The DCA Journal

​Dinghy Cruising    is the Association's quarterly journal.   Formerly the   DCA Bulletin, it has been published continuously since 1955 and is available only to members.

Designed and edited to a professional standard by Keith Muscott with 80 to 100 A4 pages, most in full colour,   Dinghy Cruising   provides a wealth of inspiration and practical advice written by  and for DCA members.  You can read a sample copy, Dinghy Cruising 251, by clicking the cover image on the left  (pdf file, 8MB) and a selection of articles below.
One of the most valued features of the Journal  are the cruise accounts that ​DCA Members have submitted  over the years.  Reading them can be a source of inspiration, education and amusement. Each year one is chosen as the winner of the Naylor Noggin and a folder introducing both the Noggin and the winning accounts has been produced by Paul Constantine. It illustrates the tremendous variety of cruises undertaken by our members and is well worth reading. To find out more and download the folder go to the DCA Library page.

Example Articles

Writing for the Journal

Picture© peanuts
If you  have an article you would like to submit for potential publication in the Journal, please remember these important points:
  1. ​Type your article in a word processor, e.g. MS    Word, LibreOffice Writer, Google Docs, Notepad, etc. The Editor can handle files in the following formats:  doc or docx,    odf, odt, rtf or txt  but    do not  send anything    as a pdf or simply typed in an email.
  2. There is no need to worry about formatting and layout as that will be done by the Editor and he will also edit    and enhance    your text if appropriate.
  3. There is no set word limit but remember to keep it interesting and avoid unnecessary repetition or excessive detail. 
  4. Do NOT embed photos in your Word or text  file - they will be too low a resolution to be used.
  5. Send photos separately  as  jpg files in as high a resolution as you have got, preferably not less than 2MB in size. Please   name each photo appropriately, e.g. Morning coffee in downtown Dokkum, Curlew at Linnhe Marine, etc. and these will enable the Editor to position the photos in the text and provide suitable captions.   
  6. Tell the Editor who took each    photo    and ensure you provide copyright information for any photos, charts or   maps  that you obtain from the public domain.
  7. When you are ready and   YOU ARE CERTAIN THAT YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MAKE ANY FURTHER CHANGES, email your Word or text file and photos to the   Editor  (see p2 of any Journal for contact details).  If you cannot attach all your large photo files to one email, send several, or you can use Dropbox or  WeTransfer or send a link to  Flickr, Google Photos or equivalent cloud storage.

Reading back copies of the Journal

Members can purchase a CD-ROM   or USB memory stick    for £10 from the   DCA Shop  which   contains back copies of the Journal from No 1 to 234, i.e. from the first one in 1955 to summer 2017. There is an index of articles, grouped roughly by subject. Each index entry contains a direct link to the relevant Journal or article. Searching by author, title or relevant word is also easy.

In the event that you would like a particular edition as a paper copy,  the Editor may have a copy and will be happy to post one to you  if you will cover the   postage costs.  Please check availability by emailing the   Editor  first. ​ ​

Online Archive

DCA Members can now access pdf copies of  Journals published since 2010 via the website. Log in to your Members' Section account and go to the Journal archive page.  You can preview the contents of each Journal here. Just click on a cover image to bring up the Articles and Features contents page of that Journal.   Of course each Journal also contains the Editor's letter, correspondence, DCA business, the President's welcome to new members and rally reports.  

Other sailing magazines, periodicals and blogs of interest to dinghy cruisers include: