I must confess to being the archetypal fair-weather sailor.

A fully-equipped yacht in the Med with great weather and fabulous scenery, yes ...

A basic boat in a tide-locked marina in Britain on a miserable November day, no!

Hence sailing tends to be a relatively occasional indulgence.

I started out as dinghy sailor. I learned to sail in a Merlin Rocket, which is something akin to learning to drive on the Nurburgring, but when you've sailed that, you feel able to tackle most things.

Having gradually worked my way through 17-, 23-, 36- and 50-footers, I've found that there is remarkably little difference while at the helm - provided I have a crew who know what they are doing. However, I have almost no crewing experience myself, which tends to further limit my sailing opportunities.

My most recent holiday was on an Oceanis 351. My father was skippering a Beneteau 50, and we swapped craft on the final day. The experience of crashing through the waves at 10-knots takes some beating, and I now have even more expensive tastes in yachts ...

The Dodecadese off the Southern coast of Turkey may be less well-known than the nearby Med, but with typical Force 5-6 winds and deep waters, has much to recommend it.