Gonna need a bigger shed…

...Or perhaps a smaller boat is the answer to the impractical boat owner’s storage problems

- Dave Selby

Sailors are essentially collectors. At sea we collect anecdotes – mostly of the “there I was holed by a whale and taking on water fast and being driven on to a rocky lee shore at the base of a 200ft cliff in a Force 10 gale on Rutland Reservoir” variety. On land we collect things.

And that’s why although psychologists may understand human nature, they’re out of their depth when it comes to understanding the mind-set of the sailor.

Take the average man in the street – and I’m afraid it is most usually a man – who upon seeing a skip in the road will satisfy one of four basic urges, all of which take place in pyjamas between 2200 and 0300.

The first is to throw your own rubbish in the skip; the second is to take something out; the third category, of which I’m a prime example, is to take out some overlooked treasure, realise in the fullness of time that it’s rubbish, then throw it in the next skip that comes along.