You can learn a lot from studying famous sailors and what they say. Take Uffa Fox, for example. As well as being a designer, confidant of Royalty and an intrepid sailor, Uffa was also a philosopher; albeit of the salty variety.
Any sailor will enjoy his book Power and Sail. In the introduction to Part 1 – Cruising, Uffa says that ‘Cruising can be enjoyed in all sizes of craft, from the giant steamship Queen Mary downwards, but it may be said generally that the smaller the cruiser, the greater the pleasure derived from it: for when we cruise we are trying to escape the exactness of this mechanical age, and to enjoy the changing moods of nature, and these changes are seen and felt far more in the small than in the large vessel.’
The first lines in chapter 1 – To Brittany in Brynhild – then kick off with: ‘If we are fond of music, we play some instrument or sing, so that we may enjoy it; and if we are fond of the sea, we must sail on it in some form of boat. Our choice of boat is as wide as our choice of musical instrument; and for a cruise across channel and along the Normandy and Brittany coasts into the Bay of Biscay to Spain and possibly the Mediterranean, I chose, designed and built a 20ft double-handed sliding-seat canoe.’
It gets better. On the topic of accommodation, Uffa explains: ‘Two tents had to be carried, one that fitted over the main boom and another that would sleep two on shore, for in some places it would be impossible to sleep in the boat, and in others impossible to sleep ashore.’
Then what about food? Uffa says: ‘Once we had crossed the channel, it was only necessary to take one day’s food supply with us.’ And what about actually eating this food at sea? Uffa has a simple answer. ‘In calm weather we could cook under way (on a primus) such things as sausages, eggs and bacon or soup, and for rough weather I took a large quantity of milk chocolate and plain biscuits, which can be eaten in the roughest of weather and contain a great deal of nourishment and energy.’
And how
