Sail Away
Having done many weeks on bigger boats, mostly bumming around the Western Isles of Scotland. It still remains that my main passion is for small boat sailing. We have such a great hidden resource in our estuarys that I am often at a complete loss why so many sailors head out to the open sea for days on end with nothing to see but sea and sky. Exploring these areas in a small boat is for me, the way to go.
These trips take a long-time in planning and I may as well share these experiences with you and hopefully, be inspired and encouraged to make the best used of your time on planet Earth
Stewart
"If a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble." E.B. White
The coastal waters of Britain once teemed with simple small vessels. These were honest working craft: they were used for fishing, and also provided short distant transport for the communities of the shoreline, carrying pilots, lighthouse keepers and other watermen. These open dinghies were stout, sturdy and stable vessels, working under sail and oar, and very different from the sailing dinghies of today. They were hard to capsize and were well able to take care of their crew. The little coves, creeks and drying harbours they frequented still exist, mostly forgotten now. Sailing a small simple vessel between these neglected havens, you rediscover a lost coastal environment, full of wonder and surprise. Roger Barnes President of the Dinghy Cruising Association
The range of cruising grounds are enormously opened up to the centreboard boat. Exploring to the head of a river, skirting the shallow sandbanks of an estuary, or creeping over a bar on the last of the flood tide into a safe harbour are delights well-known to dinghy sailors, but not easily achieved in deep-keel yachts.
Margaret Dye Dinghy Cruising. The Enjoyment of Wandering Afloat
