This is just one small example of the kind of article members have requested: what went wrong, and what did you do about it?

We set off from Deganwy when the tide turned to let us pass through the narrow channel by the Mussel Hill Beacon, on our way home. Eolet and Tom-Tom (my 18-foot cabin sloop and Brian Haskins' Silhouette) had been left at Deganwy after our summer cruise.

We sailed at 0200 hours - a dark morning, with a fair wind right down the Conway, which runs SE to NW here. I was accompanied by two 14 year olds, Judith and Janet - they said they had spotted the light of the beacon, and I wondered why I could not see it. They could also see Brian's sail ahead, and he said he could see the light, so I sailed on a parallel course. I had a chart handy, but I had not taken the few minutes needed for a last minute study of the entrance on it. I had set what I thought was the right compass course down the Conway, and was taking care to be outside the many boats moored off Deganwy, well to the south-western side of the channel.

To my puzzled surprise, I found we were running aground. Brian no longer seemed to be in sight. I pushed with an oar, then got overboard and heaved her off what I took to be a bank. It seemed to lie between us and the Deganwy shore. It seemed to be more than just a bank. Brian called to ask where we were - from beyond it between the bank and Deganwy - to the northeast of our course: - more and more puzzling. I pushed the boat back the way we had come until I could see that there was a spit round which I must go to get into the channel. When we were round it and sailing again I could pause to consider what had happened.

Opposite Deganwy, on the south-western side of the Conway entrance, is the Morfa. I had not noticed that a hook juts out from this, pointing upstream from Mussel Hill, so that in keeping well to the south-western side of the channel I was heading into a cul-de-sac, and the higher ground of the Morfa hid the beacon from me. It was lucky it was soon after high water, and I had time to push off before we were left aground.

Moral: always study the chart first.