Most members will have read in the daily papers of the tragic drowning of two of a crew of three dinghy sailors off the coast at Rye following a capsize. John Clark wrote to the Coroner asking for technical details about the accident in order to help D.C.A. members avoid a similar situation. The Coroner replied as follows:

“At the time when the dinghy capsized it was running with the wind. There was no great wind about at the time but a sudden draught from the southward appears to have struck the boat and capsized it. Later on, while they were capsized, an offshore wind came up from the North East up to Force 3 which some twelve hours later increased to Force 4 or 5. When they first went out there was no wind about at all and it was very calm; then a mist got up when they were some three or four miles offshore and the wind changed direction. They decided then to start back for home and were running with the boom right out making all possible speed back to harbour when the boom swung right round and tipped them into the water. It appears they did not have a compass. They were unable to right the boat because the mast and sails of the boat were pointing directly down to the sea bed. Later Mr. Packenham dived over and cut away the halyard and released the sail. By this means they were able to right the boat but the waves kept coming on to it and breaking over it and with the weight of the water it kept tipping the boat over again. They were not wearing lifejackets when they capsized but Mr. Packenham managed to swim under the boat and bring up the buoyancy waistcoats which they afterwards continued to wear. These buoyancy waistcoats were sufficient to keep them afloat but it is interesting to note that the cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning which indicates that their faces got into the water, which might have been avoided if they had been wearing proper lifejackets.

It is believed that the boat had side buoyancy under the seats and also buoyancy in the bows. It is strange that the buoyancy in the bows was more of a handicap than of assistance to them because they found that when riding on top of the upturned dinghy owing to the buoyancy in the bows the boat was higher out of the water in the bows than in the stern and Mr. Packenham found that, after diving down and releasing the buoyancy under the bows, the boat was on a more even keel and more comfortable to ride It appears likely that if the dinghy had been equipped with distress signals the occupants could have been rescued at an early stage in their ordeal as there were plenty of fishing boats in the vicinity who were unable to notice their predicament”.

Eric Coleman comments: - Various accounts of this accident in the newspapers seem rather vague so I propose to speculate on what happened in order to draw some conclusions which may be useful to us. Photographs of the boat show it to be of moulded ply construction. The Daily Express report gives the sail number as A851, therefore an Albacore. Bulletin No.8 included an article by Tony Thorp "The Albacore as a Cruising Dinghy." From this we find that the Albacore is a family racing boat or day sailer and is supplied with wood or steel centreboards. If the boat was capsized by "a sudden draught" it is not unlikely that the wooden centreboard was fitted. Note also the distribution of buoyancy and then consider this extract from the Bulletin: "For cruising it was essential to have the heavier centreboard (75 lbs) and to carry the maximum amount of buoyancy. This was distributed:- 1 stern bag, 1 fore bag and 2 side bags