The speaker at the Fitting Out Supper at the Foxholes on the 3rd of April was Charles Stock, a dinghy cruising man who averages 100 miles each weekend and 1,500-1,600 miles last season. Although Charles sails on the south east coast and Thames estuary from the Blackwater, making a trip round the Isle of Sheppey quite a regular feature from his home base, there seems to be no reason why similar cruising weekends could not become more popular with club members on this part of the coastline in the north-west.

Charles Stock began his cruising in a very old 16’ gaff rigged dinghy, Zephyr. Apparently the boat was renowned for its leaking properties, and during the last few years of cruising in her, Charles always carried a plastic bag full of river mud to stop up the leaks whenever they got too out of hand. By 1962 it seemed she could go no further, and so Charles purchased a Fairey Falcon hull and transferred all his fittings and fixtures from the old Zephyr into the new hull. He prefers gaff rig, as he argues that the larger part of our summer season gives light to moderate winds and this rig allows him to present a bigger mainsail area to the light airs. He considers big genoas to be very poor for the average cruising family boat, as small mainsail and big jib are especially weak downwind. He thought anchors were very important in this sort of sailing, and recommended that they should be available for immediate use and mounted on the foredeck. He also carries a full set of international flag signals (admitting that this was a personal ‘thing’ with him).

Charles always writes up his log while cruising, which obviously comes in useful for giving interesting talks to winter chair-bound sailors, and also assists in the assessment of past, and planning of new, cruises.