I am Fred Bickum and I have been "Simply messing about in boats" for quite a few years. My indoctrination to the world of sailing began in 1971 at the age of 23. While on a short vacation at my uncle's summer cabin on a lake in Maine I first ventured afloat on a great white "Sea Snark".  Some of you may remember "Kool" cigarette ads of the 1970's when you could exchange a certain number of coupons and some money for an 11 foot, lateen rigged, foam sail boat. My uncle was not a smoker so he purchased the basic "Sea Snark" somewhere locally. The boat did not have the green and white stripped sail of the "Kool" boats, instead it sported the more mundane blue and white sail.

     Uncle Ed invited me to take the boat out for a sail on the lake. At the time I had zero sailing experience and little boating experience in total. My sole claim to boating expertise at that time was a "Canoeing" merit badge from the Boy Scouts. It was at that moment that the seed was planted. I hopped aboard and went out on the lake, learning to sail as I went. Generally my self taught sailing lessons progressed very well. Upon returning to the dock I managed to get the main sheet fouled with the tiller and capsized the boat. Yikes! My very first sailing trip ended in a small disaster. However as I was quite close to shore I towed the boat with me as I swam into the beach. In the confusion of being upside down in the water I managed to disconnect the mast and sail from the boat and it sank. A kindly neighbor retrieved both by diving down into the very cool water. WOW! This sailing stuff was fun. But, as I already knew, swimming in cold lake water wasn't.

     A "Rich Man's" version of the boat could be purchased from many sources. It was called a "Sun Flower". The hull was covered with bright canary yellow plastic and the sail was stripped yellow and white. Within a year of my initiation I had my first sailboat.