Sir Lancelin

I drove up north yesterday to check out the annual Ledge Point to Lancelin sailboarding marathon.

Before the race, I got chatting to a Dutch competitor, Peter, who as it turned out wound up winning the 20 nautical kilometre race.

He was a top bloke, a lot like that European exchange student who arrives at your high school with no English in March, and by May is tapping the keg and bowling googlies at parties.

After the frenzied race start, landlubbers like myself hopped into our jalopies and joined the 15 kilometre convoy up to Lancelin to catch the finish.

As Peter emerged on the Lancelin horizon, a full 10 minutes ahead of the next sailor, his board triumphantly skipped into the air. As the board cruised a little closer, the MC announced the rider was indeed Peter, and that this was a good thing, because "he's a 'goer' who'll definitely put his $3,000 prize money on the bar, folks".

After the race, and still dripping salt water, Peter was asked if this would indeed be the case. To which he replied, "There's prize money? Yeah. If there's money, why not?!"

That crazy Dutch exchange student.