Posted by Prue Eckett on April 19, 2006 at 10:49:43 from 222.153.251.149 user PrueEckett.
Peter R said there was nothing like sailing up Coniston Water with a slight following wind - it made me think, what is my favorite memory concerning boats?
Out of all of them I think I will never forget rowing out early one misty summer Saturday morning to a friend's yacht moored in the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, just up-harbour from the bridge. We were off for a sailing weekend up around Rangitoto (an extinct volcano familiar to those who watched America's Cup racing in the Hauraki gulf) and it turned out to be just corker with loads of good company on other boats moored overnight in Islington Bay and my first experience of phosphorescence!
But this early morning we could just hear distant sounds of the harbour, the mist which was hovering above the water was stained gold by the rising sun, the oars clunked gently in their rowlocks, there was no movement at all in the water - it was like liquid silk, and far away the first of the seagulls were doing their early morning yarping. It was so still!
I know it sounds very 'pretty' but for me it was magic and remains one of my loveliest memories of 'simply messing about in boats.'