Waiting for Concorde
Way back in '79 or '80, I sailed a dinghy from Howth, County Dublin to Port Saint Mary in the Isle of Man. This is a round-trip of about 250 nautical miles - in unpredictable and dangerours waters for an open boat. I asked a good friend, who had sailed across the Atlantic and to the Arctic a number of times and was later to work as yachtmaster in the Caribbean, to join me. This guy was Robert Fannin.
We had an exciting and enjoyable trip. We bumped into an old salt we knew - a tax exile fom Ireland who put us up for a few days. I wrote up the voyage in a light-hearted piece in an Irish yaching magazine. Rob did the illustrations - he comes from a family of artists.
I was delighted to hear his new play, Waiting for Concorde broadcast on BBC Radio 4 yesterday. I think this story is mainly about bereavement [and how the spirit "lives on"], which sadly the author experienced shortly before he penned the work.
Robert has been working hard at developing his writing over many years. I hope he goes on to achieve great success. He has a lot of talent.
Anway, when we completed the trip, I lived off the minor fame/notoriety of the voyage for some time. I remember admitting to a group "How could we fail with such an experienced blue-water sailor on board? His only comment was "I have never been so scared in all my life - as I was on that trip".