OK, Mark, A sailing yarn. How To Build a Magnificent Sea Anchor. (in case you need one) Tow a dinghy with a centerboard slot that doesn't have a firmly fastened cover over it. Tow it for many nautical miles in the ocean. Don't pay attention to the dinghy behind you. Your attention is focused on finding the buoys ahead of you, that lead to your destination. When your log suddenly goes to 0 and beeps, the question is why? .....what happened? ....did I run aground? Sails are still full. .........boat is going up and down in the waves, so cancel the idea of run aground. But why no forward motion with the sails full and drawing, and the boat heeled at about 10 degrees? Then you glance behind at the dinghy. There she lies, - full of water, - all 9 feet of it. Water gently sloshing around inside the hull, while little squirts still come from the centerboard slot. So, get the sails down; pull the dinghy alongside; grab the bucket and start bailing, ....and bailing, ....and bailing. The volume of water in a 9 foot dinghy has to be bailed to be believed. Finally, the dinghy water level is down far enough so that you can climb aboard and really move water from inside of the dinghy back to the outside where it belongs. The moral of the story is: Never, never tow a dinghy without a firmly fastened cap on the centerboard trunk. The open centerboard trunk allowed water to squirt into the dinghy. First, just small amounts; but over the hours of the trip, as the dinghy got heavier with the water ballast, the amount per squirt slowly but relentlessly increased. Finally the dinghy was full of water, and it became an excellent sea anchor. ~~~~~~~~~~ Spring is coming! This morning we saw about 10 robins on the neighbor's lawn. Can sailing be far behind? Connie