Inspirations and obsessions

Traditional sailing vessels

Since childhood, Andrew has been gripped by the sea and sailing. Both have influenced his research, consultancy and popular writing. The family’s early 20th century, 17 ton pilot cutter, Mermaid ― which was highly forgiving and enabled Andrew and his siblings to sail it (sometimes alone) ― was hugely influential. So, too, was his own yacht, a replica of a Falmouth Work Boat, Sara Ann.

Marine Press Service/Practical Boat Owner

The power and robustness of these workhorses were legendary. It arose from over-engineering and more subtle design features. Either way, robustness enabled the pilot cutters to return, whatever the weather, from sorties into the Atlantic to escort incoming ships. Many were surprisingly fast, too… and remember, we’re talking of the early 1900s.

Vintage Bentleys

Equally substantial was the family’s 1930 Speed 6.5 litre Bentley. In its hey-day, Phyllis, better known as Bentley ‘Team Car No. 3’, achieved top speeds in excess of 120 mph at Le Mans and Brooklands (and still does, decades later).

Matt Howell Photography Ltd

As testament to the capability of these, slow-tech, British racing-green giants, Ettore Bugatti, builder of the invincible Bugatti racing cars of that era, once exclaimed: ‘the Bentley is the fastest lorry I have ever seen!’ By 1930, Bentleys had won the Le Mans 24-hour race five times, often beating leaner and lighter rivals.

How to keep going when the going gets tough

Inspired by traditional cars and boats, plus research as a marine biologist, Andrew has become fascinated ― almost obsessed ― by robustness, how some things keep going when pushed to the limit. It has become the subject of scholarly articles, and his latest book, SLOW-TECH.

One conclusion of SLOW-TECH is that ditching ‘unproductive baggage’ is risky business. It is not that we should simply turn the clocks back, or ditch silicon for iron and rope. Remarkably, though, retaining or re-instilling robustness is a far better bet than modernity’s striving for efficiency at all costs. What’s more, we can often do this in simple, time-tested ways, even by spending more time rather than squeezing it out of everything we do.