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Today has been a wonderful day that has reminded me of the simple joy of being on the water and seen both Heather and James with smiles on their faces while they meet new challenges.

The children wanted to go sailing today and from the weather forecast last night we thought that we might just all jump into the Bosun and float gently in the sunlight towards the Café on the opposite side of Loch Venachar for a drink and a leg stretch before sailing or more accurately sail drifting back again. But when we arrived at the club the plan changed. There was a good breeze and Heather really wanted to sail a topper and better still teach James how to sail a topper which of course involves learning how to right it after capsize. This was my secret plan blown out of the water. The children wanted to do it DIY. No need for a father, this was far better. There is no greater joy I think than seeing ones children not only happy and getting on but cooperating so willingly together. I wanted to give them space to do it as they wanted to but needed to stay around to make sure the club’s boats were rigged properly and safely before they launched. As we rigged the boats the wind speed increased slightly. James’ voice started to whimper a little as the noise of the sails flogging on the masts increased a little. He didn‘t want to do it but Heather had other ideas. Much better ideas. ‘Rather than put him in his own boat he could come in mine and we could do it together.’ Brilliant Heather as it settled James enormously. The fear of the unknown evaporating into an excitement of a thrilling sail with his sister. I thought that I had better provide for a plan B in case the harmony on the loch was lost and another boat therefore required or he had gained in confidence so quickly that he wanted to do it himself. So I rigged the second topper with a reef in the sail making it so small that it looked almost handkerchief like but meant that he could take the other topper out in a good breeze and not feel overmatched or undersized on it. In other words he would be able to sail it with ease. But we needed some form of safety cover and I was keen to sail so I rigged the Bosun, a lovely stable boat with good room in the cockpit in case I needed to take one or both on board. But I could use the bosun as the safety boat by holding a position between them. Perfect. I was getting a sail too.

It was time to get on the water and once changed I had a final word with Heather and James. Heather, ‘please be gentle with him. Don’t scare him but have fun and let us do a controlled capsize. I will stay close by.’ I ran through the key principles of righting a capsized boat with her. She knew them so she smiled and with a twinkle in her eye got the boat on the water. I grabbed James fearful that the peace might be shattered. ‘James, remember that Heather is the captain today so it is really important that you do everything that she asks you to immediately and without question. When you capsize remember to stay calm, the water will shock you but catch your breath and keep your mind, eyes and ears open and listen for instruction from Heather. Remember everything that you have been taught in your courses. Righting a topper is exactly the same as righting an optimist it is just a little bit bigger. He looked nervous but went over to Heather and started to help her prepare her boat. As they did I took the bosun onto the water and remembered the joy of sailing. It was a perfect and steady wind which allowed me to hike out from the side my feet locked under the toe straps and my back arched with my head almost skimming the water. From that angle I could see the water flowing over the bow of the boat as she cut through the water and could hear the delightful whooshing noise of the water rushing by. The sails were full, pure white against a deep blue sky, and against the dark greens of the mountain and hillsides that flank the lock. I tacked and turned back for the children who were by now just leaving the shore under sail. They were sailing and smiling and still dry. As I passed them I called out, ‘remember, whatever happens always stay with the boat,’ So on we sailed dancing a merry dance around each other as we tacked up and down the loch with me keeping tabs on them both. I felt a million dollars. The children were happy and singing in the boat while sailing well with screams of delight drifting over the water from James as their bow cut into a wave and threw water over him. There was not the slightest sign of a seizure and the sun was bathing us in warmth while we sailed in the most beautiful countryside with the occasional baaing of a lamb or mooing of a cow drifting out to the loch. Twice Heather tried to capsize the boat but James rather skilfully kept the boat upright and them dry. Cackles of laughter could be heard and then the slightly nervous oh, oh, oh, oh Heatherrrrrr followed by a splash and the shocked intakes of breath as the cold seized James. I was alongside Head to wind so able to stay close by and reassure James. James was splashing around a little against the cold, ‘stay calm James,’ I called, ‘adjust to the cold and listen to Heather’s instructions.’ He hadn’t noticed me bobbing just off to his left and seemed to relax a little on hearing my voice. Heather’s rang out with clear instruction and before I knew it they were up and sailing again. They were laughing again. I was smiling again and relieved, I called them in for lunch.

They were buzzing when they sailed up to the beach. I helped them beach the boat as James, still dripping with water exclaimed just how much fun that was. Once settled in the clubhouse I fetched their lunches from the kitchen feeling just a little guilty for while I eat the way I do to beat the beast, the children don’t have to, but I had nothing in the flat other than what I eat. Oh, I do have a jar of nuttela but there was no way I was giving them nuttela sandwiches! But then I heard the most wonderful exclamation as we tucked into lunch. Heather declared her passion for her father’s tuna mayonnaise and salad sandwiches on seeded wholemeal bread, then James declared his love of the veggie pick and mix bag, apart from the tenderstem broccoli, but the red grapes, carrots, exploding tomatoes (which is James rather apt name for cherry tomatoes) and brazil nuts are rather good and then they entered into a discussion as to just how good for them tenderstem broccoli was so a consensus was found which was along the lines of, it is really good for us so worth eating and it doesn’t taste that bad!! I was rather surprised by this but hugely pleased especially to hear the whoops of delight as they found the flapjacks. They had both been complaining about the pain in their bottoms after yesterday’s 36 miles on the bike and thought that the pain meant that they were really tired and that a flapjack therefore would give them energy and make them feel less tired and therefore their bum feel a little less sore. It was an odd logic which was met with a deep silence as tenderstem was chewed on much like ermintrude from the magic roundabout as we all tried to understand the logic of the flapjack argument. Then the silence was shattered. Heather started laughing, laughing so hard I thought that she was going to take off, then James started, then I started. That was it. We just laughed and laughed about nothing. Nobody knew why we were laughing but we laughed. It was a wonderful moment as we surveyed the loch and the hills in front of us but we laughed. As we stopped laughing, Heather exclaimed, ‘Gosh that was a funny silence!’ That was it. We were off again. Then they asked what was for tea and I was surprised again because it was Chorizo and Squid Couscous. I had never cooked it before and was going to try it tonight because it looked unusual but packed full of good stuff and rather tasty. Did they want to come to the flat for tea or have tea with Mum? Mum was picking us up in the late afternoon so was easy either way but thinking that the idea of squid would be too unpalatable I guessed that they would opt for the safe option. No more of Daddy’s experimental cooking. But No! They were coming for tea. Brilliant. I suddenly panicked. What if it tasted revolting!?!

Lunch over we were back on the water and this time with James in the other boat I had prepared for him earlier with the reefed sail. Heather was having to work harder to keep her boat up with less weight in the boat and was sailing beautifully as was James. They were happy, I was happy so just sailed backwards and forwards between the two to shepherd them into staying within reach of each other so I could get to them quickly if there was a drama. Another couple of hours of sailing and my hands were sore from hanging onto thin ropes in the boat all the time and my stomach muscles tired from hiking out of the boat to stay upright but it had been a wonderfully relaxing day all round which was made even better than the sunshine and perfect winds could make it by the wonderful cooperation and happiness of the children. That theme continued as we came in and packed the boats away. We were all tired but thoroughly happy after such a successful day on a deserted loch and as we waited for the lift home James had to get back out onto the water on an old windsurfer and try and use it as a paddleboard. I was impressed. He managed to balance on it really well while he also amused me with his dramatic tumbles into the water.

Soon we were back at the flat. Heather sang beautiful music on the keyboard while James looked at You Tube videos of crazy experiments while I performed a crazy experiment in the kitchen cooking chorizo and squid with spring onions, baby spinach, fresh mint, couscous, lemon, red and yellow peppers, runny honey, sherry vinegar, garlic, black olives, feta cheese, harissa and natural yoghurt. As I cooked it my nerves evaporated. It looked and smelled delicious. Then I served it and the verdict was, ‘it’s good Dad thank you, but I am not very hungry, do you mind if I leave some of it?’ as they shuffled some of the couscous salad around the plate. But they had done really well. Eaten lots of the couscous, spinach spring onion, fresh mint, garlic and feta cheese salad and all the squid had gone! ‘Of course’ came my reply and then the haggling over who was going to help me dry up started and James conceded as a thank you to Heather for teaching him how to sail a topper. I smiled and started to wash up. There was a lot to do and by the time we were finished it was home time. So cuddles, well dones and thankyous done I bade a sad farewell to the children. It was sad to see them go after such a lovely day. I was heading up to Grantown on Spey for a funeral tomorrow and had run out of tomatoes for the packed lunch so, as I took my rubbish down to the bin, I decided to nip to the Spar shop for some tomatoes as it was still open. Who should I bump into looking so guilty and busted. Heather and James who were buying a large packet of maltesers with a nervous giggle claiming feebly that they were for Mum! Not hungry? Really? Maybe my chorizo and squid with a couscous salad wasn’t that good after all! Never mind. I loved it and they ate all the squid. I found my tomatoes and as I queued to pay saw the ice cream freezer. If you can’t beat them, join them. A malteser ice cream had to be bought and eaten, but only once I was sure the children weren’t going to catch me!

Have a lovely evening

Yours aye

Archie
BtB

Thank you for joining me on my own personal journey and encouraging me to walk, cycle, climb, paddle, sport and do good deeds each day to ‘Beat the Beast’ while helping to improve the lives and life chances of so many more people through sponsorship. The Five Charities that I have selected to support are:

  1. Cancer Research UK – My Father Succumbed to Lung Cancer; a couple of friends are currently fighting cancer and I am fighting a brain tumour. Let’s Help to Beat Cancer Sooner.
  2. The Prince’s Trust – Inspiring and preparing disadvantaged Young Lives for success.
  3. British Red Cross – helping those in need around the UK and the world whoever and wherever they are.
  4. World Wide Fund for Nature – For a Living Planet and a Future Where People and Nature Thrive.
  5. Help for Heroes – Support for our Wounded and their Families. To learn more about my story that brought me to this point, how I plan to ‘Beat the Beast’, what activities I plan to do within the challenge and why, please see my welcome video on this page.

How to Sponsor Me

The Beat the Beast Challenge is self funding through my own contribution while keeping costs to a minimum with voluntary support and corporate sponsorship in kind. Therefore the entirety of every penny donated will go directly to the 5 charities listed above.

Please sponsor me by completing a standing order form either through your own personal internet banking or by completing a hard copy standing order form in your branch of your bank and then handing it in to the teller.

It is entirely up to you how much you would like to and are able to sponsor me for so do please give as much or as little as you can. Every penny will be very gratefully received.

While I hope you will encourage me to keep going by sponsoring me for every day I survive and am able to find the cognitive and physical capability to complete a day’s task designed to improve my chances of ‘Beating the Beast’ or improving the lives of others, 5 days a week, four weeks a month, for as long as ever I can. Any One off Cash contributions will be most gratefully received and distributed in exactly the same manner to the five charities as the sponsorship. Any one off donations can be made by BACS or cheque.

Thank you for having enough faith in me to sponsor me.

Yours aye

Archie