ByKARLBEGRICH ~~

Most floating schoolrooms .
-are-loaded to the gunwales
with, among much essential

. gear, an arsenal of reading
and study material.

- Thoughtful - parents. have
installed. numerous heavy
. duty shelves to support the
array of dictionaries, . en- -
cyclopedias and the. endless
paperwork sent by distant
correspondence schools.

_ This. endless paperwork
doesn’t seem to last very
long according to my survey
among cruising people.

‘Over 50 per cent of
cruising parents had this to
say: “We can send. assign-
ments and homework back
and forth for so long before
we stop corresponding with
the school.’Dependable mail ©
Jis.one of the unsolvable
problems of our cruising.life.

“Trying to send lessons
back and forth is beyond our
control and therefore not
practical. That means we
take the chances that the
work of our children is not
accredited. The. knowledge
is only in their heads and_
they have no piece of .paper
to say that it is there.”

“swat on- the butt instead.
They always chose to jump,

which made me _ happy,

because a swat would hurt
my hand. ° 0
- “Going over the side -was
the severest form... of
, punishment and naturally it
was only carried out in a safe
anchorage.

. “We sailed into a large
landlocked anchorage.
- When the main was drop-
ped, the boom swung about.
T shouted to my daughter to
take the. mainsheet.
jumped and immediately
grabbed the ‘mizzen sheet ...

“No, I said, the main
sheet.’ She grabbed the jib
sheet. - .

“I abandoned the tiller
-and jumped: for. the proper
sheet,’but I was too late. The
boom had quickly swung
over‘and clipped my brother
on the head.

“He wasn’t hurt badly, but
he could have been.
|

,

“I was so angry I told both

girls'that if they didn’t know -

the name and location of

She |

_

port for a longer period of

time, the kids are enrolled in
the suitable grades at the

local schools... -

_ This - sudden: ’ transition ~
seems to be difficult for the. |
kids at first glance. But they =

get righ: .nto.it — and enjoy
the sw..al life they had been
without — parties, dances,
loud music; and they go
through the challenge of

‘meeting English-speaking |
kids their own age. |

af

Yes, children are con-
fronted with many foreign
languagés. A great way to
develop a cosmopolitan.
mind. Whether they tie their

mooring lines at a dock in.

Acapulco, Rio de Janeiro,
Marseille, Athens, Bombay,
or Tokyo the basic
communication is the hand

and foot language.
‘But. children pick up |

languages much faster than
adults. Needless to''say, I
would rather learn Greek in
Athens than on 4 school
bench in Vancouver. |

Reviewing the pros and
cons of schooling while
cruising,

I feel that one

REMOTE CONTROL SHIP the Frank H. Brown has a computer instead of a motor
and this computer talks to the computer on the on the 174-foot tug Pacific Challenge.
' This remote control device, built by Universal Technology of Burnaby, gives a faster
tow for less fuel. (Ellsworth Dickson photo)

My friend Wayne Car-
penter from Newport Beach, ©
who has sailed the Atlantic
and Pacific with his two
daughters had his own way
of getting his responsibility
across:

“Handing out discipline,
at first, was quite difficult,
because all the usual forms,
ic ,send them to their room,
take away TV privileges,
deny the ‘Friday night’ out,
were negated because these
things no longer existed.

“New forms of punishment
had to be invented and we
finally settled on one that’
proved to be perfect. If
someone becomes too
whiney, he goes over the
side. Since I couldn't
literally toss them over the
side, | borrowed a trick from
the pirates and made them
walk the plank ... jump over
the side themselves.

“Actually, they had their
choice; if they didn’t want to
jump, they could take a swift

Lk a eas

every part “on the boat by
noon the next day, they both
were going over the side.

“The very thought of
jumping into the cold wafer
of the North Pacific must
have pierced them with
chills, for I think they ended
up knowing more about the
boat than | did by the ap-
pointed deadline!”

eee

You might disagree with
this drastic way of
punishment. But I think it's
healthy for a child to learn
the hard way once in a while.
Especially in our permissive
socicty, where everything
seems to come easy.

Whenever the family
decides to stay in a forcign

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cruising year is filled with far
more value and education
than the usual sixth grader is
able to discover.

A school principal should
not scold or frown for having
them taken out of school,
but show a beaming smile
and exclamation of what a
wonderful experience it
must have been!

Learn to Sail

St “ine

INSPECTING THE remote
control device installed on
the Frank H. Brown is
Chief Engineer Oscar
Suranyl, communicating
with the bridge on the tug.
(Elsworth Dickson photo)

ON DISPLAY

O’DAY 20
CATALINA 22
GRAMPIAN 23
CROWN 23
BAYFIELD 25
CORONADO 25
KIRBY 25
GRAMPIAN 26
MIRAGE 26
GRAMPIAN 28
GRAMPIAN 30
NORTHERN 29
DISCOVERY 32 $31,500
SEABIRD 37 $72,000
NEW: BAYFIELD 25, 29, 32

MIRAGE 26

KIRBY 25

CONTESSA 26

% 6,700
$ 6,950
$10,500
3 9,500
$14,500
$13,500
314,650
$16,900
$21,500
$26,000
$34,150
$32,900

HARBOUR YACHTS

$908 Marine Dr. Weat Van.
Open Weekenda --921-7426
(24 tra.)

awaWl yabaue -

POWER
Trojan 30
Grenfell 35
Alwest 37

$45,000.
$34,000.
$37,000.
Gult Trader 42 $145,000.
Flush Deck
Cruiser

$90,000.

SAIL
Grampian 26
Ranger 26
O'Day 27
Hughes 29
Maple Leaf 30
Lapworth 36
Spencer 42
Gulf Island 29

$14,500.
$18,000.
$19,000.
$21,000.
$26,500.
$34,000.
$73,000.
$28,200.

WILSON & WILLIAMS LTD.

Brokers Marine & Aviation

616 Millbank
Heather Civic Marina.
Vancouver, B.C. V5Z 487
Tel. (604) 873-8511

e ~ . es

TOE et eiawrdo'l Ot ogee

©

LANCE HIGGS, owner of Knight Towing, waits Gn'the remote-control ship the Frank _..
H. Brown while his men prepare the
Alaska. (Ellsworth Dickson photo)

tag Pacific Challenger for the trip to Skagway,

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