LIVING

Steve Taylor has passed the theory exam for his Spanish recreational sailing licence, the Patrón de Embarcaciones de Recreo (PER), and just needs 16 hours of experience in a boat to receive it.

My dad was a head lighthouse keeper on the Queensland coast, so I’ve been in and out of boats all my life. The course was a gift [from my wife]; for our honeymoon we visited some of the islands where I grew up and as we couldn’t rent a boat by ourselves, my wife thought it would make a good present.

There are a series of licences that allow you to go further from the coast in progressively bigger craft. You can start at any level, time and money permitting. The Titulín gets you in a six-metre boat and allows you out four miles; the Recreo allows you up to 12 miles out, in a 12-metre boat, anywhere in the world.

I studied at an established school, Mar Libre (www.marlibre.com). The month-long course costs between €800-€900. I was lucky as my class had four people in it while the one before had 30. In the exam, about 90 percent of candidates were men. You have to pass a two-and-a-half hour theory exam. Terms are all in Spanish, while English is the international sea language.

You have to memorise a lot. Theory covers safety features, a set of rules called RIPA designed to prevent accidents at sea, meteorology and how to read maps, although these days everyone has GPS. We used the Strait of Gibraltar as an example, as it’s notoriously difficult to navigate. Practical experience in a boat is a formality, and includes how to tie knots.

Owning a boat is a luxury and many people are now trying to sell theirs. In Barcelona it’s really expensive to moor, about €400 a month. You also have to pay for a craft check-up every three years.

Melbourne-born Matt Grant opened Bar Incognito (www.incognitobarbcn.com) with partners Ana Jelic and Nicole McManus in February 2008.

I’ve worked in the hospitality industry for a number of years. We looked at 20 or 30 traspasos in a six-month period, that’s a lease on a bar or a restaurant. There are three kinds of licences: C1 is drinks and snacks, and you can trade until 3am. C2 is a tapas place, for example. C3 is a restaurant. The length of the lease depends on when you come into it, and a particular licence comes along with the space.