'Any damn fool.."

On Friday last, pottering around Strangford under sail for the first time in my life, on board a fine yacht with a capable and generous skipper, in the company of good friends and with a gin and tonic to hand (just one), I thought of the words of the great Sir Francis Chichester, who would not be in the least horrified at this scenario because he was incapable of snobbery, yachting or otherwise, taking everyone as he found them (Alistair Cooke said of him that his genious was his 'total unselfconsciousness - the detestable word "image" had escaped him'):-

"Any damn fool," said Sir Francis, "can navigate the world sober. It takes a really good sailor to do it drunk."