by Cheryl Dennis

From fire to water and from the city to the sea, Oxfordshire entrepreneur Charles Atkinson has set sail on a new venture. It will see him exploring waters off the South West from Somerset to Cornwall and Pembrokeshire to the Isles of Scilly.

After almost two years of preparation, Mr Atkinson has now begun chartering his traditional Danish wooden sailing boat Josefine, with the intention that as many people as possible can experience the same joy he gets from sailing her.

Before he started to realise his maritime dream, Mr Atkinson, 40, was an award-winning blacksmith based in Garsington.

As part of his ironworks business, Iron Awe, he produced work throughout Oxfordshire, including the refurbishment of the Christchurch memorial garden gates, St Peter's College railings, plus projects making street furniture, fireplaces, gazebos and garden furniture.

In addition to boasting a number of distinguished clients among whom were the late Princess Diana's private secretary, Patrick Jephson, and world-renowned Oxfordshire chef, Raymond Blanc, he was also awarded an Oxford Preservation Award for his work at St Peter's College.

Despite this, Mr Atkinson said: "The business eventually became the victim of its own success.

"I had in excess of two years' worth of orders on my books and found I never had any time for my family or myself.

"Among other options, I considered moving abroad but eventually asked myself - what would I really like to be doing? And the answer was: I'd like to sail a fine ship."

Josefine became Charles's boat in 2003. The 66ft oak on oak boat was built in Denmark by shipbuilders Anderson and Ferdinandsen, and registered in 1931.

Rigged as a gaff ketch, she was used for fishing in the Baltic and North Sea for 40 years, away from port for several weeks at a time.

However, her fishing days drew to a close as she was re-commissioned and used as a sail-training ship in Denmark for almost 15 years, before being re-registered under the British Flag in 1989.

Her Danish heritage ended and she was relocated to the South coast of England and completely rebuilt and refitted.

However, she was not to stay for long on this occasion and for a brief time Gibraltar was her home. Once Mr Atkinson had bought the ship, his first challenge was to find her a new home in South West England.

After a number of stops on the way, she eventually berthed in Watchet, Somerset, which is now her permanent home.

This year marks Josefine's first season and Mr Atkinson is planning to take her to every sea-themed festival in the South West he can.

He said: "Josefine has gone through a set of rigorous tests and conforms to codes of practice for up to 60 miles offshore.

"This means we can now take people out sailing, so I intend to make the most of being able to share her with as many other people as possible."

Mr Atkinson, who has years of boating experience, has also passed a gruelling exam to become a commercially-endorsed yacht master. Now, along with rounding up like-minded sailors to become part of his crew, he is ready to set sail.

Mr Atkinson says he can remember when he first started to really appreciate the water back in the 1980s.

He said: "I started to enjoy being on the water, particularly when I won the Peterborough Head of the River for rowing.

"Sailing a traditional wooden ship is something I've always been interested in and now I'm living that dream."

The main function of Josefine will be to offer team-building voyages for companies and individuals who would like to learn traditional sailing techniques.

He said: "It's really important for us not to lose these skills and, as a society, we need to know about how things were done yesterday to do things effectively today.

"The other vital thing about sailing is that it offers a way of travelling all over the world using little or no fuel and being virtually self-sufficient on your own island."

The environmental factor is important to Mr Atkinson and his crew, and is a main reason why they enjoy sailing, particularly on Josefine.

Enthusiastic and keen to use their sailing skills, the team is looking forward to the coming months as they tour around the South West and Bristol Channel.

In addition to training people to sail Josefine, they will also host wedding receptions, artists' days, corporate team building days and fishing trips.

Josefine will also be used to produce footage for use on television and film and even has her own camera crew available to capture special events on board.

Despite being away at sea for most of the summer, Mr Atkinson says he aims to come back to his home in Oxford as often as possible.

He explained: "I've lived in Oxford for 20 years and have been renovating my 18th-century farmhouse in Garsington. There is still some work to do.

"I often wish there was somewhere to sail Josefine a bit nearer home, but Watchet and the South West are beautiful places and I'm really enjoying the opportunity to spend time in both locations."

Contact: 07971 376172 or visit www.sailjosefine.com