Andy Morley’s commendably candid and entertaining account of his adventurous outing at the South-west’s spring meeting on the River Exe, published in the summer Bulletin, highlights an important issue about the fitness of cruising dinghies for their purpose. I am reluctant to suggest that there is anything wrong with any other DCA member’s boat. But I must question the fitness of taking a boat with a drop keel into the confines of the Exe where the results of grounding in rough conditions proved to be damaging and could have been much worse. A pivoting centreplate is a very accurate depth sounder and is almost immune from damage as it just kicks up if it touches an obstruction.

It is also important that the natty widgets, which are meant to make sailing easier and which are the prerogative of all DCA members, do not rule and restrict the actions of the user. Such devices should, where possible, be made in such a way that, if they fail, they can be released and forgotten so as not to impede the basic function of the boat’s gear.

The Huntingford Helm Impeder described in Bulletin No 86 and repeated in No 137 in 1992, is one such piece of gear. It is endorsed by the past and present Presidents, and I sign to it as well. It is just string and shock cord, easy to fit, easy to use and most effective; once you have got it you will wonder how you managed without it.

There is another simple string device that deserves publicising — Roger’s Reefing Refinement. There are those who are dedicated to rolling the sail round the boom to reduce its size and spoil its shape; I am not one of them. It may be acceptable on the club slipway for a day sail, but not at sea single-handed. The alternative is what I call line reefing, variously known as points, slab or jiffy reefing. The principle must be familiar to all — pull down and hook, clip or tie a cringle some way up the luff of the mainsail to the forward end of the boom, and pull a line threaded through a similar cringle on the leach of the sail, and part of the foot of the sail is taken out of use.

So what is the Roger Barnes’ refinement? The system requires two reefs of equal depth (a desirable quality anyway) and is simple to fit as Roger has already worked out the geometry of it. The main disadvantage of conventional line reefing is that the line for the second reef hangs slack when the first is hauled down, so one is tempted to remove it altogether until needed, at which point it becomes very difficult to reeve; so, instead of the second line starting at an eye of its own, it starts attached to the first line (by knot, splice or seizing).

The revelation comes when the first reef is pulled down — the rest of the gear remains neat and instantly available for the next reef to be pulled down in its turn. With this arrangement one can reef and unreef in a seaway with complete confidence and ease. Thus avoiding the all too prevalent inclination to hang on to too much sail in the hope of getting to shelter and saving yourself the struggle of practically unrigging the boat to reduce sail.

The only other fitting that is recommended is a topping lift to keep the boom where you want it while you ease the halyard. And, if you have a gaff or gunter rig, make it a double topping lift while you are at it, it makes life aboard a dinghy much more comfortable.