reading swallows and amazons for the first time...

[casbie]

quality writing and pure childish escapism - fantastic!

[PigeonPie]

Thanks. We've got a little while to go yet, but will definitely look into it when the DSs are old enough.

[GrimmaTheNome]

I think Sunsail starts on actual sailing for kids when they are 8. My DD is 9 and wouldn't have been ready for it earlier, but - as with everything kid-related, it all depends on the individual. The instructor we went out with reckoned 7 and up.

We quite fancy doing a sunsail hol next year cos the wind and weather is so unpredictable here and the Med is more comfortable to fall into.

[NotBigNotClever]

Sailing school here has "pirate club" for 5-7 year olds. And "juniors" are 8-12. My dd is just 10 and found it quite scary at first, but seems keen now. My ds is only 3.5 and is desperate to join the pirates club. He is a bit of a giant and would already fit in all the safety equipment for 5-6 year olds, but would be completely crap at following instructions and concentrating, so will have to wait until he is actually 5. (Assuming I can still afford it then: it's not v. cheap).

[MaryAnnSingleton]

I'm not sure, I suppose 6 might be a good age - friends dcs have been in boats since they were little as has my niece, but for more formal training I'd think 6 -once they can swim too.

[PigeonPie]

MAS how young is young to learn to sail?

[MaryAnnSingleton]

my dad taught me and my brother to sail when we were about 8 or 9 and 5 or 6- in an Otter..he was quite nervy as he'd only just learned himself and it frightened me a bit. My younger brother took it up in his teens and is a very accomplished sailor now - I sometimes go out with my dad or brother,but not for ages now. Really great sport though and brilliant if kids can learn young - other friends children sail Toppers and compete.

[NotBigNotClever]

My dd has just learnt to sail and I'm about to take a refresher course (it being nearly 30 years since I last sailed), so I think now is the time to dust down my ancient copies of the Ransome books. Am really hoping that dd will take to them. Will make a nice change from the endless Jacqueline Wilson books she reads otherwise.

[EachPeachPearMum]

You can get a box set... from a company named Nauticalia, and its about 180 I think.
I loved these books.

[Cies]

I love all of them. But I think Swallowdale is my favourite.

My mother sent some of my collection to the charity shop without me knowing.

But I suppose it´s an excuse to buy them again. I still go back to them at times when I feel tired with this modern adult world and want some adventure

I think I would be a cross between a Susan and a Nancy. Sometimes bossy and sometimes anal.

[JackieNo]

I know, I was a bit sad she'd just gone and read them herself, but I can still read them again anyway, I figure.

[GrimmaTheNome]

My DD isn't allowed to read these on her own till I've had the pleasure of reading them to her first!

[JackieNo]

I've been re-collecting these. My mother's day treat to myself this year was to take the afternoon to re-read Swallows and Amazons . DD enjoyed having it read to her too, and has gone on to read a couple of the others on her own.

[PigeonPie]

I loved them too as a child and really wanted to learn to sail, but was unable to because of illness. Am looking forward to the DSs being old enough to read them and maybe learning to sail with them instead.

[MaryAnnSingleton]

The film version is one of our favourites,esp as there's the Railway Children with it - ds watched it over and over again when younger...he tried reading the book some years ago but it's sooo slow moving - the description of Roger tacking across the grass at the beginning,for example

[GrimmaTheNome]

I always wanted to be Titty but suspected I was more of a Dot. My DH is a bit of a Dick

I did find that after reading S&A I had to dig out my old copy of Treasure Island so that DD understood the references to Captain Flint etc. That's required background reading for Peter Pan too.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Having read back over previous posts, someone was asking about boxed sets - no, doesn't seem to exist, I still had hardback Pigeon Post and paperback Picts&Martyrs and The Big Six from my youth (priced 35p and 40p!) ...bought the rest from - naturally - Amazon.

[GrimmaTheNome]

I loved these when I was young, and am vastly enjoying reading them to my DD -we've got up to Secret Water (the first in which Bridget is a full participant), but having a change so tonights treat for me is a chapter of Five Children and It. We live reasonably near the Lake District, so climbing The Old Man was somewhat enlivened by considering it to be Kanchenjunga, and DD was well primed for her first time out in a dinghy this summer. Unfortunately rain has put a damper, all to literally, from her burning desire to camp out!

[StripeyKnickersSpottySocks]

I'm probably a Dorothy.

[CaptainNancy]

Well- these were my favourite books as a child- Swallowdale was the best one, I mean who wouldn't want a secret cave of their own?

[bronze]

I once went to a dress as your favourite character day at school dressed as Titty. Noone seemed to have heard at her and they all just laughed at her being called Titty. As I've grown up I've decided I prefer Peggy. She seems the most rounded.

I was meant to go sailing in the Nancy Blackett a few years back but had a stomach bug so couldn't go .

I'm very lucky in that my inlaws have a boat on the broads with a dinghy. Shes called swallow in fact (the dinghy) even though she has a centreboard. I can't wait to get my children out in her next summer.

[Debbiethemum]

Thanks Kathy

[Kathyis6incheshigh]

Racundra's First Cruise - also 3rd cruise; I think the second is being prepared for republication:

it's the diary of the cruises in the Baltic Ransome did with his wife Eugenia (married during the 3rd cruise, I think) in their yacht Racundra, before he came back to England and wrote the Swallows and Amazons books. It's good if you like sailing books but nothing like his children's stories.

[Kathyis6incheshigh]

StealthSquiggle - does your DH know about Ransome's other life as a Russian correspondent and possibly spy? He was married to Trotsky's secretary. Also, he was way ahead of his time in his portrayal of working class characters (Death and Glories, Jacky in The Picts and the Martyrs).

I never really understood all the deer stalking stuff in Great Northern, I think, and I found the characterisation a bit tired by that point.

[Debbiethemum]

Looking on Amazon the bbok 'Racundras First Cruise' seems to be part of the same series (ie design on the jacket). Has anyone read it?

[bookwormmum]

In one of the books, Arthur Ransome himself said that no one would want to be Susan - she was just too good to be true.

I rather fancied myself as Peggy but with a bit more guts . Nancy was too bossy for me.