Start Sail 2025

Port? Starboard? No, it’s Houses and Field! 
My wife and I are on a Start Sailing course all alone on the river putting ointo practice what we have learnt, bravely attempting to graduate from “flapping about aimlessly” to “slightly less flapping, more aim.” One might assume, given that my wife has a degree in Geography, she’d be a natural at direction. Alas, she can name every tributary of the Amazon but still can’t tell left from right without pretending to write her name in the air. This has proven to be something of a challenge on the boat. “Other side!” I’d shout. “Which other side?” she’d reply. “The sail side!” I tried. “Which sail? We’ve got two!” Fair point. I usually rely on the red and green ribbons tied to the shrouds to shout “Red side!” or “Green side!”—a nautical nod to traffic lights—but I’d forgotten to tie them on. Oops. Port and starboard? We tried those. Sounded far too much like a wine list and a hotel breakfast tray. So in the end, we improvised: one side of the river had houses, the other had a field. Easy. “Tack towards the houses!” I’d say. “Gybe to the field!” No ambiguity. No geography degree required. Admittedly, this system would’ve broken down completely if we’d gone further upstream—where the houses swap sides—but thankfully we didn’t get that far before the wind gave up and so did we. Still, I like to think we’re pioneering a whole new direction system. Next time, I’m bringing a label maker. Or perhaps we’ll just sail in circles. Much safer that way.