“A good many miles can be covered (with much inconvenience) by a small open boat”. (K A Coles in his book “Sailing & Cruising”).

The writer of these notes, having sampled some of the “inconvenience” referred to through having set out to explore all that is so well described in the same author’s “Creeks & Harbours of the Solent”, feels impelled to place on record that he, for one, found that the enjoyment therefrom proved to be very well worth it.

A diagrammatic chart of the “miniature cruises” involved is appended, the dotted line indicating the approximate courses sailed over, while the anchors mark where Picarini was left between cruises. She, Picarini the boat, is, to be exact, just a 14 foot half-decked Lymington pram or scow, built by Symmonds of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.

A start was made in 1935, with the chart books mentioned above as a guide… and an inspiration; and by the end of 1937 it was found that over 100 nautical miles of waterways had been explored, almost exclusively at week-ends.

One reads complaints today of the difficulty of finding room for mooring in the congested anchorages of the Solent district. It is pleasant to be able, therefore, to assure any prospective wanderer in a 14 footer that this difficulty is one inconvenience that he is not likely to meet with. For between a row of large yachts’ moorings and the shore there is nearly everywhere to be found sufficient swinging room for a small boat such that she will only take the mud for an hour or two either side of low water; or not at all if the wind happens to be offshore, as centreboard craft are always “wind-rode” — except, of course, in a flat calm.

During the three years under review, Picarini was left at fourteen different havens. At eight of these, local moorings were found to be available for hire. At the remainder, she was allowed to ride, quite safely if chafe is guarded against, to her own two small anchors and warps.

The writer is particularly glad to be able to record that hiss loss by pilfering at all the places visited has been limited to one boathook, though it must be admitted that the oars, etc., were always put in store locally if this could really easily be arranged. Incidentally, that one boathook disappeared… from a store!

It will be understood from the foregoing that the essence of the programme planned for exploring the Solent and its creeks was to make no attempt to return to the starting point on the same day, if the distance was more than five miles or so. In this way it was found to be perfectly feasible to proceed on cruises of up to twenty miles, full regard being given to the tides. Examples of such were:-

Southampton to Lymington Keyhaven to Gins Farm Lymington to Swanwick Cowes to Southampton Hamble to Fareham Portchester to Eastney Eastney to Emsworth

No mechanical means of propulsion, not even a friendly tow, was ever resorted to; nor was it necessary ever to get under way before breakfast time; and every destination or suitable alternative one was reached before nightfall on each trip. It is not, however, claimed that the oars were never used.

Not taking a dinghy along, as is usually considered essential in the case of larger craft, was not found to occasion any difficulty, for the simple reason that, at weekends, every sailing centre seems to have some small boys, if not a real boatman, always rowing about, who will be agreeable to put one ashore. If there is no one about and no dinghy can be “borrowed” for a few minutes, a 14 footer can be left, temporarily, adjacent to the local landing hard, though of course if this is done at high water, a subsequent visit at time of low tide means no sailing without first enlisting the help of a local man in waders and two small round logs to act as rollers to get the boat down to the water.

Returning to one’s “shore establishment” after arrival at a new port need present no difficulty in these days of frequent train and omnibus services; or sometimes one of the crew, if a car-owner, can be prevailed upon to collect same and drive back to fetch the skipper and/or rest of the crew. The latter will meanwhile have repaired to a place of good cheer where the volunteer with the car may be suitably rewarded on his return.

Let it be said in closing that these remarks on a “design for sailing” are addressed to those who may desire a variant of the usual “all marks to be left to starboard, twice round” racing theme, but who do not wish to go to the extent of camping out in an open boat at night.