Zambia World Wide

We are still interested in boating and fishing and go to the Fishing Club at Mindola Dam quite often. Over the past few months we have been watching people water ski-ing and sailing from the boat club which is adjacent to our club. We have for some time wanted the opportunity to try water ski-ing but have never been in a position to have a go. One of the people I was working with said he had a power boat for sale, which was fast enough to ski from, however it was a little on the small side. We were given the option to purchase the boat when it came up for sale. However there was a small catch, there were two engines being sold with the boat, one was a 20hp Westbend and the other was a 40hp Evinrude. Unfortunately the boat owner had loaned the 40hp engine to a friend and could not get it back for some weeks. Therefore we would have the 20hp Westbend only for a few weeks. Although we were a little disappointed we decided to buy the boat anyway. Having bought the boat, the owner suggested we should spend a weekend with him and his family at the boat club so that he could show us how to launch the boat and answer any questions we might want to ask. We went to the boat club and played around with the boat, getting familiar with the way it handled and finding the little quirks that all boats seem to have. While we were there we had the chance to try water ski-ing which we thoroughly enjoyed. Although it wasn’t possible to ski from our boat until we got the 40hp engine, we could use a disc. A disc is basically just that, about 800mm/1000mm in diameter and 12mm thick with the edges smoothed and rounded, the board was then sanded and varnished. A disc could be towed behind a boat at much lower speeds than would be required to tow a water skier, which meant that our boat could tow one quite easily. A disc in many ways is an ideal way to learn to water ski as the method used to stand on the board is similar to that of water ski-ing. The main difference being that your legs can’t do the splits. Normally the method used is to kneel on the disc while the boat built up speed, and when the speed felt right stand up. It is possible to have a lot of fun on a disc as a person can turn in either direction and plus going backwards. I personally feel that it is much easier to teach people to ski if they first start on a disc and gain confidence.

Although we had enjoyed our time at the Fishing Club, we had noticed that over the past few months there were less boating activities and more drinking. It was turning more and more into a drinking club with the shouting and fighting one would expect to find in a local bar. After our visit to the Rokana Sailing and Boating Club where we had gone to try the boat out when we bought it, the fishing Club now seemed dowdy and unattractive. It was now time to move on so we decided to join the RS&BC as the club was usually known. There were three sections at the RS&BC a Rowing section, sailing section and the powerboat section. All the sections were very active and elected their own committee’s to run the individual sections. There was also a main committee in overall charge of the club. The club was quite large, it had a swimming pool, children’s adventure playground and a bar, also a large lounge overlooking the water plus toilets and showers. At the front of the clubhouse was a large expanse of grass leading down to the water’s edge. We had a good idea of the people we would meet there as some worked for the same company that I was working for, others worked at the Rokana Mine and there were those that we had met when we spent the day there after buying the boat. Also the work I was doing meant I had to travel all over the Copperbelt and so I met many people in my travel’s to the various mines. All the people we met were very friendly and couldn’t have been more helpful. We applied to the club and were allowed to use the facilities while waiting for our application to go before the main committee. After about two weeks of waiting we were told our application had been accepted, and although we knew of no reason why it should have been refused. It was still a relief when the approval came through. At this point I will deviate again, all mail was sent to the company PO. Box 819 and then collected by the company. The mail was then sorted and delivered to the individual departments. There were no house deliveries for mail at the time, and because of the work I was involved in some days could pass before I would be able to collect our mail.