The sense of being able to cope and make do is one of the satisfactions of dinghy cruising in this age of laid-on mod-cons, particularly for the single-hander. Frank Cowper in his classic ‘Yachting and Cruising for Amateurs’ wrote: ‘The object of the single-hander is to economise his strength.... He is obliged to let his mind master matter in a way that others are not called on to do. Hence one of the great advantages of single-handed sailing is in strengthening invention and self-reliance.’

I have had to be careful in respect of saving effort ever since I hurt my back while humping paving stones, many years ago, and I have to think twice before heaving on anything. But it’s not what you heave that matters, it’s the way that you do it.

One exertive situation is in recovering the boat from the water when only a low bank or quay is available. Two people can lift out an Otter but it is too much for one person, not because of the dead weight but because of the awkwardness of the task.

I found an answer to the problem of lifting the boat out single-handed under these conditions. The object of the exercise is to apply the effort where it does most good. If you pull on the bow you drive the fore-foot against the bank, so you must pull from under the fore-foot.

The method is simple. Take the anchor warp (of course you do have an anchor and at least 40 feet of warp), untie the anchor and double the warp by folding in the middle. About 6 feet from the free ends tie a granny in the doubled warp. Holding the loop end in your teeth, or otherwise, pass the knot over the bow and holding the free ends of the warp, one on each side of the boat, draw the knot under the boat end pass the free ends inboard through the jib-sheet fairleads. Match the free ends for length to ensure that the knot is under the centre-line of the boat and tie them together tautly. If you have strong jambing cleats these will serve to hold the warp on either side.

Now go ashore with the loop end in your hand and you will find that you can pull the boat up and towards you at the same time, and if you back the trailer to about five foot from the edge you can heave the boat up over the bank and onto the trailer in one action.

“Owzat?” “Out!”