It was Gerald Levenson, who in a past bulletin argued how a boat trip was so much the better for having a purpose. Just ‘going for a sail’ may feel somewhat bland - a rally supplies a motive but the following are some other objectives that I have found. Birdwatching - fishing - collecting mussels- stabbing the creeks at low tide for flounders - collecting Roman artifacts from an inundated pottery - visiting an old U-Boat - beachcombing on estuary islands - collecting clay pipe bowls from a strayway formed from London's 19th. Century rubbish - sketching. It would be interesting to hear of others.

In common with many I have found that, due to the weather, I have had less sailing this year than for many years past. However just being afloat is the greater part of my pleasure and while a sailing dinghy on the sea is my ideal, an intended sail is too easily thwarted by the elements. It would be nice if one could ignore the forecast at times and just go. Not to have to bother about launching ramps or tides, but with a craft you can drag over any grassy bank. A canoe on the river or upper part of an estuary is the answer which others have discovered before me if not for reasons of weather. I have had a fair experience of the Canadian canoe but do not consider the type to be ideal for a lone paddler in strong winds, and the plastic kayak synonymous with the word canoe in this country is too redolent of macho white water antics for my taste. However Americans talk about the Rushton canoe, a type developed by some boat builders at the turn of the century, J. Henry Rushton and others. It is built with or without decking, can have a sailing rig and is normally clinker built, or lapstrake as they prefer to say. In appearance it resembles a miniature whaleboat and is propelled by a double paddle.Fortunately there is a young Scottish designer, Ian Oughtred, who is appreciated over there and has a couple of such canoes in his portfolio. I have chosen his Wee Rob design, and it is as far from the DCA Boat Safety Recommendations as one can get, 12 feet long and 28 inches beam. The sail is 34 square feet and reefable. Equipment will consist only of an O.S. map, sponge and a simple two-wheeled jockey for portaging although the hull only weighs 30 lbs. I suppose I shall have to consider a buoyancy aid although I hate them almost as much as car seat belts. At the moment my canoe sits on its building frame in my car port. It is now half planked with three of the six strakes per side in place.

It is said that `fools build boats for wise men to sail'. If you can build for yourself however you can increase the pleasure immeasurably. The astonished delight I felt when I launched that first home-built plywood pram and it floated is with me still! Remember - keep it small and simple to start with, use proper plans - materials are expensive if not your time, forget so called `looks' handsome is as handsome does, don't worry about the defects as the next one will be better, and `experience starts the moment you begin'. My next one will be a flat bottomed skiff of cheap materials, to be kept on a mooring for the muddy creeks in winter where the wildfowl gather, then perhaps a 12 feet version of the Roamer if it will scale, then a coracle... There is no such thing as the perfect boat for all activities; that is why one needs so many!

As this is the last bulletin of the year I would very much like to thank, on behalf of all members, those volunteers, committee and others, who have worked to make the DCA such a worthwhile association to belong to. Most names are known to us through these pages but there are others, which includes wives, husbands and friends dragged in to help, who get no mention - a sincere thanks from us all. Peter Bick