Autumn Break. Part Two: Boats and Backwaters

Ma considers the charms of sailing

‘You’re not going to buy another boat, are you?’ asks Ma, stunned. Like Pondside and Frances, she vividly recalls the problems of the naughty Pig Boat, but for me and Tom (who needs no encouragement) distance lends considerable enchantment to our view of sailing. Oh, I know I was sick half way round Britain on our lovely Veryan, but what about the amazing sights we saw? Steering by a star (Arcturus) though the Looe Channel, following a moonbeam into Salcombe, being surrounded by basking sharks yawning in a still sea off Penzance… just a few of the moments that will always stay with me.

Today we’ve come to look at a fat little boat which might be just right for some gentle pottering. Even better, she’s in the sleepy backwater where sailing all began for me and at the boatyard which worked its way into my imagination.

 

Across the backwaters

At Ramsgate on Veryan

Size-wise, we decide, the boat’s doable, with enough headroom to stand up and enough leg-room to stretch out, though she certainly needs some tlc. Leaving Tom to look at all the technical stuff, I re-join Ma who’s been sitting in the sun. ‘Do you know?’ she says, ‘I can see why you like all this, it’s so different.’ I’m delighted she agrees because it is different here, a world away from gleaming gin palaces and the marine equivalent of a car park. Boats, for us, have never been about Musto jackets or Kevlar sails, but seeing the world from another angle, of taking time out to sit and think. So if the right boat comes along at the right time, who knows?

We head off to find a peaceful picnic spot overlooking the sea where a more intrepid traveller passes us by... now this is one activity I'm definitely not trying!