There’s a yachtsman I know who was dumped by his BBC bureaucrat wife of 25 years, for an older man. She told him he wasn’t a good enough sailor for her and was running off with her Yachtmaster instructor to round Cape Horn. Knocked down, but not dismasted Dan Ehrlich, a London-based, American-born journalist, turned shipwreck into showboat, like a real sailor, and has now written a hilarious account of his new life, aged 65, chasing skirt via internet Lonely Hearts ads.

In Across A Crowded Room, published by Virtualbookworm.com, Dan tells how he answered an ad from a woman who had an interest in ‘ceramics, great fiction and photography’ and who was looking for a man,’whose kids are grown and already launched’, telling her his interest was sailing.

She then replied saying that she had many friends in the Del Ray Yacht Club of Los Angeles and cruised regularly to Vancouver.’There are two key things that are tip-offs about this woman. First the Del Ray Yacht Club is super swish and probably has more Jewish owned boats than the Israeli Navy, secondly her cruise to Vancouver means she was powering along in a rather large yacht.’

When Dan told her he had just a 32ft sailing boat and a modest income he never heard from her again.

The book is a riot ending with the 10 Commandments of ‘Senior On-line dating.’

Good luck, Dan and keep clicking.