Back to the future

I've always loved old boats and our recent family purchase still has me mesmerised. I sailed "Callisto" single handed saturday and slowly drifted back in time.. At 26ft, wooden and 46 years old, she's an "owl and a pussy cat" kind of boat that has crossed oceans. But for me Chichester Harbour was enough and even without any pussycat, it was still a great adventure. I parked at East Head and ate my lunch. I didnt know how much anchor chain to use so I threw the lot out. I studied the map on the beautifully varnished table down stairs and wondered if this was how Charles Carruthers felt in "Riddle of the Sands". In fact its not so hard, and it seems sailing maps are remarkedly similar to land maps except they are missing an index, they measure depth instead of height and don't have "Little Chef's" marked on them..

But it was back to normal today and great to see SB3 World Champion Geoff Carveth doing OK in his new boat. Michael Lennnon's practice is paying off, and for the first time since the Tide Ride several weeks ago I took my other old boat out. I felt pretty good once I got into it, the extra kilo's seemed to help and a couple of fully foiling tacks had me thinking about the Australian nationals. But the water here is cold, both foils ventillated, my feet were like ice, and the mainsheet took the skin off my hands..