"There is nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing around with boats"

Times I showed courage hmmmm come back to me in 1/2 hour.
(1/2 hour later)

I think I've got it. This is the time I showed courage. My parents had decided to send me sailing on the lake in Canberra. I thought that this would be rather fun, sailing around the lake all day. Now the first thing the people at Canberra Yacht Club did was demonstrate how to put together a type of boat known as a topper. The topper is a very small boat as demonstrated by this photograph.
So,in the morning us beginners we were paired up amongst ourselves. My partner was a girl who didn't seem to be the kind of person who was there because she wanted to be she seemed to be the kind of person whose brother was doing it and her parents sent her there as well. Anyway, in the morning we went sailing around the bay that the yacht club owned. The wind was apparently good and at times our boat went fast.
In the afternoon:

The wind had picked up at it was blowing extremely fast for this lake. We got into our toppers and set out now the set out of the bay.The bay is an oval shape on the southern side of the lake it is about 200m. East to west and 100m. North to south. On the north side there is an opening to the rest of the lake which boats sail through to reach the rest of the lake. We sailed to the opening and alas, catastrophe struck the boat capsized and we were thrown out of the boat boat fast as lightning, even though lightning is bad near lakes.

As we fell into the water she hit her leg on something and began screaming!! We were wearing life-jackets so we floated but the water was still freezing cold the movement of the water brought out and back into the water again and again. The instructors came over and pulled her out of the water but I had to stay in I had to turn the boat over so I could continue sailing it was viewed as a training exercise. The boat was slippery as I tried to tip it over but eventually it became obvious that this was futile.
 The instructors were just about to throw one of their own in when BANG the boat turtled or in other terms tipped over completely. The mast was vertical pointing straight down. My only hope to get it back upright was the centreboard, the board coming out of the bottom that is inserted as you launch your boat that is there for balance. I grabbed the centreboard bt my numb, cold fingers couldn't hold on it slipped back through the hole through which I had put it minutes earlier. To cut a long story short the instructor managed to pull the boat back the right way up and I was brought inside and spent the rest of the day huddled up in a towel. The winds had been judged to dangerous for beginners and everyone was brought inside.

This experience changed my perspective on sailing I now viewed instead of a fun recreational activity but as a game me against the lake trying not to fall in gradually I fell in less and less and now I rarely ever do. Sailing is now easily my favourite sport and I love sailing.

This is
AlexK
Signing out