Sailing Gremlin
The excitement of having a new boat at the start of summer on the river in Perth meant that we spent every single afternoon sailing no matter what the conditions. Most of our first dates were on Gremlin, so over the summer I was falling in love with both Base and with sailing.
The fresh air on your face and the feeling of being propelled forward by only the force of the wind. Touch the water with your finger tips as you glide through, watching for river dolphins… it was definitely love.
Base was teaching me how to sail, and learning all the different names of various parts of the boat felt like learning a different language. But it was all fascinating, and in between lessons Base told me tails of sailing across the pacific, working on boats in Greece and all the dreamy sailing travels he had been on. Talk about getting me hook line and sinker.
We would sail the Swan River every afternoon and the best part was getting out on the water by about 4pm, when all the traffic on the freeway would come to a standstill, all the little worker ants coming home from their 9-5. It felt like we were in on a secret that not many people knew about, you could feel miles away from it all but really be smack in the middle of it.
Night after night we were out sailing, some nights we would on the river until 1 in the morning, with only light puffs of wind pushing us back to the pen. Base would always refuse to turn on the motor, saying that ‘real sailors just wait for the wind’.
Gremlin gave us so much time exploring the river and for Base, he got to shake the salt off his sailor and teaching skills. For me I got to learn the ropes and fall in love ( twice!)
Mates on the river
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