Howard’s boating ‘obsession’ began when he and his dad bought a 100-year-old iron narrow boat in Gas Street, Birmingham and converted it into a canal cruiser.

But it was cars that steered his career; he became editor of Britain’s Motor magazine and editor-in-chief of What Car?

After moving to sunny Florida in 1992 to become a freelance writer, Howard and his wife sold everything in 2011 to buy a 17-metre Dutch steel trawler yacht in Holland, and spent the next six years cruising through France down to the Med – naturally writing about the adventures for Motor Boat & Yachting.

He’s now back in Florida covering the boating scene – and looking for a trawler-style Mainship 390 to buy.