Sailing

At 18,  I started a new life on the Isle of Wight. My motivation was to live by the sea and learn to sail.

I ending up married to the daughter of the National Sailing Centre director Bert Keeble. As I was working at the British Hovercraft Corporation, a young sailing instructor called Gareth, referred to us as “Air Cushion Andy and Pin Cushion Pam”.

Those earlier days of dinghy sailing had their embarrassing moments. I had an OK dinghy at one point. Single handed, before the days that Lasers were popular. Returning back to the Centre, because the wind was increasing, I completed an uncontrolled gybe in full view of the instructors and my father-in-law. As the dinghy capsized, and the mast hit the water, it snapped off at deck level. Expensive and embarrassing rolled into one.