Dinghy Cruising is not by definition non-mechanized, but in practice that is what it usually is. As bigger boats rely more and more on electronic aids, we are among those who try to perpetrate sailing as it used to be.

The point of getting from one place to another in a small boat is not the ease and certainty of arrival — it would be quicker and easier to go round by car or ferry. It is the satisfaction of using wind and current and oar-power to arrive (in time) without sophisticated aids. There seems to be an increasing rift between those who sail in this way and the non-conventional majority who regard VHF radio, electronic self-steering, Decca navigational etc as essential. We have become used to the idea that it is not good seamanship to move about a harbour without the engine — in an otherwise good article in Practical Boat Owner, Mike Harper says he seldom anchors under sail because you need the engine to make sure the anchor is dug in! He shows elsewhere that he does know how to sail. I am alarmed to hear that using electronic equipment is to be an integral part of RYA courses purporting to teach the handling of sailing cruisers. It seems a pity that the simpler sort of sailing is becoming the unorthodox, regarded with suspicion.

So, should the DCA be entirely purist about this? I must admit that an engine can extend one’s cruising ground, giving one the reasonable chance of getting home in a limited time, and I must also admit that it is fun to have an echo-sounder — a view of the bottom, with its unseen ridges and channels. But it is not, in my view, good seamanship to rely on either to the extent of being unable to cope without them, and, if one chooses to sail without them, surely that does not disqualify one from being regarded as competent? Joan Abrams

ps Please would anyone who can help in typing this Bulletin let me know.