- appearing in Yachts and Yachting in 1968, this cutting was sent in by Jim Bailey

The purpose of buoyancy in a sailing dinghy is to prevent it from sinking and to enable it to be righted and sailed away after a capsize. Many modern dinghies incorporate built-in buoyancy far in excess of that necessary to fulfill these basic requirements. Some will float so high after capsizing that they can be righted without taking any water at all. The majority will float high enough to make it a difficult task for the crew to clamber aboard if they have been thrown into the water. Rolled side decks and slippery glassfibre add to their difficulties.

A boat which floats high on its side will blow away very quickly in a strong wind. Under these circumstances the mast will point up wind and there will be little tendency for the boat to overturn completely.

However, if the crew clinging to the boat in the water hold her head to wind or, worse still, stern to wind, she will try to turn turtle. Any attempt to regain the topside by climbing up the inside of the hull will accelerate this tendency. The longer the crew is struggling in the water the more difficult becomes the task of getting aboard. In the end cold and fatigue may prevent self-rescue. It is therefore most important to right the boat as soon as possible.

There are several methods of righting a very buoyant dinghy, for example using extra long jib sheets which the crew throws over the boat to the helmsman waiting on the opposite side. There may be a rope ladder stowed in the hull which can be extracted and thrown over the boat. These methods have two disadvantages. First, it is extremely difficult when in the water to throw a rope up and over a boat, particularly against the wind. Second, the crew member waiting to receive it has nothing to cling to and runs the risk of either being run over by the fast moving hull or losing touch with the boat because he cannot swim fast enough.

The device shown here is cheap, simple and has been proved effective. A lacing eye is bolted to the underside of the gunwale on each side of the boat at the point of maximum beam. From each eye a line, knotted at 18 inch intervals, is led aft to the transom, passed through a stretched bight of shock-cord fastened near the rudder hangings and locked in place by the final knot. The end of the line is then passed back through the bight so that a sharp tug will release it. A similar arrangement may be made by leading another line from the eye forward to the bow. It is advisable to use a soft rope such as matt finished 10 mm circumference plaited Terylene rather than a thin, hard line which will cut into cold hands.

In the event of a capsize and the crew being flung into the water, the helmsman makes his way round the stern pulling out the rescue line as he goes. It is an easy matter to flick the line over the centreboard if it is in the way. Once the helmsman is amidships he climbs up the knotted rope, stands on the centreplate and leans out horizontally. The dinghy will be righted rapidly. If, at the same time, his crew has caught hold of the thwart on the opposite side he will come up with the boat. Apart from speed of operation, another advantage of this method is that it does not rely on assistance from the crew and so can be used by the single-handed sailor.