Paul Smith

It is a long time since I have done any proper sailing and much longer since I last owned a Cherub. I sold my Forman 8 Nazgul 2547 (where are you now?) in 1983 at the tender age of 18. I stopped sailing on the Laser open/international circuit in 1989 just before getting married. I havent had the time or permission to sail since. This year I have managed to get my children hooked which gives me a licence to go sailing at least once a week.

Earlier in the year I acquired a 1976 plywood Forman 4 hull for nothing which was built and left in a barn for 30 years. It has never seen a fitting let alone water. The idea was to fit it out and start to train the teenagers in it. Second thoughts leant towards asymmetric conversion to 91 rules for easier children friendly kite handling. As that was going to take longer than my patience I bought a foam sandwich Fartpants (2638) off ebay and after a make over and refit should be on the water by the second week of August 2006.

A clash of boat names at my Club Brightlingsea, necessitates a name change to Prodigal Son an approprate name for someone returning to a class that brought me so much fun, albeit over two stones in weight and over two decades ago.

This old fart will provide the Brightlingsea yoof an opportunity to get into Cherubs with the aim of once again getting 5 boats on the water regularly each weekend.