Cruisin'

Nice one TT

Perhaps another response would be top say that dinghy cruising is what sailors do when they're confident enough to go out without a constant watch from a rescue boat!

I've cruised in nearly all my dinghies, in a Laser only up to about 5 miles distant but in a Finn I've done 45 miles in a day and slept in it at night.  I've also slept on a cat by putting a tent over the boom.  The trouble is that often now as soon as you sail out past a club sailing area you get rescue boats rushing up and asking you what you're up to and accusing you of being irresponsible, even if it is only a 5 mile sail up the coast in the Laser.  We're so scared by the H&S brigade these days that we've lost all idea of self sufficiency and seamanship.

Discuss!

I bought one of those waterproof cases for my mobile. They (case and phone) just sit in the halyard bag in case of emergencies, but frankly round here, you can't go far anyway- even in the solent:, worst case, you might end up on the IOW, but not much further. There are plenty of yachts around anyway- most w/ends you will hear calls on the radio expressing concern about some dinghy or other. Mostly it's unfounded, but at least people are watching! I think if you worry too much you'll never do anything. When I started sailing none of the yachts had VHF, and nobody called us irresponsible. We often started dinghy races without a rescue boat in attendance (if the crew was watching from the bar, it was "manned") and I have never seen any problems in nearly 40 years of sailing.

Stop worrying, go out and have fun, while it's still allowed

The kit you need obviously depends on where you're sailing and the conditions.  I guess the solent is very different to the west of Scotland.  There are obviously far fewer people about up here and the weather can change pretty fast.  You can obviously still do it, but it's just a question of whether it's safe and what would happen if something goes wrong.

Maybe you could / can still sail across the channel without any saftey kit or a saftey boat in a Finn or and Enterprise, but I wouldn't do it, no chance.  If you ask me thats f**king stupid!  Ent's are about as sea worthy and easy to handle as a log in anything above a F5, and I sail one...

I'm not saying you should have a VHF etc before setting out on a wee summer time pootle in sheltered waters, but that isn't what we're talking about is it?