On Friday 15 March, Anne and Dennis Kell gave a talk to an audience of members of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club and the Cruising Association together with a liberal sprinkling of DCA stalwarts. Anne and Dennis are a polished double act when it comes to such occasions and the careful thinking, planning and preparation that is required for dinghy cruising had been clearly applied to their entertaining slide show.

We, the audience, were carried from local sails through the reed beds of the Norfolk Broads to the green islands on the Shannon in Ireland, then up to the magnificent beauty of the Scottish West Coast and back once more for a Channel cruise. We saw seals and otters, skuas and gannets, a minke whale and maybe an eagle, or, as the speaker put it (whilst encouraging us to use our imaginations), maybe a speck of dust on the camera lens? We battled through rough seas with scary waves, felt our way through thick fog, but most of all, we did lots of rowing whilst becalmed, against foul tides. There were even some rare occasions when we dragged the boat ashore and tied to a tree until the worst was over.

Anne and Dennis, recent runners-up in the RYA cruising log competition, took us in detail through their 'Down River and Turn Right.' cruise explaining their decisions and showing us how they learned what they learned, which as we know, stems mainly from adversity and responding to changed circumstances. This was a three week cruise with no deadlines, no enforced retracing of steps and no plans. We East Coasters discovered that the sailing world continues beyond the North Foreland, but if you sail too far they begin to speak a different language. We visited a medieval festival in Rye where the Sealed Knot skirmished mainly with the St John's Ambulance Brigade, who applied 21st century dressings to 16th century wounds. After continuing along the south coast ports we eventually struggled against the tide around Selsey Bill to find the welcome sanctuary of East Head and the diversions of Chichester Harbour. Finally our cruise ended with the most expensive overnight stop anywhere, at Buckler's Hard, before returning home by trailer.

It was evident from questioning that much of the audience whilst being most experienced cruising yacht people had little true understanding of this 'extreme' kind of activity. To many minds the awesome undertaking of setting sail upon the sea in an open boat, without an engine, was several severe steps too far. They listened with a combination of admiration and mystification about motivation, to the stories they heard. The hardiness, yet questionable sanity of the dinghy cruiser was firmly cemented in the minds of the yachties when finally Dennis was being taxed about their preparations in case of the ultimate emergency, "We have an empty bottle to put a message in." was his reply.