When there was no limit on weight

I am not a big person. I have had to deal with my size all my life. I am not whining, I is a simple statement of fact.

In my early years of sailing there was no limit on the amount of weight one could carry. I carried as much as I could bear, more than most other people. I would wear knee pads the wrong way around. I exercised, I built a hiking bench. I would sit, hiking out stacking books or weights on my chest. It should come as no surprise that I had lower back problems.

I had made hiking jackets, by sewing groups of eight sweat shirts together. Then either bailing water onto myself or dunking myself in the water, to gain weight. Once I wore so many, when I turned my head I could not see over the collar of the weight jackets.