[alberg30] Armchair sailing

[SandersM at aol.com]

From: SandersM at aol.com

Okay, I know this is not a posting about A30s.  But I've been rereading 
Erskine Childers' book, The Riddle of the Sands, and I find it helpful escape 
from the snows that are falling outside here in Manhttan this afternoon.  
Childers was an Irishman, an avid sailor, and a gunrunner for the Irish 
rebels prior to its independence.  After Ireland's independence in 1922, and 
the ensuing civil war, he was executed by one faction for suspicion of 
espionage on behalf of the English -- a ridiculous accusation.

Childers wrote Riddle of the Sands as a spy thriller set at the turn of the 
century aboard a 30 foot sailboat cruising the Frisian Islands, the sandbar 
barrier islands that border the Dutch and German coasts.  It is thick with 
descriptions of sailing that do much to put the reader on the water with him. 
 Disregard the several references to a centerboard, and you can imagine it 
all happening aboard your favorite A30.

Sorry to go off-topic, but I thought some of you might be in need of a 
diversion.

Sanders McNew
WILD ELF  (# 297)
Oyster Bay, New York

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