As told in the first person by David… 經馮琰親自闡述…
My first moments on a boat were in my teenage years. After a local friend in Switzerland let me get a feel for “how it works”, I was ready — and at age 16, when I was old enough to rent a bareboat speedboat, I took to Lake Zürich in spring 1998. The teenage years were never easy, but in the midst of turmoil in the family, I found my bit of the world on the waters of Lake Zürich.
Just push down on the throttle — and steer. It was a unique way to discover my most familiar waters. Switzerland was a landlocked country, yet it boasted an incredibly active boating community. You had to have a real boat — the “electric boats” in many a Chinese park never did the deal (although it was great piloting a real boat on Lake Jinhai in China).
我與船艇初次邂逅，始於青蔥歲月。在一位瑞士本地朋友讓我近距離摸索如何運行，我便躍躍欲試。1998 年仲春，我當時即滿 16 歲，到達法定租船（遊艇自家駕）年齡，得以獨自租借一艘快艇，破浪駛入蘇黎世湖。眾所周知，少年成長之路總會伴隨幾許喧鬧與迷惘，但於家庭面臨動盪之時，我即可於蘇黎世湖水域上，找到屬於自己一方天地。
即刻推下油門，而後掌舵，這是一種探索我最熟悉水域的獨特方式。即使瑞士屬內陸國家，卻擁有非常活躍的船艇社群。若要領略航海真諦，你必須親自開一艘「真正的船」— 而許多中國內地公園裏「電動船」根本無法帶來這種體驗（儘管在金海湖駕駛真船感覺好讚）。
One of the reasons the girl that became my wife and I fell in love with one other was a shared love for travel, and for the waters. Although the mountains of Switzerland were genuinely familiar to me, there was a special thing about the seas and oceans that captivates the mind of a Swiss citizen abroad.
On 02 August 2026, much in line with our family’s tradition of taking a boat out in as many places we visit, we started our journey on a speedboat from Hobsonville Marina in Auckland, New Zealand, sailing in the direction of the open oceans. The rest, as they say, is history. Five days afterwards, I passed my first “real-world” speedboating tests and got licensed — with a NASBLA Boating Safety ID Card in Florida, and Canada’s Pleasure Craft Operator Card, with plenty more tests and licenses in the pipeline. For our family, the boat has become a unique place — to be in the seas and oceans my wife loves, to be at the helm as I myself love it, and to have our next generation join us onboard.
我與後來成爲我太太的女孩之所以墜入愛河，正是源於彼此對寰宇經緯與蔚藍大海的共同眷戀。即使瑞士山脈對我再熟悉不過，但對於身處海外瑞士公民來說，那片無垠大海總是有一種能牽引心靈的非凡魅力。
我們家有希望在每一地方租船駕駛傳統 — 每逢遊歷各地，必泛舟於水上。2026 年 8 月 2 日，我們在紐西蘭奧克蘭賀森維爾碼頭登上一艘快艇，自己駕駛，駛向公海方向，展開我們旅程，翻開自由人生旅程新的一頁。五天後，我通過了首次「船牌實戰」快艇考牌，並當日獲得兩張快艇駕駛執照：美國佛羅里達州 NASBLA 船艇安全身分證及加拿大遊樂船隻操作員證，而目前尚有更多考牌與執照現正籌劃或是學習之中。對於我們家而言，船艇已成爲一種獨特空間 — 既能讓我太太身處她熱愛大海，同時亦能由我親自掌舵，更能讓我們下一代一同登船前行。
