The Editorial in Bulletin 117 raised an important issue, that of DCA recommendations for cruising boats, which were drawn up some 30 years ago. As this was before most modern dinghies had appeared or had made much impact, it is clearly time these recommendations were reviewed in the light of more recent developments and experience.

As you pointed out, it is possible to cruise successfully in boats as different as the "Mirror", the "Enterprise" and the "Sussex Cob". You also mentioned the "Drascombe" range and of course the famous "Wayfarer". In fact a glance through the Bulletins and the DCA Membership List will show that our range of boats is even wider, including a "Shearwater" catamaran, an inflatable, and a tiny flat-bottomed canoe! All these have provided interesting and worthwhile cruising, and are safe enough if used properly, but how many meet all the DCA recommendations? I am fairly sure that a number of boats favoured by experts and listed by the R Y A as suitable for instruction would fail!

Incidentally, according to my reckoning, one third of the DCA membership sail cruiser/racers, and the most popular DCA boat is a well known racing dinghy!

Are there any DCA recommendations which should apply to all cruising boats, all the time? I think there is at least one: The boat "must be capable of being sailed in the waters chosen for its cruising without the need for a safety boat". This is perhaps the one recommendation which could be considered to be a DCA rule, taking precedence over all other DCA recommendations, which might not apply to all boats or in all situations.

However, in suggesting this recommendation as a rule, I am certainly not saying that every member who accepts assistance should be chucked out of the DCA; far from it! For instance, we are greatly indebted to that experienced member, John Baden, for his frank account of his lifeboat rescue after capsizing at Christchurch Ledge. This is the kind of vital information that the DCA needs most; we can all learn something from it. It could save DCA lives. I, for one, will now be more wary of Christchurch Ledge at low tide!

This leads to another DCA recommendation quoted in the Editorial, "the boat must not capsize even if the entire crew stands on the gunwale". Now, there is little doubt that this is desirable, but in practice would it not eliminate a substantial proportion of the DCA fleet, and many of the boats favoured by expert off-shore sailors? Are not some of the boats which would fail this criterion safer, in skilled hands, than some of those which pass? Is not the ability to be righted, and to sail on after a swamping, more important than initial stability?

I suggest that we seek answers to the following questions:

Which boats stand up to the DCA stability test, and which do not?

Which boats can be easily righted after a capsize?

Which boats can sail on when swamped (allowing for cruising gear) ?

Which boats can make significant progress to windward in Force 7 (or even Force 6 or Force 5 single-handed in a heavy chop!)?

Which boats can also sail well in light airs in a typical Solent popple, and also row easily in a calm?

I can only think of one boat suitable for single-handed sailing which might answer all these requirements. It had a poor review in the DCA Bulletin!

Such questions as boat performance and safety, heavy weather sailing, and distress procedures for dinghies could be usefully discussed at one or more of our next series of Winter Meetings (and also in the Bulletin). I would therefore be most grateful for suggestions for speakers on these and any other topics.

Finally, I have had passed to me a letter from Jim Hopwood proposing extra rallies, including a "Round the Isle of Wight" cruise. While I welcome his initiative, in the case of a "Round the Island" event (as with my suggestion for a London River Cruise), we must try and point out the various hazards and must emphasize that MEMBERS TAKE PART ENTIRELY AT THEIR OWN RISK.

If you have good visibility and tack down to the Needles with the last of the ebb, slip round (or through) the Needles at slack water and pick up a light to moderate fair wind, then you can reasonably expect a very interesting and pleasant sail to Bembridge Ledge, where you might have to wait for the flood to slacken before you tack up to Brading Haven. I have done it single-handed without a motor. On the other hand I am not ashamed of "chickening out" of sailing round at night with wind against (and therefore with wind against tide at St Catherine's Race), even in a "Drascombe" with a motor and a highly competent skipper!

Len Wingfield