I don’t sail and know little or nothing about boats so when the Commodore of the local yacht club asked to write a speech I was in a bit of a quandary. He explained that they were going to have a sail pass dinner and that he needed to speak at it. He confessed that no matter how many times he had to speak he still found it hard going. My imagination took flight as I remembered walking by the seashore one balmy evening recently and being entranced by the colours of the sails reflected in the water. He wanted to speak about the youngsters who were the life blood of the club. He spoke proudly of how, when a sudden squall had overturned many of the boats, the children had not panicked but had kept their wits and waited to be rescued. He had the interesting thought that their training at sea would help them deal with the squalls of life later on. With that interesting though I was soon in full flow and his speech, he told me later on, was plain sailing.

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