Sailing in his beloved home port, Clive can’t resist a Dabber... or three
Rye is my home port. It’s full of old-world charm with a working river to add interest and a little light industry along the harbour road. It’s home to the RX fishing fleet and is visited regularly by coastal vessels bringing aggregates and other bulk cargo to Rye Wharf. It must be one of the nicest towns anywhere to visit
But for a sailor, the drying river offers many challenges and traps for the unwary –steep-sided mud banks, a submerged training wall and a strong tidal flood capable of creating awkward standing waves. The entrance is narrow and with constant commercial traffic, there’s little room for a dinghy to make a mistake. Once over the bar yachts sailing up Channel have to watch out for the firing range.
I’ve been sailing from Rye for more than 30 years and of late I seem to have developed a preference for small, open traditionally-styled boats. Sailing back into the river against the ebb tide with only a light wind on the nose can be a challenge and anchoring out in the bay to await the next flood to take you in is a hazardous gamble for an open boat. For this reason, I like to have an outboard motor handy and this is why I like Dabbers.
They have an excellent outboard motor well. My other dinghies, although great sail boats, rely on an outboard hanging off the transom which is bit of a lash up that can get in the way and get caught on things. So I tend to sail my engineless sail boats in places like Chichester Harbour or off a beach. But for getting over the bar into the narrow Rother entrance I like a decent outboard arrangement such as the Dabber has. I use a 2.5hp with just forward/neutral to keep weight down and the Dabber takes a standard shaft. Beneath the waterline the Dabber is a mild double-ender so rowing is also a possibility before the tidal flow becomes too strong.
Dabbers galore
I’m now on my third Dabber and they seem to be the best open boat option for coming and going from Rye. My first two were standard Dabbers rigged as John Watkinson, the designer, wanted them to be. This is how they are still made by Honnor Marine and Drascombe Boats and I don’t think their rig can be improved. Standing lug main, mizzen out to a bumpkin and jib out to the bowsprit. It’s a simple, low-aspect rig with many options and I particularly liked sailing at sea with just jib and mizzen. When sailing in the narrow river I tended to use just the ma
