Vic Gillings

How Long Does an Interest in Sailing Remain? Vic Gillings

Sailors have been heading out to sea in bad boats for years. Almost all have survived, because they didn't push themselves or their boats beyond their limits. When a boat caught out in foul weather has her sails reduced or taken down to bare poles, it is remarkable how seaworthy she becomes. This is a true story of Vic Gillings, a former Bobby and military man, who left his career and country behind and took off with lovely Marcia to sail into endless sunsets, but also into harsh reality - periods of real discomfort, freezing weather and abject terror only the sea can stir up. With fifty years before the mast, the author chronicles the good times as well as the dangers he encountered in a witty, colorful and often self-deprecatory fashion, whether he is shooting stars with his sextant at midnight, making bread in the galley below while hove to, or making a life or death decision at a gripping moment, he brings readers along with him for every nautical mile. The sea can be a dangerous enemy, and those who go to sea must do so in the full knowledge that they may encounter dangers of the highest order. These genuine sea stories of Vic Gillings endorse that fact. Vic acknowledges his vulnerabilities and admits that this has not driven him from the sea, even though he is more aware of the limitations as he grows older. Now, having reached his eighties - and despite having been awarded the British Crusing Association's prestigious Hanson Cup on multiple occasions - Vic must ask: How Long Does an Interest in Sailing Remain?