They say that a good junior sail training programme will gradually introduce the young people to an increasingly demanding range of experiences afloat. But we doubt if the instructors in Santa Cruz in California at the weekend had had something so extreme in mind when the surf built rapidly at the harbour mouth as the sailing juniors were returning to port, and found themselves in the ultra-embarrassing situation of being rescued by the local surfing dudes.
In truth, embarrassment was probably the last thing on anybody’s mind out there on the water. Staying alive was a bigger priority. And after, that not being seriously injured. Miraculously, no-one was hurt, but the word is some of the boats are in Intensive Care….
