by Cecil V. Wikramanayake
As shipping reporter for my paper, it was part of my duties to cover, not only the port of Colombo but the other ports as well, Trincomalee and Galle being two such. Most of the news stories from these two ports were obtained from my contacts there, on the telephone.

Victor Baroukh, in Trincomalee was one contact. Another, in Galle, was Don Windsor, better known as the ‘most honest ten percenter’.

Don Windsor had his establishment bordering the Galle harbour, for he was the man who catered to the needs of the many yachts that called at that port.

Don Windsor kept open house to the ‘yachties’ as the members of those little boats were called, providing them with food and even accommodation ashore, for a reasonable price, and getting his ten percent for the services he rendered to the yachties.

So one day when my colleague William de Alwis, the man who brought me into the Fourth Estate, who was also a good friend of Don Windsor, suggested to me that we go down to Galle for a few days and stay with Windsor, I jumped at the idea.

Don Windsor welcomed us with open arms and showered us with his hospitality, introduced us to many yachties and so provided both of us with plenty of ‘stories’ to write for our paper.

One such yachtie was a German, Karl, who was sailing around the world with his wife, on their yacht named "Magic". He invited the two of us to visit him and we did.

It was a lovely vessel, fitted with the very latest of equipment and a ‘thing of beauty’ it really was.

Karl, Willie and I were standing below the mast of the yacht and chatting, when I happened to look up at the ‘crow’s nest’ of the yacht. It was really a perch fit for a crow — a piece of wood tied at right angles at the very top of the mast.

From where I stood, it appeared to be about 25 feet high, and I told Karl that I would dearly like to take some pictures with my camera from the top of the mast.

"I have a winch, and I can winch you up to the top if you like," he said. Suiting his invitation with action, he went below and came back with a harness and fitted one end of it to the rope that was attached to the winch.

This done, he fixed the harness on to me, strapping the two belts round me under my legs. Then he began turning the winch.

Up I went, little by little, holding on to the mast in order to maintain my balance.

Willie, meanwhile, lay down on the deck below me and took pictures of me being winched up, while I too, unable to keep still, took pictures of Willie taking pictures of me. It all seemed good fun at that time, and also took my mind away from the ascent to the ‘crow’s nest’ of the ‘Magic’

When I reached the top, I stood on the crossbar and began taking pictures, of the Galle Harbour, of the rest of Galle on the other side, and of Karl, his wife and Willie, waving to me from down below.

Having got all the pictures I needed I signalled to Karl to bring me down, which he did.

Back on the deck of the ‘Magic’, as he was removing the harness from my body, Karl remarked, "Cecil, you are a very brave man!"

"What do you mean brave? " I countered. "That was nothing. Just about 25 feet."

"Twenty five feet, my foot," ejaculated Karl. "That mast is seventy five feet high, and you went right to the top!"

It was then that I began to feel that my knees were knocking together and I began to feel a little wobbly. Willie and Karl had to help me stay on my feet as we went into the cabin below, for a beer to celebrate.

No. I am not a brave man. Had I known that the mast was 75 feet high I would never have ventured up there. Nor will I ever again. Enough is enough.

But it was an experience of a lifetime !