The dinghy saga

August 13, 2023

After having sworn to never go out in head winds or with company again, Falanda and I left the Exe with the wind on the nose and a friend onboard as crew. We were also towing my latest purchase, a plastic rowing boat that was to be used as a tender.

I wasn't planning to get a dinghy unless it was pretty and wooden and small enough to fit on Falanda's narrow side decks, however this one was cheap and blue so I couldn't help myself.

Me and Falanda ended up having major dinghy issues.

On the first day I noticed that the drag put us back about a knot, making the already slow day of tacking even longer. That evening, after anchoring in the Dart we discovered that the advertised '4 man dinghy' wouldn't fit both me and my crew without letting in enough water to sink it. We opted for the water taxi the next morning instead and I said goodbye to my crew in more civilised manner.

On the second day I dropped anchor in Cawsand, and, completely forgetting I was towing my new dinghy, put the engine in astern to dig the anchor in. The engine made a groan and looking over the side I watched the dinghy get dragged bows-down under the boat.

I then spent the next hour diving down with a kitchen knife trying to cut the dinghy rope free from Falanda's propellor. Although freezing and slightly terrifying as it got dark, this at least gave my neighbours some amusement as they watched from their cockpits.

On the third day we were on our way to Falmouth when I looked back and saw nothing but my new rope trailing in the water. The next couple of hours were spent searching for and recovering my new blue dinghy whose front cleat had been completed ripped out of the fiberglass.

Once in Falmouth the dinghy was nothing more than a hindrance that needed bailing out every morning thanks to the constant rain that poured down, soaking my bedding and everything else it could find. By this point the initially blue paint job has been almost completely worn away revealing a neon orange hull that had been very badly hidden underneath.

I was getting ready to leave after a week on anchor when the forecast showed almost 40kts coming in so we stayed put for another four or five days and waited it out. It blowed a fair bit but luckily everything was fine except my best fender which was lost at some point, having been left out to fend off the dinghy.

It was good to get to know the Falmouth area a bit better since I may be based there this winter. I met lots of people and had a good time despite the weather.

I did the return journey in two hops, the first a 70-odd mile downwind passage to Brixham which would have been a great sail if it hadn't have been for the sinking of my new blue dinghy.

With a fairly choppy following sea and enough wind to push us along at 6/7 kts, the little row boat surfed down the waves completely uncontrollably, snatching horribly at the bottom of each wave. Although not at all what you want, this was almost manageable until the waves picked up and began dumping themselves into the dinghy.

I sat on Falanda's stern clutching my little kitchen knife and watched as the cheap plastic tubing on the gunwales got lower and lower until the whole thing was being dragged along practically underwater.

One last wave broke over the dinghy and it completely submerged so I cut the rope and there was nothing more that I could do but watch as the upturned orange bottom drifted off behind us, floating just beneath the surface.

I was left feeling that I had lost a good friend, but was more worried that it may pose a threat to anyone sailing in the area. Despite our tragic loss, Falanda seemed to be delighted to get rid of the drag and sprinted away towards Start Point.

We reached Brixham at 10pm as it got dark, and then had only a short hop the next morning back home to the Exe.