Tom Cunliffe

I’m always tickled by the amount of muddled thinking that goes on about ‘safety’. Safety to me is more about staying out of trouble and less about what to do when my efforts have come to nothing. Take the car, for instance. If I had to choose, I’d rather it has well-maintained brakes and that I look ahead for trouble than pay extra for an air bag then proceed to drive like Jehu the son of Nimshi who, as any Old Testament scholar will tell you, ‘driveth furiously’.

The sea is no different. The primary requirement is to steer clear of lee shores. We don’t need special gear for that other than an engine that works, a suit of sails that reefs properly and some serious ground tackle. The next prerequisite, after giving a resounding miss to such obvious dangers as Rockall