We have had trouble with poor quality Selden equipment. Also, spinnaker and whisker poles are hard to come by unless you have them specially ordered in at great expense. They can break easily and are overpriced. Out of the blue, the Memsahib casually suggests using a bamboo pole and arranges a suitable length to be delivered to the boat for the price of a few beers.

What a brilliant idea! Heather named her creation Bamboozle. Within half an hour the bamboo ends are trimmed, the pole ends with beaks are cut and fitted into the hollow sleeves. Some packing pieces, some circlips and voila. Lighter and stronger than aluminium. It floats, no one would nick it, it's environmentally sensitive, looks really cool and it works.