Manual skills picked up, useful around boats (11)

I believe the answer is:

handicrafts

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'manual skills' is the definition.
'handicrafts' can be an answer for 'skills' (I have seen 'Decorative skills ' mean 'handicrafts' so perhaps 'skills' could also mean 'handicrafts'). I am not sure about the 'manual' bit.

'picked up useful around boats' is the wordplay.
'picked up' shows a homophone (sound like).
'useful' becomes 'handy' (handy can mean useful or convenient).
'around boats' becomes 'crafts' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'handy' sounds like 'handi'.
'handi'+'crafts'='HANDICRAFTS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for handicrafts that I've seen before include "Decorative skills" , "Manually-made decorative items" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times.

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