“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

I love boats. I’ve loved them since I was a boy, and not merely as a means of transport but as objects of sometimes ethereal beauty. If money were suddenly no object I would immediately stop typing, pick up the phone and order a Spirit 56 Classic, or perhaps something equally spectacular from Wally. Maybe I’d call CH Marine in Long Island and have them send over a 38’ Shelter Island Runabout. Designed by Billy Joel, no less, the Runabout has all the style of Gatsby but with a top speed of 42 knots. In truth, if money really were no object, I’d buy all three.

I love smaller boats too – kayaks, canoes, dinghies and skiffs – and even the not-so-beautiful vessels are interesting to watch – the Thames dredgers, the canal-side maintenance barges, the cross-Channel ferries. With my good friend Andy, I have whiled away many an hour sitting at dockside bars in Piraeus and Eivissa, watching the passenger ships come and go, and maybe, if I had my life to live again, I would forgo university and run away to sea instead.

I am far from being alone in my love of boats. The boating community is huge and there are countless magazines serving it, and some, like The Islander, are an excellent and informative read. There are one or two decent television programmes too and a few attempts have been made – with varying degrees of success – to develop entire TV channels aimed at those who mess about in boats.

What the boating community does not have is a radio station.

But that’s about to change.

On May 1^st this year I will be launching Boat Radio International, the first radio station aimed at boat owners, world cruisers, ocean-sports enthusiasts, and armchair adventurers around the globe. It will be filled with compelling tales and inspiring stories from often ordinary people who’ve done extraordinary things. It will feature interviews with prominent characters from the world of sailing, exploration and endurance sports. There will be coverage of major sailing and powerboating events, reviews of new products and advice for boat buyers. In addition, there’ll be recommended routes, anchorages and marinas, plenty of practical advice and, crucially, an indelible streak of ocean conservation.

The presenters are a mixture of radio professionals, yachting experts, live-aboard bloggers, scientific researchers and marine conservationists. Each week, there will be programmes from the Arctic Circle, The Bahamas, the United States, Mallorca and a dozen other places. And of course, there’ll be a great many programmes broadcast from the wheelhouses, cockpits, saloons and galleys of boats.

It is going to be wonderful and it is going to be unique.

I have been making radio and television programmes for twenty-five years, beginning with hospital radio in Bristol and going on to work at LBC, CNN, the Associated Press and various arms of the BBC, including 5-Live, Radio 4 and the World Service. I love radio – it’s the king of the media – and I’ve worked on some of the best and best known speech and current affairs programmes in the world.

I lived in London for more than two decades. It’s a big, dirty, smelly, exciting, vibrant, happening and beautiful place with plenty to offer people of all ages. I lived in the south east, near the Thames and, believe me – and I have lived in every corner of the city – Greenwich is the very best of London’s boroughs. But it’s cold in London, and it’s rainy and crowded and expensive, and I didn’t want that for my daughter. I grew up in the north of Cumbria where there are hills and forests in all directions and the Lake District is just a short drive away. For a time, I considered moving back there but then my wife brought me to Mallorca, to the city of Sóller, and a spell was cast. This island is a special place, which – and here I am paraphrasing my hero, the magnificent Jacques Yves Cousteau – once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.

And so Georgina and I have come here to start a new life in the sunshine with a four-year-old daughter and another on the way. Our second child – another girl – is due just five weeks after Boat Radio International’s launch so I’m going to be taking tiredness to a new level.

Boat Radio International will be a labour of love but it will also be slick, professional and a real contender in the world of broadcasting. The programmes promise to be thrilling and captivating; thought-provoking and enlightening. Often they’ll be funny, sometimes they’ll be sad and occasionally, and I make no apologies for this, they’ll be a little bit raw because the presenters won’t be sitting in a studio – they’ll be messing about in boats.

We’ll be launching at the Palma Boat Show with a terrific series of shows presented by the inimitable Simon Relph, owner and managing editor of this very magazine.

You’ll be able to listen via our website or by downloading the Boat Radio International app.

For a sneak peek at Boat Radio International’s schedule, go to www.boatradiointernational.com and browse our schedule.

Mike McDowall +34 634347590

boatradiointernational@gmail.com

www.boatradiointernational.com

OR www.boatradio.international