This was in a Snipe based at Moascar on Lake Timsa which is one of the Great Bitter lakes through which the Suez canal runs.
Not having had any previous experience we soon ran into trouble and had to be towed back to the club.
Some years later , in 1966 , I took a short night school course using Mirror dinghies which enabled me to learn the basics of what was to become a lifetime interest.
The next thing was to become a boat owner and join a sailing club.2 or 3 years membership of the B.E.A sailing club was followed by a happy period with the Civil Service club at Littleton lake.
During the next 13 years I owned a number of boats,some of which are shown alongside this text.
The Duflo Moth which I built myself had such a low wetted area that when put in the water it tended to fall over.Because of this,it was quite an unstable boat to sail but very fast and due to it's favourable Portsmouth rating was a good boat to sail in handicap races.
The last single handed boat I owned was a Laser. I was fortunate enough to obtain one of these shortly after their introduction to the UK,being fairly successful at a club and local competition level and possibly as a result of this I was invited to crew in various cross channel cruiser races.I was beginning to be a bit disenchanted with competition as so many races seem to be won in the protest room as opposed to on the waterThen came the change.
A New Interest
At about the time that my interest in competition was beginning to wane a new watersport was introduced to the UK.This was windsurfing,more commonly now known as board sailing,
This seemed to embody all the characteristics that I was seeking.
Cutting a long story short the next phase of the saga can probably be best seen on my website which is at http://ancientmarinerpontificates.synthasite.com/
