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Before the sail could be lowered the mast was grabbed by strong hands and thrust in the general direction of open water which, obviously with the wind blowing unabated put them onto the bow of the next boat on the mooring. The two women gave way to complete hysterics, shrieks of laughter echoed across the yacht station. The carefully applied makeup, mingled with tears of mirth, transformed their faces into mascara streaked objects wonderful to behold. We had also lost control, and any pretence of politeness evaporated as the performance with the dingy continued from boat to boat bringing their crews on deck. What innocent passers by made of it all I can only imagine.  Eventually they managed to free themselves and no doubt had an enjoyable sail, but I will forever be indebted to them all for a wonderful and thoroughly entertaining twenty minutes that I have never forgotten after all these years.

In the early seventies we hired King of Hearts from Hearts Cruisers of Thorpe. 41ft with an 11ft beam, all wood, with a sliding canopy over centre cockpit. Flush forward deck with portholes to the forward cabins. Lovely! We stopped for lunch at Womack Water, it was a nice day so we slid the canopy down.Very heavy to slide back up again as it was made of wood. My brother on one side, me on the other, and heave. After lunch we attempted to close the canopy which decided to come off the runners. We could not move it at all so we set off to Herbert Woods to get the problem fixed.

Half way there Monsoon season started and it absolutely tipped down. We attracted curious stares from other craft with their canopies up, who were not having half the fun we were, and probably felt envious.  We arrived at the yard looking the least likely candidates for a Burtons window display that you could imagine. The rain now stopped and I seem to remember a fellow called Jimmy effected the repair with his jemmy.

Michael J. Hannant 2007

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Watching closely we witnessed the sail being raised again and the second dash for freedom attempted. This time the loving embrace was afforded to the next boat down the mooring and signalled the complete collapse of the two women. The occupants of this latest boat to experience this novel way of sailing came up from below, made an instant assessment of the situation, and the action to be taken.

By Michael J. Hannant

Boating Tales From

The 1960s & 1970s