I started sailing in 'Enterprise' dinghies at about 12. The warp engines always had problems with their di-lithium crystals as they never seemed to go too fast.

Had a brief spell sailing 'Toppers' - even slower than the Enterprise - especially when your 'friends' take out the drain plugs just before a race.

Then Windsurfing until 17 on the lake of Thun (Switzerland) - the rawest form of sailing I have found. Not much beats getting a windsurf board on the plane and skipping over the chop like a stone!

After a 10 year plus break I moved to Texas and my wife and I bought a Hobie 18 Magnum. Cat sailing proved to be highly contagious (more so in my case). Just as the sickness really took hold the Hobie 18 pathogen unexpectedly died, but our weakend bodies were soon reinfected with an even stronger strain - the Hobie 18 SX . Since then and even more potent mutation has ravaged us - the Hobie Tiger. There is no cure in sight!

Chris.