Brian Dominic wrote: > > The 1st Notts Sea Scouts had one on Barton Island in the Trent: it was > > normally pulled to and from Beeston Marina each day to collect fresh > > water. > > When I was on camp there, acquiring the skills to pass my Seaman's > Badge (a different route to becoming a Queen's Scout) I was allowed to > rig the whaler and sail it. Tacking up against wind and current was > "very interesting" - I'd no sooner paid off on one tack before it was > time to go about again! Eastbourne SCC had one which we used off the beach there, back in the mid '50s; we only pulled it though, IRC, as we didn't have the masts or the canvas (well, maybe we did - but the powers that be possibly kept them hidden as they didn't trust us .. lol ..)
It must have been great fun sailing them though; and probably a lot more fun than heaving it back up the shingle afterwards, with hands blistered from the sweeps :-( They also had a couple of early Enterprises a bit later on, those were where I first learned my sailing - but I never managed to own one myself until the early '90s when I found a very dilapidated marine ply 'Ent' going cheap - and then spent the Spring, and too much cash, re-building it in the back garden; very much the (almost) middle-aged man attempting to reclaim his youth .. rofl .. but the sailing was great fun until the ticker gave out :-( Trevor [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
