THE Ferry Beach boating fraternity on Walney Island is as healthy as ever. All they want is an improvement in the weather.

However, the lull in activity gives them time to reflect on the characters who were involved in the past and Dave Nicholson comes high on the list, even if they have not seem him for more than 20 years.

It was in June, 1994 that he set sail with wife Gwen and their son Jon – plus cats Kash and Kelly and their dog Smeagle – in their 48ft ketch Acco.

They had just one destination. They had been to Kassiopi, at the Northern end of the Greek island of Corfu, on several holidays and it was their ambition to moor their boat there.

They were happy to take their time – and it took them two years to reach their destination.

“We were not in a hurry so we just dropped anchor wherever we wanted,” says Dave. “In those days there were very few marinas so we mainly went into fishing ports and they would help us with merchandise, water and electrics.

“If the weather was a bit iffy, we just didn’t put to sea.

“We met some tremendous characters and one called me ‘One in a million’.

“I asked about the name and he said that while we all have dreams, only one in a million live that dream – and we are still living that dream 23 years after setting off.

“In all honesty the journey was one party after another.”

Dave, who had been a night foreman in quality control in Barrow shipyard before he retired in 1994, has always had boats. He caused a bit of a stir when, with his father, he built a 24ft cabin cruiser in their 20ft Folkestone Avenue back garden - involving a quarter of a mile of mahogany, 6,000 copper rivets and more than 3,000 brass screws.

He bought the 40-ton Acco in 1968 from the Barrow doctor Dr John Taylor, and on his retirement Dave spent 12 months copper-sheathing the boat below the waterline. He also had to pay out £1,045 for a new deck.

He proudly still has the course of their journey to Corfu marked out on his charts – showing it took them 24 hours and 20 minutes to cross the Bay of Biscay.

They spent their first winter in Fuengirola on Spain’s Costa del Sol and then headed for Sardinia and Corsica.

Then it was across the Mediterranean to Tunisia where they spent some seven months, moving between four or five harbours.

“We thought we might never come back this way again so we saw what we wanted to see, visited where we wanted to visit and enjoyed each country on the way,” says Dave.

Gwen admits she was not over-keen on the maritime adventure. “I cried for two weeks when we left Walney” she recalls. “The agreement was that if I was not liking it after two month, we would return home.”

But she soon became acclimatised; astounded by some of the sights she saw and fascinated that at one port in Sardinia “a massive dolphin used to arrive in the harbour at 5pm on the dot to be fed.”

Another highlight for Gwen was when they were befriended by a Roger Stenquist, from Sweden, whose wife Tina had her own show on Spanish television.

Tina invited Gwen to have a 15-minute slot, for six weeks in a row, to talk (in English) about life onboard a boat.

“It isn’t difficult if you are organised,” she says now.

“Jon has his own quarters and we have ours. We have a salon/kitchen and sometime we watch TV in the wheelhouse.”

The pair still talk about the lavish hospitality they received on their journey along the Med, on other crafts and invitations by hotel and restaurant owners.

They were jubilant when their reached their Kassiopi destination and Gwen is still very popular in that area – every second shop or restaurant you pass, someone comes out and wants to give her hug.

However, ten years ago they moved into the Gouvia Marina, just a mile or so from the village of Kontokali, which has 1,800 berths and the Acco is snuggled on a concrete pontoon between the 65ft cruiser of a man who owns a leading German football club and “gin palace” owned by another millionaire.

“What more could you want?” asks Dave. “Good friendly people, good weather – and the scenery’s not bad,” he adds as he acknowledges the waves from two stunning beauties as they walk past.

The Gouvia Marina has to be seen to be believed. Everywhere you look there are masts and in addition to three restaurants it has its own supermarket, a cricket ground (they play in the Hellenic Cricket Federation) and a croquet club.

Dave says his son Jon keeps him going.

“While he does work on other boats, he keeps his eye on what is needed on the Acco,” he said. “If it cannot be repaired it has to be replaced.”

Youngest son Steven was out for a few months last year to help with some essential repairs. It means that the Acco, which has not been out to sea for two years, will be sailing in the Adriatic this year after wintering in the marina.

Eldest son Dave was out fairly recently with one of Dave senior’s grandsons – another Dave – along with John Broadhurst and Jack Lowther, his sailing pals from his Walney Beach days.

The conversation was all about boats. No owners’ names but talk of boats like Crusader (Ronnie Ather), Ixia (Ron Laidler), Barracuda (George Brown), Caronell (Dick Atkinson), Ruby (Denis Quayle), White Rose (Fred Rawlinson) and Sea King (John Broadhurst).

Happy sailing – and keep living the dream.

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