We arrived in the early afternoon and after having a light lunch, we proceeded onto the dock where several volunteers including one of the commodores, Derek, had already set up our boat in the water ready for us to sail The boat was an Access 303 named ‘Andrew Cavendish’ after the Duke of Devonshire. It had been donated to Carsington Sailability by the Bakewell branch of Rotary International. At first I couldn’t get Alessandra to move her feet to step into the boat. My daughter is no fool and she could easily see that not only was there no handrail to hold on to, but also, she would be stepping into a vessel that didn’t want to keep itself still!

But after some gentle coaxing, I finally managed to get her to step into the boat and sit down. I soon followed her in and, after making sure that I had all the ropes I needed at my disposal to navigate our boat (all three of them,) we launched ourselves onto the reservoir.

Derek and our other helpers soon joined us on the water. He and Malcolm were in a very large sailboat to keep an eye on us whilst Howard and Peter manned another Carsington Sailability Access 303 named ‘Paul Harris’ to keep us company. All the men were very experienced sailors and as a result, Alessandra and I felt very taken care of the entire time we were on the water.

One of the things you must learn when sailing is to coordinate your movements when turning or when your sails are taken with a gust of wind. For example, when turning, the jib sheet should be loosened before turning and then tightened on the other side to catch the wind. The same goes for the mainsail. At the same time, you must turn the rudder in the direction you want to go. It’s a manoeuvre that should be executed very quickly in theory. Putting it into practice is another story although luckily, the Sailability boats make allowances for novice sailors like myself and Alessandra whom I was teaching to pull the ropes and steer the rudder whenever we turned.

I knew my daughter was having a wonderful time because whilst Alessandra doesn’t speak, she does make a lot of noise and we spent the next four hours with her alternating between yelps of delight and laughter. I called her my little foghorn because if other sailors didn’t see us coming, they most certainly could hear us! Also, Alessandra loves the water so she amused herself by dragging her hand along the side of the boat, the result being a very wet right side of her body, not that she minded one bit.

The day was such fun that the memory of it stayed with me all the rest of that day and the next. That night, Alessandra was visibly both elated and excited with the lovely time we’d had on the water in our trusty sailboat. After getting her to bed, I found myself thinking about the day and making all sorts of mental notes about the next time we go sailing.

And what was the most important thing to remember?

Why to bring a change of clothing of course. After all, between the unpredictable British weather and the fact that you are indeed sailing…on the water…which can be rather wet…it’s bound to get you wet sooner or later!

Cynthia Fowkes