Not Sailing in Karachi

Ok so had to try to get a sail here in Karachi.

Today dropped in on the National Sailing Centre and met the Secretary General of the Pakistan Sailing Federation. Commander (R) Q Navaid Usmani was very welcoming and tried his hardest to help, but alas I hadn't given him much warning (none actually) and it was Ramadan (so people were tired and many things were closed), and worst of all it was low tide.

It was the last that did it. We walked out to admire their Enterprise, ready on its trailer to go into the nearby "boating basin", but alas the water was so low "you could wade across it".

As well as sailing in Enterprise he was also a keen Laser sailing and nearly got into the national Olympic team coming second in try outs in the seventies. That must have been so frustrating!

Their sailing lake is next door (literally) to a dump that smolders continually while children dig for scrap to sell: the water is not surprisingly polluted. It put Tillerman's complaints on bad sailing clubs into context!

I wish there was someway to help but how? Its not like you could buy and donate a second hand Laser from www.ebay.pk (there is no such site). And there are so many other problems here. I'll ask my local agent for some advice, but what do you think?

So instead did a tour of the beach, visited a Ziarat of a revered Sufi saint and the old railway station.