#humansofyachting – Paul Tetlow

“I arrived at St Katharine Docks just as we were breaking ground on the recent marina renovations. It was an interesting time to join – the challenge was moving the boats around the marina to allow the removal of old pontoons. I liken it to one of those tile games where you’ve got nine spaces and eight tiles – you just have to keep moving them around and you know the right solution will appear eventually.

The Clipper Round the World Race has departed and arrived here a few times, including in those first few months I started working here. It gave us an important deadline to meet for renovations and helped get things off to a great start. It was a great way to show off all that new infrastructure to the yachtsmen of the race and the many public that came to visit. The atmosphere was amazing.

There tends to be a lot going on here in terms of events. We just had London on Water and next up is the Classic Boat Festival in September – which is a celebration of the heritage and history of the docks and of boats. This year we’re expecting to have about 15 Dunkirk ships that took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk, as well as the Massey Shaw Fireboat which helped put fires out from the Thames during the Blitz, and Gloriana, the Queen’s row barge. It’s going to be really good fun.

The yachts that come here really do find themselves right on the city’s doorstep, the Tower of London is right across the road and all the city’s attractions are really accessible. I think that adds to the thrill of a stay here – once the boat is moored, you have a huge array of things to do without much effort. We’ve had several boats staying here during the winter too, and it’s been really nice for the crew because there is still so much happening over that season. London doesn’t really sleep, which isn’t true of all yachting destinations.

I really enjoy being out on the water and going up and down the Thames. My sister lives in Greenwich so I prefer to get there on a boat and I try to get out on the river as much as I can – I think it’s such a great way to see the city, especially the Houses of Parliament and Westminster. I also love getting away to sail – I worked for the World Cruising Club a few years ago. It’s a sailing rally company and whilst leading rallies I went over; to the Caribbean, around French Polynesia and Fiji, to many of the world’s best cruising grounds.

I’ve actually just come back from two weeks in the Ionian Islands on a charter boat with my wife, which was wonderful. The sailing there at this time of year isn’t too challenging, you can pretty much see your destination as you hop around which makes for very relaxing cruising. I think my favourite island was Meganisi and I also loved the north end of Ithaca. The whole area has plenty of places to anchor, so you can just drop the hook and jump into the water.”