I pulled my dinghy on its trailer out of the garage and turned it to connect it to the car. As I did so I noticed that the grease cap was missing from one of the hubs of the trailer. Worrying about the effect of road grit on the bearing I put the hitch on the car’s ball and walked round to connect up the electric plug. The grease cap on the other side was missing also and I remembered that the caps, of unusual pattern, had not snapped into place as they usually do, when I had replaced the grease in the bearings before my last sail a fortnight earlier. I took the caps off another trailer I had in the garage to replace them for the moment and drove off on the 45 minute journey to my launching point.

When I arrived at the head of the ramp I prepared the gear for launching. The first thing I did was to remove the electric trailer plug for the number plate. It was then that I noticed that the trailer hitch was only resting on top of the ball — distracted by the hub caps, I had not raised the locking lever to allow it to settle and enclose the ball properly! It could thus be simply lifted off — my blood ran cold.

I had driven the 25 miles with this fragile connection, including five miles of motorway at 60 mph, but most of it along single carriageway roads and through town and villages!

I have never used a safety chain because I believe the chance of mechanical failure on a light trailer is so remote. Needless to say I have now made one up — not because of the chance of the hitch breaking but as an insurance against my carelessness. It goes in the bag in the boot, together with my removable ball hitch.