Barry Pickthall - Dinghy Sailing: Start to Finish

Contents

Copyright 2009 Barry Pickthall

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pickthall, Barry.

Dinghy sailing: start to finish / Barry Pickthall.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-470-69754-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Dinghies. 2. Sailing. I. Title.

GV811.6.P53 2009

797.124dc22

2008047075

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-0-470-69754-2

Getting started

I remember my introduction to sailing. My three young brothers and I and were on a family day out at Windsor, with a picnic by the river, watching people messing about in boats. Driving back home, we stopped at a garage to fill up, and my Dad, who was not normally prone to whims, spied this small sailing dinghy for sale on the forecourt and bought it!

What we knew collectively about sailing could have been written on a postage stamp. The nearest Dad had come to getting afloat before had been when he had got his feet wet during the D-Day landings. None of us had even been on a car ferry, let alone a boat. Yet this insignificant little dinghy was to have a life-defining effect on us all. I went on to spend my whole career reporting on watersports; Russell, my youngest brother, went on to become a sailmaker and winning crewmember of a Whitbread Round-the-World Race yacht; another became a professional boatbuilder, and the fourth joined the Royal Navy.

Sailing is like that. You either love it or loathe it. There are no half measures, and once bitten, you will never want to be far from the waters edge again.

Buying a boat on a whim is not the best start. What little knowledge we culled from buying a magazine soon told us that we had bought a dud, but we had great fun with her that first season exploring rivers and creeks. We also learned from experience what effect the pull of a weir can have on a boat, and the need to keep wine corks ready for when the boats bungs got left at home!

There are far better and more rational ways to start sailing. Enrol on an introductory dinghy course at the UKSA or similar sailing school.

If you are a junior, many sailing schools and clubs run fun introductory sailing courses during school holidays.

Visit local sailing clubs in your area, look at the various types of boat they sail and ask if anyone needs a crew invariably, someone will be short-handed. Then make a judgement on which club best meets your needs, join and learn the ropes there. Then, you can get experience and buy a class of boat that is sailed at the club at a later stage.

Sailing is a sport that is accessible to everyone from 5 to 95 and older. Disability is no handicap either. With audible compasses to guide the blind, sliding seats for paraplegics and wheelchair access or hoists now available on some yachts, everyone has the opportunity to get afloat. Go on, get your feet wet and give it a try.

Barry Pickthall

Basic principles

Parts of the boat

No need to get too bogged down with nautical terms at this stage, but it helps to know the various parts of a dinghy and what they do.

Built-in buoyancy

Buoyancy tanks (or inflatable bags) are designed to keep the dinghy afloat and on an even keel when capsized or flooded.

Parts of the boat

The rig

Modern dinghies are equipped either with a Bermuda rig, with jib and mainsail designed to interact like the slats of an aeroplane wing, or una rigged like the Laser single-hander.