News from Nick Floyer

I was camping and sailing with my family on the Norfolk Broads last week. Stepping ashore, I overbalanced and fell into shallow water. On the way down, I hit my side on the gunwale of the boat, broke six ribs and punctured a lung. I am just back from amazing care in Norwich hospital.

As you can imagine, I shall not be able to return to sailing at Strand for a while. I have decided in principle to sell Tonic, my Lightning 368 dinghy. She is an old boat but perfectly sound and everything works. She has two sets of spars, all recent, and two sails, one being new and unused. The Lightning is an ideal boat for a lightweight single-hander: self-draining, pivoting centreboard, sail on a halyard. She is amazingly fast in some conditions. So meanwhile, if anyone would like to use her or try her out, that can be arranged.

I hope that this will not be my last boat at Strand, but I may need to find something more sedate. I shall continue to sail elsewhere with my family in our various small boats. I learned to sail from my father in the Straits of Johore at the age of eight, seventy-two years ago; now my four children have families of their own. All four are experienced sailors, both my sons being Yachtmasters, one the volunteer skipper of the Cornish Maritime Trust’s mackerel driver “Barnabus”, the other Lt Cmdr RN. In Norfolk, a good time was had by all, except me.

Nick