V’ was sold. |
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| ´Mr John IV´ |
| ´Mr John V´ 42´ Sea Trader |
| June of 2002 ‘Mr John VI’ was purchased in Oxford, Maryland; a Bristol 35.5 C.B. After cruising the East Coast of the States, two seasons in the Bahamas and the Northwest Caribbean, we cruised West Central America and now in Mexico, proceeding to Bahia, the Sea of Cortes and onwards.............. |
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| ´Mr John VI´ Bristol 35.5 cb |
| Mrs John (Paula) |
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| How did the boats get named ‘Mr John’?
Whilst cruising the coast of Spain, he soon discovered that the Spanish had great difficulty with his surname, and preferred the shorter version. Hence ‘Mr John’. |