Elfin Saveti

[bilbobaggins]

This is one of Winslow Homer's many painted images of boating that evoke warm and nostalgic pleasure.....

The problem is, I can't think of anywhere - including Massachusetts, Maine and The Solent - where a family could do that today without a jumble of jobsworths interfering.

/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Becky]

How extremely true.

Health & Safety would have a field day, but as a child we used to sail our Enterprise without too much gubbins. Just life jackets, 'cause we often turned the boat over; purely in the interests of max speed, we never reefed.

And what good practice it was. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[jhr]

That's an awfully big pillowcase on the horizon.

 

[Bajansailor]

What a lovely painting!
If anybody tried that in Massachusetts or Maine today they would probably be arrested by the coastguard re no PFDs..... and for not having the correct documentation / registration numbers,

When I were a wee young lad we had a Mirror dinghy, and we (my sister and I) used to go out sailing in it by ourselves - no rescue boat anywhere, no lifejackets, no crash helmets (like what kids on Oppies seem to need nowadays), no flares, no mobile phones or VHF radios....... not even any sunglasses or Factor 40. And somehow we survived.....

One develops a healthy respect for dinghy booms (especially solid timber booms on Mirrors) after being clobbered on the noggin a few times (I am a bit dense, took a while for it to sink in).

But we did have a good sense of self preservation, and we carried a pair of oars, bottles of water and an anchor with a proper length cable (all lashed down).
We knew that if anything happened in the offshore wind, the nearest land was 100 miles away to the west....

We used to regularly capsize, just so that we could go for a swim to cool off.......... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[PhilipH]

You really need to think carefully about posting these kinds of images - they might encourage people to sail without wearing lifejackets, laze about on the foredeck, not wear non-slip soled boots, not have protective helmets. You could seriously be encouraging people just to relax and enjoy themselves when they go sailing - a dangerous and irresponsible attitude.

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[carannah]

[ QUOTE ]
How extremely true.

Health & Safety would have a field day, but as a child we used to sail our Enterprise without too much gubbins. Just life jackets, 'cause we often turned the boat over; purely in the interests of max speed, we never reefed.

And what good practice it was. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Health and Safety would not be concerned because it is a private venture. If however the skipper was running a business and the others were employees or paying guests then their safty would have to be accounted for. Their Health is fine and there would appear nothing on board to affect their health. There are others who may advise the use of lifejackets etc, such as the RNLI

I am always surprised that people harp on about H & S spoiling the day. If however your child was taken out sailing by a business and had not taken reasonable precautions for their safety. Would you ignore the fact and accept that things happen or go running to the nearest lawyer claiming negligence in the event of an accident. By the way I do not work for H & S