Sailing …

In 1993, Maggie’s aunt, Yvonne, died. Maggie’s family seemed to have been prone to various cancers: grandmother, mother, uncle and now, aunt, all died young or relatively so – Yvonne was only 61. When I met Maggie she was very aware of this and told me she did not expect a long life.

Yvonne’s estate amounted to quite a significant sum. “I do not want to die rich” declared Maggie, “Let’s buy a boat!” OK, but our total sailing exsperience was ‘ of two ‘Firefly’ (12 foot) dinghies – and reading ‘Swallows and Amazons’, of course … The first was purchased ‘as seen’ from Chris Hornsey in Milton Market, sank on its first launch and was never used again. The second was much better but we capsized it on its first outing and never really got much beyond that! So she enrolled us on a sailing course. Not a success. When at the end of the course she was told that she was now certified as ‘Competent Crew’ she told the instructor that she was nothing like competent and, as you would hope, gave him a sound dressing down. He was useless.

Notwithstanding that, and with a budget of £65,000, we set off to the Southampton boat show. Nobody would talk to us! Eventually we gave it up as a bad job and wandered down the coast to Swanwick and ultimately to Ports Solent, where we found what we were looking for. The owner was a charming old chap who was selling up in favour of something more easily handled. It was a Hunter Horizon 32 – a proper sailing boat but with a wheelhouse which made it airy and comfortable. The agent told us it had just been reduced from £50k to £45k. “I’ll give you £40k” said Maggie. He huffed, puffed, spluttered, etc., but the owner seemed to have taken a shine to us and the deal was done!

We took a slot at Haslar Marina in Gosport. I can’t imagine why people would want to go to Port Solent – locking out and then an hour down the harbour to reach the open sea – and the same on the way back. Haslar is useable at all states of tide and 15 minutes from the harbour entrance, with all the local amenities available in Gosport even on foot!

We decided to try some more training and hired a skipper for a week, on our own boat. This was better but we never really became proper sailors. We did have some wonderful times though, bimbling about in the Solent and spending weekends in most of the little harbours between Poole and Chichester. One asset we had was the old Gasworks at Kingston, up river from Cowes where this picture was taken.

Even further up the Medina is the Folly Inn, always crammed with yachties and with cheap food in huge portions for hungry yoof – OK for us, too! Too dark for this photo so I’ve lightened Maggie up a bit.

Having colleagues (much) more able than us, we used to invite them to skipper us during the ‘Round-the -Island’ race each year and always managed to finish, although I’m not sure what to do with the half dozen half-pint pewter tankards we accumulated! It was always fun and sometimes frightening – our skipper had been a top man in dinghy racing and he used the same style for the 32 footer!

Sadly, by 1999, Maggie was suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis which meant that it was no longer fun jumping on and off and pulling ropes. We sold the boat to the son of one of my mother’s friends for £45,000. Not really a profit when you consider inflation and the amount we had spent on maintenance, but an unforgettable experience.