- or, on the floor-boards

At the end of a day's sailing the usual reaction to finally getting into one's sleeping bag is immediate slumber. However I find that without television I retire earlier than normal and if the sailing has not been demanding I cannot sleep. If the weather is fine I fold back the tent so I can admire the stars; not to mention various satellites, meteorites and aircraft lights. Then I have my little personal FM radio, scarcely bigger than a matchbox but with astonishing sound quality through the ear-pieces. However there is also that book I have brought along.

I have always found the trouble with reading in a dinghy is the light source required. Ordinary torches get through batteries at an alarming rate. I have tried candles but need two or three for comfort and they are a bit of a fiddle, both in their lighting and extinguishing; admirable for cooking the evening meal however. For this I find that a proper lantern is seldom necessary and merely stick them onto a thwart with a blob of melted wax from the hot end - yes I know; and with all that petrol on board as well!

Just recently I wandered into the little chandlers at Bradwell and came away with one of the Energizer products. This is a torch shaped fluorescent lantern, about 8 inches long by 2 inches diameter. The power is supplied by 4 AA cells. The casing is precision moulded in bright yellow plastic and is water-proof. It is flattened on the base and also has a flat area on one side, as well as a short hand-leash. While reading I either lay it on my chest or on my shoulder while lying on my back. I do not know how long the batteries will last but so far it has outlasted my normal torch, several times over.

If it has a fault it is that it does not have a directional beam for other purposes. To remedy this I bought a similar sized torch-shaped lantern with a normal reflector at the end, which I got from a camping shop. A two-way switch allows one to select either light source. As it takes larger batteries it is very much heavier than the yellow one and the quality is what my father would have termed 'jerry-built'; a politically undesirable term in these days of European cooperation and quality German products. In fact I have had to bind it with plastic tape to keep it together. Nevertheless I hope that the batteries will have a similar life to those in the Energizer. The problem now is to keep my eyes open long enough to finish the chapter, as it is unlikely I shall run out of light.