Safety precautions are always an important part of the preparation for a cruise, and in this Bulletin we have two articles which touch on this point from opposite extremes; emergency drill in off-shore dinghy cruising, envisaging every likely and possible catastrophe, and the more homely measures taken to keep small children safe on board.

The extreme emergency is one for which we should always be prepared. I think, though, that among the inexperienced it may be easy to forget more mundane accidents which are statistically many times more probable. He who is dismasted in a gale on a lee shore probably deserves his fate for being there at all, and it is unlikely that he will have time to try out either his mast repair kit or his drogue. The correct procedure would have been to stay safe in harbour.

Far more likely is the disaster which comes on a fine summer day, drifting up with a fast tide, and finding oneself totally becalmed in the path of a ferry, or athwart the bows of a moored boat on to which a trick of current sets one. Both of these instances require only a good pair of oars to avert trouble. In fact, if this simple auxiliary power is carried, and if the dinghy cruiser only sails in sensible weather conditions, failure of gear should only cause delay while it is temporarily repaired, not actual danger. Those who attempt sea crossings of several days’ duration are, of course, in a different category, since they cannot avoid bad weather if it comes. Only the most experienced and self-reliant should ever attempt this kind of dinghy sailing, and they will indeed need to foresee every likely and unlikely accident. Joan Abrams