Tuesday Talk - The Solent, birthplace of performance dinghy sailing - Dougal Henshall - 21 November

Published 18:30 on 12 Nov 2023

This talk, titled 'The Solent, the birthplace of performance dinghy sailing', will be by David (Dougal) Henshall. Dougal is now best known as a dinghy historian. Born in Southampton in the early 1950s, he grew up as part of a family that spent the summers just messing around in boats on the Hamble River and Southampton Water. From there, he moved up to dinghy racing, starting off in Moths, before advancing on to crew in a Fireball, just as the Class was adopting spinnakers and trapezes. What followed was 50 years spent racing in just about every sort of boat, multi-hull and location imaginable. He was lucky to sail with some of the great racers of the day, crewing for many top helms, such as Dave Pitman, Larry Marks, Howard Sellars, and Jim Saltonstall.

After taking early retirement from the telecommunications industry, Dougal was able to combine his love of sailing with the development of a new career focused on journalism and charting the history of the racing dinghy. In addition to a string of articles looking at all facets of small boat sailing, Dougal has published three books, detailing the history of the International Contender, the Merlin Rocket, and the 505. He now lives on the south side of the Isle of Wight but spends his summers back on the mainland, looking at boats, sailing them and writing about the experience.

Those of you who attend the RYA Dinghy Show may have attended one of Dougal's presentations. If you haven't seen it yet, his 2021 talk "Seven Dinghies for Seven Decades" is not to be missed; go to MEDIA/Club Videos.

Bar open from 19.30 and the talk starts promptly at 20.00. Guests are welcome.

A WebCollect page will be set up shortly; please sign up to give an idea of attendance; there is no charge. Guests are welcome.

Bring a little cash with you as a collection for "Mind", the mental health charity, will be made at the end of the evening.

If anyone requires any further information, please contact Viv, our Social Secretary

Last updated 12:44 on 9 July 2025