Following on from the memo that I inserted in the last Bulletin regarding the Wanderer dinghy, a member wrote in to express disapproval of "the recommendation that owners of 'cruiser-racer dinghies' should fit heavy centreplates". As he went on to speak of the advantage or otherwise to be gained in windward ability it was fairly obvious that he completely misinterpreted the reasoning behind the replacement of the wooden board. In fact I did not recommend anything as anyone can see by reading the text. I merely welcomed the fact that such a plate was now available for those who cruised offshore in order to make the dinghy safer. As it is possible that others may also not have understood, I will explain in greater depth as otherwise owners of certain dinghies may ignore what might well prove to be a lifesaving improvement to their craft. If a designer of the stature of Ian Proctor felt that the idea was worthy of his consideration one would have to be arrogant indeed to discard the idea as not worthwhile.

Modern sporting dinghies are designed to be sailed as upright as possible to get the most performance. But ballast on the centreline has little effect until the boat is well heeled, as the righting lever formed by the distance between the ballast weight and the centre of buoyancy is otherwise too short. The steel centreboard is there to resist capsizing and to help recover from the situation if the worst happens as when the craft is laid over by strong winds or due to the helmsman's inattention. It is desirable for reasons of safety as my memo said. Such a small amount of weight can give little help to anyone's ability to hold a boat upright and therefore improve windward work in rough water and it is certainly not worth fitting the steel board for this reason, although it is arguable that the extra overall weight of the craft is beneficial.

The weight of the crew sitting to weather is much the most important form of ballast in such a dinghy as it has a powerful effect to resist the heeling effect of the sails while the boat is upright. The problem is that many unballasted racing dinghies can be sailed on when full of water but they have very little stability in that state and depend mainly on the crew to keep them upright. The difficulty after a capsize as every racing helmsman knows, is to get the crew into a position to be able to accomplish this before the boat blows over again. This situation is aggravated by rough seas - hence the need for safety boats to attend the racing fleet.

Ballast in a racing dinghy is unacceptable but surely not when cruising, if safety is the aim. A general recommendation to fit the heavy centreboard would not be appropriate as only a small proportion of such dinghies are taken outside waters such as the Solent or Estuaries by themselves and vary in their susceptibility to capsizing. Owners also have different opinions regarding what is important in a dinghy. I would suggest that the extra weight is modest - that of a small child. The only disadvantages are the expense and having to use a tackle to raise it. Most dinghies have a surplus of emergency buoyancy in any case although this might need adding to. I append an extract ** from Anglo Marine's literature regarding testing the Wanderer with heavy plate fitted - incidentally they do not seek to claim any other advantages than that mentioned. Even the 'skilled and able-bodied' might find the following interesting, and a lot of us would not consider ourselves in that category.

“Two crew members weighing over 300 lbs positioned themselves on the side seating and additional weights were added to the point where water was level with the gunwale. Following which an attempt was made to capsize the boat by one crew member deliberately laying out until water spilled over the gunwale filling the boat - at this point the boat did not capsize and felt extremely stable. A further attempt to effect a capsize by rolling the boat was also unsuccessful. We then hauled down on the main halyard attached to the top of the mast until it reached the waterline, having obtained a capsize position it only required a minimal amount of down pressure on the centreplate in order to bring the boat back onto its normal float line.”