CAN YOU FATHOM THIS?

Allow me to rock the boat.

I love sailing. Age means I need to be mindful of what I attempt now, but going from A to B – making passage – using the elements alone has been an extraordinary source of fulfilment. Surfing waves in a dinghy, the salt spray soaking you, feeling and reading the sea and wind, taking on the seventy per cent of the world that is water, or rather dreaming of doing so, is vital for me. I have sailed from the UK to Normandy repeatedly. I know first hand the vagaries and temper of the North Sea.

Unfortunately farming and feeble economics mean my savouring of the celebrated Catalan sailing tradition is limited, but I intend to remedy that. Besides, it is in my bones.

So many centuries-old nautical terms remain in common parlance on the island of my youth and in our household; for example, sailing too close to the wind (doing something dangerous or dishonest), battening down the hatches (preparing for storm or danger), loaded to the gunnels/gunwales (overloaded), taking the helm (having full authority/control), broadside (letting rip with a fierce verbal attack, a turn of phrase from warship cannon on one side firing at a rival).

This isn’t a broadside. It is a pertinent question. As a logical beach access law sounds the death knell for some not-for-profit beach sailing clubs I wonder how the formula one yacht crews of the America’s Cup first took to the water? For sure many started in small crafts as part of a club. How many yachtsmen and women of the future may now never know the possibilities of just being in balance with a small boat or planning and making passages in a yacht?

Some of these clubs have been around for nearly 50 years and many thousands of children have taken to the water for the first time through them.

The inflexible Spanish Coastal Law (Ley de Costas 1988) seeks to give public access to the whole length of the coastline, to defend the coast against erosion and excessive urbanisation. No ifs or maybes.

This seems a case of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

As for the America’s Cup, I confess it leaves me cold. It may or may not benefit Barcelona,q what with the mega money in town and the city’s reputation for sailing competitions of the highest order. But I find it neither a great (online/TV) spectacle nor relatable. It is so divorced from my appreciation of how sailing is and what it looks like. I suspect the same is true for the majority of the sailing community.

No offence, but I appear to be seriously out of date with those pursuing their Cup dream and those paying for it. Good luck to them. Not my world. I will continue to surf the net for well-cared-for, dream-inspiring, solid older yachts under the €30,000 mark. Or I may just look again at my bank account and settle for a day boat.