Sailing fifty years ago

[Mark-1]

Not sure his 'weld your own anchor out of some old scrap pipe work', etc. would have much currency these days!

Loads of fishemen seem to have home made anchors.

 

[coaster63]

Loads of fishemen seem to have home made anchors.

Hardly seems worth the effort with all the absolutely useless non trendy CQR etc. available for pitance

 

[AntarcticPilot]

That is very similar to my experience, albeit on the other side of the world on the Orwell. Racing for those who wanted it, but otherwise messing about on the river in an assortment of boats, getting into scrapes but almost always sorting them out for ourselves. I agree, the emphasis these days appears to be on structured race-based training which doesn't seem to be doing much to move youngsters out of the mentality that boats are solely for going round the cans. We were occasionally lent a very small YM Senior - huge responsibility at the time as it was such a big boat (!) but a wealth of possibilities and sowed the seeds of understanding that there was interest to be had in sailing round the next headland.

I, too, learnt most of my sailing mucking around in the family Heron, mostly single-handed. Certainly learnt how to get to windward up a narrow river without a) hitting other boats and b) getting tangled in fishermen's lines! The latter could never understand why we couldn't go straight up the middle - after all, that was where we'd been going the other way! What that taught me about making every inch to windward has never gone away. To this day, if I'm at the helm going to windward my inclination is always to get as far to windward as possible, unless there's a navigational danger in the way - never mind keeping an exact course!

 

[jamie N]

I totally agree with the getting up to weather as a 'must', and thought that it was just me being a bit odd with the thought that "I might get a header, and anyway, I can always bear off"!

 

[Mark-1]

Hardly seems worth the effort with all the absolutely useless non trendy CQR etc. available for pitance

I think the advantage is that they can make a mild steel grapel good enough to hold against weather/tide but 'bendy' enough that when it inevitably gets caught on an underwater obstruction (of the kind fish congregate around) a good brust of reverse straightens it out and it pulls free.

 

[Fantasie 19]

My brand-new Twister being sailed away from Brixham by her proud owner

(Not me! I could not possibly have afforded such a boat on a Chief Petty Officer's pay)

My brand new Hurley 20 would have been sailing away from the builders at much the same time... she's fifty on November 16th...