Posted by Robert Thompson on May 01, 1999 at 00:50:01:
In Reply to: nautical knowledge needed? posted by David Brooks on April 30, 1999 at 14:30:21:
David Brooks likens reading the sailing lingo in the S&A books to listening to a Latin Mass -
“I don’t have to worry about meaning but can let the sounds wash over me”.
(David perhaps subconsciously half-quotes from Swallowdale, when Roger is told about wrestling by Young Billy - “He just listened and the words went over his head like great poetry”).
I too have experienced this phenomenon but in reverse. On more than one occasion in the performance of a Latin Mass I have been (hopefully)attending to tuning and ensemble when the arrival of a S&A-like thought has caused a swift rise in concentration, adrenalin and, on one occasion, tempo.
On reading the books as a youngster I was not too concerned about not understanding some of the technicalities of the sailing vocabulary. It all seemed part of the magic of the writing, whereas books such as the Blyton “Adventure” series were written with the reader’s total comprehension in mind. Didn’t AR say that it was a mistake to write books for children to read and that it was better to write for oneself?
This year, however, I have made up my mind to “have a go” at a local sailing school - paradoxically less than a hundred yards from the main runway of Leeds/Bradford airport!