Dear Joan,

Hoorah for Aidan de la Mare! I am sure that Aidan will not mind me calling him one of the old school of believers in 'common sense', i.e. when cruising your dinghy try very hard not to capsize.

As Spike Milligan recently said on television, "the world is full of people telling us what we can and cannot do". What with 'political correctness' and the 'nanny state', we are losing sight of what just is meant by 'freedom of the individual'.

It is no bad thing to have some experience of capsizing, but there is little to learn from planned capsizing. By far the best way for the novice sailor is to first join a racing club. Not only will he soon learn to cope with capsizing under sailing yet safe conditions, but much valuable experience will be gained in sail setting; invaluable when sailing day boats which are often under canvassed. A single season's racing should be sufficient, and it does not have to be in high-tech boats, a Mirror is as good as any.

The new centre pages in colour have without doubt given the Bulletin quite a lift, and what a good start with a Potter on the very first colour page - not that I'm biased of course!

As I write this at the end of March the weather seems to be shaping up much like last year. We must all keep our fingers crossed and dream of warm but fresh breezes followed by balmy summer evenings - and many of them. Bob Lomas