Measuring in at 6ft 6ins, Tom Cunliffe is deeper than the draught of most of the boats he’s owned and sailed. But his depth of knowledge is not constrained by his height and anyone who comes across him will either learn something new about sailing, or realise a skill they never realised they had.
For me it was the latter when I first met Tom during ‘An Expert on Board’ article on the south coast. I was a trifle nervous having always been a sailor who kind of jogs along in a muddle, relying on common sense but unable to describe technically what procedure it was I was about to embark upon.
