Just went a bit mad and bought a dinghy. It’s only secondhand, a 4.45m Gouteron from 1977, and Orange !
I had sailing lessons as a kid and did a bit of yacht sailing about 10 years ago, which was great fun, but nothing more recent. Debbie has recently been sailing at a local club and completed a weeks training course and really enjoyed it.
So we both thought, why not !
Rigging it and the first time out might be a bit chaotic and exciting for the wrong reasons, but it’s only an old cheap boat for a bit of a laugh, so splice the mainbrace and off we go shipmates.
Sounds great fun and my immediate reaction would be to say go out and enjoy yourself.
My father in law however is an RYA sailing instructor with umpty-diddly years experience and if he were reading your posting he’d doubtless be up in arms as there are loads of people that every year go out and buy a boat and then get into trouble because they go sailing in conditions that they are neither equipped nor have the skills to sail in – looking at the RNLI call out details at your local lifeboat station is sad testament to some people’s sailing skills.
Do be careful, buy some life-jackets, and don’t sail if you’re not sure you can get back safely to shore.
Cheers, Geoffrey