OUTBOARD REVELATION

ost modern yachts of less than 45 feet have nowhere to stow a hard dinghy and are stuck with pump-up flubbers. Even the best of these row like birthday cakes without the icing, so outboard engines have become mandatory. Happily for many of us, the classic yacht or workboat can still ship a proper boat, drop in a pair of stout rowlocks, lay hands on some decent oars and strike out for adventure in health-promoting silence. My own 10ft tender had been rowed many hundreds of miles before I finally let my guard slip. When I inherited a Seagull Century outboard, I ought to have carted it straight down to the local boat jumble, but I didn’t. The fantasy of a bright future sitting relaxed in the stern sheets as the faithful, British-made unit purred sweetly under