John Gisbey comes from an East Kent family that have been fishermen, shrimpers and boatbuilders (sometimes a little smuggling as well) for generations. John has been playing mountain dulcimer around the folk clubs for over thirty years. "Sailing off Starvation Point" is a mesmeric and mellifluous collection of tunes not only from the maritime tradition but includes contempory ballads played fingerpicking style on the mountain dulcimer tuned to Ionian and Mixolydian modes.

In past centuries, poverty stricken men would wait for work on fishing boats outside the gates to Whitstable Harbour. They said they were "Sailing off Starvation Point"