Boats

"A lot of other sports look up to sailing because they have...mass participation, a club network, schools programmes and buried in the middle of it all is an elite who...win olympic medals. ...not many British sports can claim to be No 1 in the world."

- Matthew Pinsent, quoted from the Daily Telegraph, 01/08/05

I guess many folk start sailing in dinghies. It can be quite a cheap sport, depending on what you go for and how seriously you take it. Some years back, I acquired a Minisail so I would have something to do with the children while they were growing up. It's a nice little surfboard with a sail on it, and I guess was a forerunner of the modern windsurfers. Because the Minisail was a forgotten boat, and because it must have been at least 30 years old, I picked it up for £80. It cost me almost as much for the roof bars so I could carry it around on the roof of the car. That was about it, really; nowadays I insure it (in case I ram any nice motor cruisers) and pay about £30 per year for that, although you can get it cheaper than that. It is important to have life jackets, which can come in at around £50 each, although I got three ex DoI ones to start me off which cost me £5 each.

It's not a bad idea to be careful what you put up on the Internet. I put up a page not unlike this some time back; maybe the late 1990s, I don't remember exactly when. I got a number of responses from folks asking about the Minisail, and when I couldn't really cope, I started a forum. Then we decided to meet up, and then we re-started the class association. So now I get to sail with a really great bunch of "Minisailors" (we're not that small...). Last year (2015) I had the great joy of joining our friends in Belgium for their "European Nationals".

There's some great ventures around. There's a guy at work who gets involved with sailing for the disabled - the "Jubilee Trust" - which is based in the Southampton Area. My wife and I help with breakfasts for the homeless. A number of these guys are battling with addictions, and a friend suggested sailing. When seeking to kick an addiction, it can be really helpful to have something else to focus on - why not sailing? It's just a germ of an idea at the moment. Check back in a few years time and see if anything came of it...