"Sink or Swim" (Bulletin No. 41, September), was written with a touch of humour but with the aim of airing views on a potentially serious problem, that of a capsize situation with a cruising dinghy.

I have just read a rather disturbing story in the October issue of "Yachting Monthly". During Cowes week, a Trimaran capsized and the owner, sailing single-handed, clung onto the hull for 24 hours before being picked up. There could be a parallel here with a heavy cruising dinghy - a knockdown would mean a stay-down. But 24 hours in the water!

When we sail out into the "crowded" waters of the Solent, or other popular sailing areas, with the prospects of fine weather, do we really have a plan, or the stamina, to meet the conditions facing the sailor with the tri? I wonder. Anyway, I shall no longer use the adjective "crowded" to describe the Solent after this story.