My Father taught me to sail. I was pretty young and found it very frustrating. I remember us screaming at each other across the water, me thrashing about with the tiller and ropes, he leaning out from the family cruiser holding a glass of wine and a cigar. I raced dinghies throughout my early teens and won some trophies. My Father said, rightly, that I lost interest in sailing when I discovered girls. I've only sailed once or twice in the intervening years but I've always wanted to take my wife and daughter sailing. I finally did so during a recent Easter holiday in Devon. We had found a cottage through the internet. It hadn't mentioned the busy road right behind the house but the estuary came right up to the back door and the view was ever changing and lovely. We launched the dinghy I had also rented on the internet and very cautious of my role as captain I explained what I was doing and what they had to do as we sailed away from the house. The dinghy had big sails and the hills funneled the wind through the middle of the estuary. I could see that they were a bit frightened as the boat lurched over alarmingly. It was many years since I had last sailed and I was surprised at how much concentration and energy it took. We didn't capsize and soon arrived at a sheltered beach where we skimmed stones, made sculptures from washed up plastic bottles and watched the sparkling reflections of the low sun. On the last day I took the boat out on my own, it was fun for a while but then the wind dropped and the old sense of frustration crept back as I was forced to paddle against the falling tide
My Father taught me to sail. I was pretty young and found it very frustrating. I remember us screaming at each other across the water, me thrashing about with the tiller and ropes, he leaning out from the family cruiser holding a glass of wine and a cigar. I raced dinghies throughout my early teens and won some trophies. My Father said, rightly, that I lost interest in sailing when I discovered girls. I've only sailed once or twice in the intervening years but I've always wanted to take my wife and daughter sailing. I finally did so during a recent Easter holiday in Devon. We had found a cottage through the internet. It hadn't mentioned the busy road right behind the house but the estuary came right up to the back door and the view was ever changing and lovely. We launched the dinghy I had also rented on the internet and very cautious of my role as captain I explained what I was doing and what they had to do as we sailed away from the house. The dinghy had big sails and the hills funneled the wind through the middle of the estuary. I could see that they were a bit frightened as the boat lurched over alarmingly. It was many years since I had last sailed and I was surprised at how much concentration and energy it took. We didn't capsize and soon arrived at a sheltered beach where we skimmed stones, made sculptures from washed up plastic bottles and watched the sparkling reflections of the low sun. On the last day I took the boat out on my own, it was fun for a while but then the wind dropped and the old sense of frustration crept back as I was forced to paddle against the falling tide
