After many stops and starts, Bermuda inventor Murray Scott’s specially designed Snorkelboards are floating worldwide.

“In the last year, potential distributors in Australia took three boards, then ordered 30 more,” Mr Scott said. “A concept store for buyers in Hawaii bought 25. Another ten boards went to St Thomas in the Virgin Islands.”

His creation is a boogie board with a clear window in the front so that people can float along, enjoying life underwater without a mask or much swimming.

“I want the Snorkelboard to become a household name, globally,” Mr Scott said. “I want people to hear the word ‘Snorkelboard’ and know what they are.”

However, the road to world domination has been a long and slow one, full of dips. Last year, Disney Cruise Line showed interest in buying thousands of his boards. So far, that has not materialised.

“Maybe that will come in the future,” Mr Scott said. “At the beginning I was saying, this is so slow and nobody is responding. Now, I know that was a good thing.”

The mask on an early prototype was leaky.

“If someone had ordered 10,000 I would have been in trouble,” Mr Scott said.

He went back to the manufacturers, had them fix the leak, and added handles to the board. He is still slowly adding improvements as feedback comes in.

“It is a process that everyone has to go through, as far as products,” Mr Scott said. “You never put something together and it is perfect the first time. It has been a nice learning curve for me towards understanding that.”

He was recently accepted into the next cohort of the Ignite business accelerator programme, and is looking forward to learning more about how to finance his project.

“I also need help with marketing the boards around the world,” he said. “I keep plugging away, and sending samples out. It takes awhile.”

He said after joining Ignite the direction of his company, The Snorkelboard Factory, could change.

Mr Scott started designing the product in 2016 after retiring from teaching. He released his first version at the North American International Toy Fair in New York City.

“Now, I spend all my days working on them,” he said. “I am glad I have something to keep me busy. I never get bored. I feel very good with where it is at. I am on my way to fulfilling my goals.”