This is a taster to my Creek Sailor
cartoon serial which I hope will become a regular feature of this site.
Small boaters and in particular creek sailing have become
synonymous. Period. I can now close this blog for my job is done. But no, I’ll
carry on a while longer regardless, for there is still work to be done in the name of
affordable cruising for every man and lady, whether born on the Quay spewing seaweed
or in a block of flats in London sucking on car fumes and police sirens.
There maybe a recession in other fields but creek sailors
are now popping out of the woodwork like gunfire sprayed all over the place. You
may have noticed how articles are appearing in mags and such like by so called
experts of this somewhat “noble art of the humble man”. (Might just possibly be
skint though with three kids wrapped round them and can’t afford a big boat).
Maybe these folk have become disillusioned by being shouted to from the seawall
“you are partaking in a sport” by someone who is short of breath, while sitting
minding their own business in a small boat surrounded by mud doing a bit of dunlin
watching. About as sporting as a game of I Spy with my twelve year old - but a Judoka applying a rear
naked strangle on a resisting opponent during full contact combat that ends
only with the opponents submission. Now that is a sport, a real noble sport and art.
These creek sailors are real people though that just cant help
but have a little creek in them. For instance there is Mike, or rather “Creekin
Flood” as I know him. Never been known to sail on an ebb. He has the words
“sailing on an ebb is for fools” tattooed on his winking eyebrow…
Of course we also have "Creek Watcher Brian", also known as
"Armchair Creek" as he will freely admit to doing more faffin and fiddling with
his boat while down the creek than anyone in all England ever has, but promises
to go sailing one day. When people steal ideas from this site he does come out with
some wise words though such as “success has many fathers and failure is an orphan”
or “many people claim a good idea and no-one says I did it wrong”.
And there’s "Creeky Dave" who’s as nimble and agile as a
flying kite surfin over salt encrusted marshland, even though he forever pleads
“me back legs are gone”.
And there’s "Creek Boat Fiend" Ian who has had fifty boats for
each of his fifty years afloat. He will eye your boat up as soon as your back
is turned, advise you of her value and go to any length to get his offer accepted
even though she is not for sale. His plus points are he goes for a sail and
importantly can tell you what was for sale in the back pages of any 1960s yachting
mag.
Need I mention the name "Creeksailor", one who’s antics of roaming
up impossibly shoal creeks (creek sailing), wallowing in mud baths and plucking
samphire for use as toothpicks while sunbathing on offshore sandbanks have been
revered by boaters in all the globes corners.. .
I’ll introduce the rest in a later edition but if you consider
yourself a creek sailor then leave me your tag. Obviously it must have the word “creek”
in it.