A life on the ocean's wave

Dominic Roskrow explains his love for boats

I love boats. Always have done. Always will. Any type of boat will do: rowing boats on lakes, sailing boats, historic tall ships, liners, I don't care; the combination of water and vessel is one that draws me back again and again.

And there's nothing I love more than being surrounded by water, especially when it's wild enough to be just a mite scary: the West coasts of Ireland and Auckland, New Zealand, for instance. Or the South West of England around Cornwall, where scores of ships have met their end on the ragged rocks, some lured there by wreckers, others manned by smugglers or pirates.

A fanciful, romantic view of the sea?

Quite definitely, and I often tell people that in another life I would have been a fisherman, oblivious to the very real dangers and abject misery that many fishing fleets face up to daily.

But I can't help it, and despite the fact that I have a very international perspective on life, being on a boat is when I'm most aware of the fact that I come from an island race.

Many of my happiest memories involve sailing or being on the sea; from watching the catch being brought in at dawn in the English harbour of Grimsby (ruined slightly by the fact that they only caught five fish, two of which were luminous green) to sailing on the Classic Malts Cruise off Scotland's West Coast last year.

And it's that attraction to water and boats, I think, which prompts me to get out to the Western Isles as much as I can.

This all came to mind while sat in the dreari...

To read the rest of this article you can do any of the following.

• By : Dominic Roskrow
• In : Editor's View
• Issue : 21
• Page : 3
• Words : 640