SKIPPER IN A PICKLE
Persuading friends and family to spend a weekend in cramped and damp conditions while travelling slowly is never going to be an easy sell. It can take a while for newbies to catch the magic of ghosting along in a warm breeze, or the beauty of a misty dawn and the oystercatcher’s cry. Every encouragement is needed to keep them going until they get it (p32). Shouting must be one of the major reasons that novices decide that sailing isn’t for them. The bellowing yacht skipper glued to the helm and exasperated crew dashing about on deck is such a well-worn trope that one could assume this is the inescapable order of the universe. It isn’t, of course, and it’s easy to scoff at said skipper while asserting that, ‘I never…