English Homework Sailing Composition

by Katherine
(Sydney, Australia)

It was a strange night, there seemed to be a chill in the air.

The small fibreglass Dinghy was hidden safely behind a large rock and we cooked soup in a pot trying to keep warm from the small flames of the fire. The tent sat tall but quiet behind us in this almost still air facing to the East. We looked out at the stillness of the water rippling ever so delicately in the light of the moon feeling a sense of peace and relaxedness. This friend and I were the only two humans to be seen for a large few square kilometres. If only I could remember what had caused our supply of water to slowly vanish. Empty water bottles had no leaks; just no water.

Sand made its way through all our belongings, made a home in our hair and in our wool socks. Winter winds spoke through bush, rustled in the leaves behind me and sent shivers down my spine. The smell of the sea on our clothes was a reminder of our journey to this beach and would be a fragrant memory for the rest of our lives.

After our last visions of that deserted bay had been night time stillness, it had become the vibrant colours of the morning, the land and the water as we woke to the sun beaming into our tent and the rest of the bay still mostly asleep but this friend, the sound of a waterfall in the distance and I. The sound of this waterfall was a sound that sparked my memory of the area I was in. This waterfall was a sound we could not pick up the night before because of other beautiful sounds of nature. But it was this waterfall that reminded me of holidays I had experienced before in this area in the summer. Everything I knew about this place came together in my mind at that moment like a picture. This picture was lucky enough to be a clear map in my mind. I informed this friend that she and I could find water to drink at our next aspired destination; a beach that we should sail for right after breakfast.

We rowed on; the day's natural assistance had expired. The moon kept the water alight on such a clear night but was no help to our freezing bodies. Wind fast asleep our sail stayed crunched below our feet. If only I could remember where the beach we had planned on hiding in for the next night was. All day long we had sailed, I thought it would take us all day, and that we would reach the next beach in the afternoon to set up camp. I thought that only now I have learnt that having such a small dinghy, with two young girls, a dog and lots of things would not work well to be sailing up wind with a prevailing swell to slow us right down. Thirst strangled our throats. The dog was losing energy too.

Through the night we continued; by memory of the landscape and following the sound of a new waterfall once we heard it, the gloomy beach was in our sight. The white sand shone in the silver silk moon as we neared the refuge of shore and fresh flowing drinking water. Calm sea water splashed against the sides of the boat giving us an easy feeling of achievement and another challenging but enjoyable voyage had come to its station. The freely flowing waterfall was so close to such thirsty, but accomplished sailors. We drank from this fresh, pure freefall of life giving fluid. Its moments like these when I have thought hunger and thirst feel like a sickness and food and water is their best medicine. The cold and everything else did not bother me, I felt more as though I might have just survived death. Death would have been far away from this particular experience but when you feel strongly about something, you are more likely to remember it for longer.