I found Peter Bick's article ( HYPERLINK "143-06B.doc" 143-06B) describing the heavy centreboard option on the Wanderer dinghy very thought provoking. The description by Anglo Marine of the capsize and righting tests were very impressive. But how effective is a heavy centreboard when retracted?

When I began dinghy sailing I was often blown over when beating. Now that I have learnt the hard way, to ease the main in a gust, most of my capsizes have occurred when fast reaching, running or gybing - usually with the centreboard fully or partly retracted. I am not sure that a retracted heavy centreboard would have improved stability that much.

Furthermore, following a capsize with the centreboard retracted it is often necessary to extend the centreboard in order to get some leverage to right the boat. With my light centreboard I can pull out the centreboard from the hull side. Can you imagine being at sea, under an inverted dinghy, struggling to raise an 80 lb centreboard?

In fairness to Anglo Marine, they have done an excellent job on the Wanderer. To make inversion less likely, the head of the mainsail has a pocket for buoyancy to be fitted. And the centreboard has both up and down tackle and a safety line to prevent the plate retracting under its own weight if inverted. But make sure these safety features are in place when considering other boats or if thinking of modifying ones own dinghy.

And finally, if I were willing to add weight to my dinghy and thus hassle when launching, then I might be tempted to go the whole hog and buy a much more stable 'Drascombe' type boat. When, at the Southampton Boat Show I asked the staff on the Drascombe stand about how easy the boats were to right they replied that they didn't know - they had never seen a Drascombe capsize!

David Stokes N.B: See article 'Jacona's Steel Plate': Ed. – page 16 ( HYPERLINK "146-16.doc" 146-16)