Posted by Laurence Monkhouse on July 04, 2006 at 08:10:38 from 80.3.128.6 user Laurence_.
In Reply to: Re: Back to basics posted by Mike Dennis on July 04, 2006 at 07:39:57:
What children need is the ability to do such things without the heavy hand of parental authority
This is so very right. Parental or any other authority. Rather than organising things for young people we ought to be fighting the forces that try to organise them.
My friends and I as teenagers learned to sail in clapped out cheap boats, Ransome in hand. I have never been to a sailing school, never possessed a certificate of competence, never (Well - hardly ever) worn a lifejacket, never been taught how dangerous it all is rather than the fact that it is intensely joyful.
Ransome was all the teaching we needed, including how to cope with the dangers when they do arise (and they do and they are terrifying, but you need built-in self taught seamanship, not book-learning to deal with them). Later on he was joined by the Racing Rules, but these were needed to prove that we were better than the grown ups rather than admitting having anything to learn from them.
Fifty years on we are all still here, and some of our boats have gone quite long distances during that time.
I just feel so sorry for today's over-organised young people. Please don't let us join in the organising. Put them in a boat, give them a push and let them find it all out for themselves.