For many years I have been messing about with water, drinking it sometimes tea and sometimes whisky, washing in it, swimming sailing rowing motoring . As a child of 6/7yrs my grandfather would take us to Coniston water so we could jump of the cabin of his beautifully varnished boat called mougli, many happy memories in summer holidays. My family moved to Scotland and in summer holidays as an 11 year old lad I hired motor boats and canoes out to holiday makers from a small garage on the sea front in Ullapool we entered the summer regatta in a mini shell with 4 x 40 gallon oil drums to keep us afloat (it sank). My first sailing trip was around the summer isles in a 27ft moody at 14. I have lived in the lake district for the last 30 years with a short spell crewing on a Cork 1720 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3qPDe_ ... l=id&gl=ID which I loved as it go me away from all the hassle of work. For health reasons the owner of the boat could not keep manage to keep sailing at that speed so that chapter had to end. Every year my family holiday in Scotland, at least 1 week at Arisaig where we take our kayak and canoes but don't venture very far from the shore. Last year when we were there three different campers went out to sea in their SIB's. Later that year we went to Mull and camped at Fionnphort where another camper set off in their SIB I just had to have one. So one ebay purchase next I now have a Sunsport ARIB 320 with a 1979 Mariner 15Hp oil burner all for £720.00 including delivery from the south coast to M6 Junction 19 it also came with a donut and tow rope for my son. Motor looks a bit warn but starts 2nd pull. With a bit of scrubbing and polishing the boat has come up like new and holds air forever. The motor will lay on its side in the back of our camper and the boat fits nicely on the tow ball mounted bike rack. So at some stage I plan to test it out on Windermere keeping under the 5mph limit
Then our next trip to Arisaig at the end of May is when the fun begins. Although I have been close to water for a long time I still know very little and understand I need to learn a lot more.Thanks for a great forum
