The VAKA Manifesto: A Blueprint for Regenerative Boating

I live in Nottingham in an old bungalow our midwife once called a warren, featuring a large messy garden and a boat-building "slot" under an old tarp between houses. I share this life with five children, ranging from 6 to 23. By day, I handle the mundane; by evening, I’m under the tarp. I’ve sailed since childhood, from river dinghies to cruising the Baltic and the North Sea on a Newbury Spinner 27. I trained for offshore Yachtmaster qualifications at UKSA and sailed the East Coast and Dutch waterways for years. Eventually, the reality of maintaining a yacht with a young family led me to pass the boat to my brother. After brief stints with a Fireball and a canoe, time vanished as my youngest children were born. When time finally reappeared, I built a skin-on-frame canoe. It hooked me deeply. I’ve since become obsessed with natural materials, traditional boat building, and primary sources. Though I studied design engineering at the OU, I am self-taught in this craft—learnin…