We’re Martin & Amanda Wadhams. Our home is in the New Forest, a few hundred metres from the Solent on the UK’s south coast. Sailing has been a defining part of our lives and, in fact, we met on the RS dinghy circuit. Small boat racing and slightly bigger boat cruising have dominated our spare time and we’ve made many of our closest mates along the way.

Martin: Boats have also been my career. I co-founded RS Sailing (www.RSsailing.com) with a good friend and, alongside our team, we grew it into the world’s largest small sailboat manufacturer.

Amanda: My career was as a pharmacist in the community. I worked mainly as a regular locum because it allowed me to combine the rewards of meeting and helping regular patients with the flexibility to sail as much as possible! 

Having mainly raced performance dinghies and sportsboats, I guess it’s no surprise that our cruising yachts have followed an increasing performance trajectory – our most recent boat being a Pogo 12.50 (also called Rush), a cruising version of a Class 40 race-boat. She’s light, quick and her wide stern hull form gives a spacious interior fitted with all the usual cruising amenities. 

We loved Rush. Fantastic sailing matched by her steady motion and simple, bright living space. We sailed her home from her Brittany-based builder in 2015 and then down to the Mediterranean, alternating month-long stints aboard with heading home to work – leaving Rush in different places as we explored our way to Greece and back. 

Now, we’re fortunate to have freed up our time for… even more sailing! Our plan is to become live-aboards for a few years and cruise further afield. Much analysis (we’re convicted boat geeks) led to the decision to change to a multihull for this new period. 

That’s where this blog kicks in…