Back in the mists of time... or perhaps 1987 ... I took my Enterprise down to Padstow. Here's me cutting a straight wake on the Camel Estuary.
Anyway, the day after arriving, so eager was I to take to the sea after too long pottering around the marks of a reservoir in Debryshire, I launched without checking tide-tables, the time, charts or - indeed - the presence of fatal sand banks.
And as I screamed down mighty waves in a perfect force 4 in the middle of the estuary, I took a glance over the side, expecting to see deep, blue Cornish waters dappled in the summer sunshine. What I noticed, with some surprise, was hard yellow sand about a foot beneath the tip of the centreboard. And then about one inch below the centreboard. Looking forward, about ten metres in front of me, were breakers where I thought there should be none.
My subsequent instant change in direction, gybe, and inevitable capsize taught me much.
Reading the history later, I learned all about the Doom Bar.
Andy
