Author: Henry Kilner
Age: 8
We went to Dovercourt on our boat and anchored it near the beach. It was meant to be sunny but it wasn’t, so rather than going swimming dad and I went for a ride in the dinghy. It was very windy and it was exciting. We left our puppy called Sherlock on the boat with my mum and sister. He was sad that we had gone without him and was running up and down the side of the boat barking and whining.
When my mum wasn’t looking he jumped in the water and tried to swim to us. My sister was looking for him and mum told my dad to get back and help. Dad was tying the dinghy up when I spotted him stuck under the diving platform and shouted out. My dad jumped into the water to rescue him. My dads lifejacket inflated and he looked like an inflatable sea monster and his face turned purple because it was so cold.
Dad lost his shoe and I saw it floating past the dinghy so tried to grab it with my oar. Unfortunately the dinghy wasn’t tied up properly so I started drifting out to sea. Dad had to jump back in to rescue me this time. He was still purple and mum was no help because she was laughing too much. She did make us all a cup of tea and opened some biscuits and even Sherlock got one. I don’t think he learnt though because he fell back in at the marina!