Swallowdale Boat Accident

[Croak]

I wonder how this would have been received on here.

4 kids on a boat.

No buoyancy aids.

no buoyancy on the boat.

Older one showing off to a couple of girls by not reefing.

Self recovery?

Setting off again on a boat badly repaired with some canvas and nails.

 

[Lakesailor]

Appalling. the RNLI and MAIB are looking into it even now.

 

[IJL]

That was the good old days, no SATS tests or perpetual exams, things were simple, send 'em out in a boat and if they dont come back you had clearly sired a gaggle of Duffers.


You tell young people today............

 

[Croak]

I think the young people would be quite happy with it. It is the silly old duffers that stopped the fun.

 

[Sniper]

They should all have been whisked off to A&E for a precautionary check. Oh - it didn't exist. How on earth did people manage?

 

[Lakesailor]

The Air Ambulance couldn't attend because....erm.....there weren't any (helicopters, that is)



It'll be reet

 

[RichardTaylor]

"Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers wont drown"

 

[AntarcticPilot]

"Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers wont drown"

And, if my memory serves me, didn't John spend quite a lot of time and angst wondering if he'd been a duffer?

We've all hung on a bit further than we should - I've certainly passed closer to the lighthouse on Little Cumbrae than I should have, because I was single-handed, out of practise, tacking was going to be hard work, and if I could weather that point, I was OK. Capricious and I are still here, but with hind-sight I should have tacked! I probably was a duffer that day.

 

[Sire]

Just as an aside (not wishing to hijack the thread) I found a copy of Swallowdale in Finnish (==Pääskylaakso)
today for my kids, who are currently being read Pääskyt ja Amatsonit - you guessed it - for their bedtime story. It's a shame that those were the only two to be translated into Finnish. Maybe a desire for the rest of the stories might engender some motivation towards learning English, though!

 

[mrming]

I think the young people would be quite happy with it. It is the silly old duffers that stopped the fun.

+1 Look at all the long keel nonsense on here!

 

[Modulation]

Love it!!

That was the good old days, no SATS tests or perpetual exams, things were simple, send 'em out in a boat and if they dont come back you had clearly sired a gaggle of Duffers.


You tell young people today............

 

[Bru]

If you wind the story forward 80 years and cast a jaundiced eye over it in the light of modern technology then no, you wouldn't approve given that we now have smart, lightweight functional buoyancy aids, plastic and GRP moulding technology etc and so on which simply wasn't available at the time the story was written

An aside: Wrecking the Swallow was a necessary precursor to the storyline of course but it also made John in particular a more endearing character and the way Ransome brought out his inner worries and concerns over the wrecking and its aftermath is one of the best bits of character writing I've ever read

 

[Lakesailor]

Have you done one of them there correspondence writing courses?

 

[Croak]

If you wind the story forward 80 years and cast a jaundiced eye over it in the light of modern technology then no, you wouldn't approve given that we now have smart, lightweight functional buoyancy aids, plastic and GRP moulding technology etc and so on which simply wasn't available at the time the story was written

Last week I was a Charcoal Burner at a Swallows ans Amazon event.

I was watching a family preparing for a trip on the lake in a Lark I think.

The dad was trying to get a small girl estimate 3-6 years into a life jacket, firstly by logical argument and secondly by "well you are not coming with us if you don't put it on." Her argument back was, "but its fuggy"

 

[Lakesailor]

Did she mean fugly? Was it Titty?

 

[LadyInBed]

Swallowdale in Finnish (==Pääskylaakso)
Will that put an end to it?
. . . I'll get my hat.

 

[Croak]

A bit young for Titty.

http://sophieneville.net/swallows-and-amazons/

 

[Bru]

The dad was trying to get a small girl estimate 3-6 years into a life jacket, firstly by logical argument and secondly by "well you are not coming with us if you don't put it on." Her argument back was, "but its fuggy"

I'd have drowned the little brat

Does make you wonder what the world has come to when a child of such tender years is more concerned about her appearance than the exciting adventure upon which she's about to embark though!

 

[prv]

Does make you wonder what the world has come to when a child of such tender years is more concerned about her appearance than the exciting adventure upon which she's about to embark though!

Might she have meant that it was hot, sweaty and uncomfortable, rather than ugly?

Pete

 

[JumbleDuck]

You think Swallowdale is bad? What about We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea? No lifejackets, safety harnesses, VHF, GPS, EPIRB, AIS, radar reflector, proof of VAT status, RCD documentation, ICC or liferaft. Worst of all, Goblin didn't have hot and cold running water, and we all know, my dears, that one simply cannot go cruising without that.

Still my number one top favourite sailing book, though.