Having lived and worked (in marketing) in England for all our adult lives, in 2002 we decided to spend a bit less time working and a bit more time sailing. Our children (Jonathan and Jessica) were both grown up so and Jessica had just left university so the moment was right for a life style change: sell the big house, go sailing on a bigger boat! Of course these things take time, so it was a full year between making the decision and the start of serious cruising.

Jeremy Shaw has been sailing most of his life. First as a child in Singapore, then off and on. He had his first small cruiser in the '70s but sold it when we went to live in Buckingham and the children were small. In the late '90s we sold our holiday house in France and moved from Kent to London and that was a good excuse to buy our first 'proper' boat - a 37' Prout Snowgoose Elite catamaran, Tamarisk.

Tamarisk was nearly ten years old when we bought her, but proved an ideal choice for us. We based her at Chichester and sailed her round the South coast, the Channel Islands and Brittany. When we decided to replace her we looked at monohulls but in the end decided we were really multihull sailors - we like it flat, fast and fun; we think it's safer too. Tamarisk now has new owners and the Fountaine Pajot Belize gives us that extra bit of space, comfort and equipment we need for spending more time afloat.

Jeremy Shaw           Leonie Shaw

Tamarisk - our first "proper" boat