Confessional

In 1966 I purchased my first small cruising yacht a Spurn 21.

We had just returned to our mooring( with our two children) at Deganway in the Conway river and were packing the pram dinghy with our belongings, two kit bags full to the brim,the SL400 toilet that had been giving trouble and my wife bless her said she would not set foot on the boat till it was fixed, they had too many moving parts. 

Also in the dinghy was the engine a Brigs and Stratton lawn mower engine that had also been giving trouble.You might think the dinghy was pretty full by now it was and it also had a Seagull outboard on the transom. 

We were just about ready to leave when my son who was two at the time started shouting lingley daddy lingley. 

This was about 2130hrs,no one in sight,river running about 3knots and three quarter ebb and lingley (the dinghy) was drifting rapidly out to sea. Only one thing to do, dive over and swim. I managed to catch it up about half a mile away and fortunately the outboard started. We got to the shore just before dark.