The
Dinghy
Cruising
Association
Articles
What
is a dinghy?
Former DCA President Peter Bick makes a gentle dig at those members who
sail something slightly bigger!
Sleeping
Aboard
DCA member 0002 John Deacon describes the joys of sleeping on a 14'dinghy and John Reeve gives good advice on boat camping techniques
A
Steel Centreplate for Jacona!
Ken Dickinson writes about the installation of a heavy steel centreplate
in his Wanderer dinghy.
The
Crabclaw Rig
Bernie Stocks writes in appreciation of the Crabclaw Rig!
The
Not so Secret Diary of Edward Jones -
aged 65 and three quarters!
Ted Jones describes a cruise around the Thames Estuary
A
Farne Islands Pilot
Ed Wingfield shares his knowledge of these magical islands off Lindisfarne
on the NE coast of the UK. Not a cruising region for the faint hearted
but well worth the effort.
A Lindisfarne (Holy Island)
Pilot
More gen from Ed Wingfield on this beautiful stretch of England's North
Eastern Coast.
Dinghy Cruising Check list
People leave home and trail miles to their crusing ground, only to find
that they've left a vital piece of equipment back at base. I've often
forgotten the sail battens, and the binoculars but I read of someone who
left the rudder behind. Make a checklist! Here's a basic check list which
you can modify according to your own needs.
Which Dinghy?
... find the 'right' cruising dinghy?
....an elegant refinement to the slab reefing system, as applied by DCA president Roger 'Bailer' Barnes.
Published by popular demand, here is a simple and cheap way of contolling the helm while you pour a drink, have pee, harpoon a whale....
South Coast Region
Newsletter Archive
Liz Baker keeps the South Coast members informed with a regular newsletter.
The originals are very nicely presented with appropriate graphics etc.
This presentation is echoed in the web version, but preserved in its entirety
on the pdf download versions.
Roger's Reefing Refinement.
After several requests from subscibers to the Openboat discussion group (see links section), we present here an elegant refinement to the slab reefing system, as applied by DCA president Roger 'Bailer' Barnes. It is adapted from a more extensive DCA article by Aiden de la Mare, published in Bulletin 161, Winter 1998.
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 it's size and spoil its shape. It may be acceptable on the club slipway for a day sail, but not at sea single-handed.
The alternative is what is 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.
The Roger Barnes 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 beconies 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 vou 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.
