TENDER Feelings

Choosing the right dinghy is just the start. Keeping it clean, not getting it stolen, and protecting it from punctures can involve a lifetime of learning.

- CAP'N FATTY GOODLANDER

Your choice of which dinghy to carry aboard is pivotal to successful cruising. This is especially true if your cruising kitty is small. A good dinghy is a requirement for frugal cruising.

Notice that I wrote carry aboard. I never tow a dinghy that I don't want to lose. Why? Basic seamanship. Squalls approach fast. A swamped or flipped dinghy is a major problem offshore-for you and the environment. Painters can end up in the prop. Personal watercraft run over the tow lines. Towed dinghies get caught on navigational buoys, lobster pots and bridge fenders.

Towing a tender is fraught with complications. Even a skillful boat-handler can get into trouble approaching a slip while towing a dinghy. And being forced into your gyrating dinghy while at sea exposes you to extreme risk. Many a sailor has met Davy Jones just after pulling in their dinghy, casually hopping aboard, ambling aft, and leaning toward their outboard-just as the painter sharply takes up and catapults them over the outboard and into the water.

I've known three sailors who have ended up overboard this way. One was in the Lesser Antilles, without anyone in the crew even noticing. There's one thing that every offshore sailor dreads: watching the transom recede as their vessel sails away.

Yes, innocent choices can have severe consequences. And we haven't even talked about the evil dinghies themselves.

Offshore, dinghies can seem demoniacally possessed, especially while running downwind in heavy weather. They can hole your boat or wipe off its rudder or twist up the self-steering gear. I've even had dinghies pass me-then stop immediately ahead. Having a rigid-tender submarine zigzagging 50 feet beneath the surface like a berserk shark is no fun.

One more tip: Never tow kids you love astern in the dinghy without an assigned watcher. Do this only with someone else's bilge brats.