I agree that Nancy was more exciting but I think that Susan was portrayed as a vital and appreciated member of the crew. She was first mate and a competent sailor. Keeping the crew in order and the camp shipshape are the mate's job. There were lots of ways to be a girl in that world and all of them were interesting and capable. I still always wanted to be Nancy though.

Thanks David, I think Arthur Ransome wrote fantastic girls. In my mind Nancy B grew up and became Nancy Wake.

Here's a picture of Lonebird in the early 90's. I'm still inspired by the sheer willpower of Pete to get her built and keep her sailing.

In my early twenties I found myself at a biker rally (cold kiwi?) with a group of people I didn’t know. I had far too much to drink, wandered off on my own and eventually woke up in the morning in my own tent, alone. Later that day I was chatting to one of the guys in the group I was with and said I felt I’d put myself at risk the night before. “Oh, we knew where you were” he said. These hairy westie bikers had kept an unobtrusive eye on a drunk stranger, prevented the one person I did know from going into my tent to claim some “property rights” and apparently as a point of honour never get with drunk girls. There is hope.