Sailing expectations - Impetuous - 2008

These "expectations" have worked well on many boats and many hundreds of voyages. Don't be overwhelmed by this list...we'll help you learn and understand them.

Expectations

• Commit to specific dates and honor your committments.
• Show up reliably and promptly. (This is perhaps the very best skill a sailor can ever have.)
• Commit to the entire day and evening. We often get back much later than planned and cannot rush to meet a crewmember's schedule.
• Meet at the boat in the Marina at 9:30 AM. We leave very promptly at 10:00 AM.
• Use the boat cell phone number that morning to give updates/delays .

• Report breakages/problems IMMEDIATELY.

  Quick fixes can be easy and inexpensive; later fixes can be very expensive. e.g. the rings on the spinnaker sheet shackles cost 99 cents to replace... if we had lost the shackle pin, the cost would be over $100. Do this even if you think you caused the problem. Also, identify things that look like they are about to fail.

• Ask questions. Learning about boats is fun, and you will feel more relaxed and assured if you know what is going on. Also, the questions can help avoid expensive, large problems.

• Offer to help. There are many things to be done on a boat, and an offer of help is appreciated by all. Ask "What can I do to help?"

• Be able to tie a bowline and a clove hitch QUICKLY. The most useful knots.

• Know how to use a line on a cleat - "Wrap", "Secure", "Cast off"...and the corresponding hand signals.

• Know tacking signals and what you do and do not do for each one. "prepare to come about", "Ready about", "Helm a-lee".

• Do not cast off lines, sheets or halliards early. Wait for a call.

• Cell phones. Cell phones are great for coordinating arrivals. However, once we are on the boat, your cell phone should be stowed with your gear in the forward cabin and turned off. If we are at a dock, you are welcome to take your phone off the boat and away from the dock to talk to people. We go sailing to enjoy the outdoors, not to listen to people talk on the phone. If you have a situation that day that needs communication and coordination, then it is best that you not sail with us that day.

• Alcohol. Beer and (white) wine are okay for calm sailing or motoring or for lunch, but not if we are working to make the boat sail properly. It's just one more distraction in the cockpit. Hard liquor is okay at the end of the day when we are tied to the dock.

• Drinking water. "Impetuous" has safe and drinkable water in its tanks. However, many people want to have their very own special brand or container, which is not supplied on "Impetuous". Very definitely BYOW (Bring Your Own Water.)

• Bringing friends

  I will always say "no", unless your friend is a trained rigger, a TransPac or Baja or delivery veteran, an experienced sailor, has taken sailing lessons and wants to learn more, has worked or will work on "Impetuous" workdays, or who owns a boat and wants to get more experience. (Or some combination of these.) Your own experience on "Impetuous" counts a lot, as you can then guide the guest, rather than having the skipper do so. Otherwise, please don't ask. Nothing personal, but this has just not worked out well in the past.

• Laptop computers

  Not allowed on "Impetuous", even at the dock. iPods and other personal music devices are okay when we are back at the dock, but not while sailing.

• Know how to handle to motor throttle and gear shift

• Thoroughly clean the boat afterward
  • Take everything you brought: "PACK IT IN...PACK IT OUT."
  • Wash the boat
  • Wash the dishes; empty the ice box
  • Take out garbage
  • Vacuum
  • Stow gear NEATLY on the port quarterberth shelf
  • Put cushions back in main sitting area

• What to bring
  • NON-BLACK-SOLED shoes that will not mark the deck. Bare feet are not allowed
  • Sunblock - the kind that works best for you - not spray type
  • Hat - something that will stay on when it is windy
  • Sunglasses. It is bright out on the water, even on overcast days. Polarized lenses are a plus.
  • Windbreaker jacket - expect to get wet, cold and miserable - so multiple layers and a change of clothes is very nice to have. Especially nice to have dry socks at the end of the day.
  • Sailing gloves. Required for racing; recommended for day-sailing. Mark your name on them.
  • BYOW Bring your own water. Sounds strange, but I have cruised for 10,000 miles with people who had widely different requirements for drinking water, highly frustrating to the captains. Bring whatever you want and pack out what you do not use.
  • Bring whatever snack you want to eat for the one-hour motoring out the estuary. I'll provide coffee.
  • Motion sickness medications or sea bands, if you need or want them. We rarely get into long sustained bad boat motion, but if you get queasy, bring something that you know works for you.
  • If you go on one of our cruises to Angel Island, bring additional shoes for hiking. There is great hiking there, and boat shoes just do not work.

• What not to bring
  • Red wine - it stains the boat
  • Life jackets - I have several generic ones which you are welcome to use. Some sailors bring their own because they like the one they have, and it is okay if you wish to bring your own.
  • Safety harness - I have a few harnesses, and it is okay if wish to bring your own. If you bring your own, bring your own tether as well.
  • Spray-on sunblock. Use on the dock is OK, on the boat is not.
  • Pets. Even the nicest pets turn out to be a major distraction, and they do not appreciate being locked in the car all day.

• Costs
  • Day-sailing. Very low. You pay for food and drinks, and dinner afterward is "dutch treat". You contribute upscale eats and perhaps drinks to be shared at the end of the day.
  • Racing. Almost zero. The captain often buys dinner and drinks.

• Responsibilities for damages
• If you drop a winch handle in the water, you must replace it. These metal handles are about $150 each. Similarly for snatch blocks.
• Other damages are almost always the responsibility of the captain.
• Learn to operate the head
  • The toilet is called the "head", from the old days where the "facilities" were a net strung forward underneath the figurehead, hence the phrase "I'm going to the 'head".

• Learn "palms down" way to pull lines on cockpit winches

  The "palms down" is for three reasons:

  • With pulling a line with "palms up", you can get it about to your hip, at which point the angles and muscles kinda give out. With "palms down" you can keep pulling for another 18" behind you.
  • With "palms down", you can rotate your wrist 90-degrees and get a firmer grip on the line; not able to do that the other way.
  • For placing an additional wrap on a winch with a line under load, it is safer, as you can maintain proper tension.

  It takes a little practice. You actually start the wrap with "palms down" with the left hand, middle is "palms up" and finish it with "palms down". The right hand is only used to feed the line, under no tension, then takes tension after the wrap and secures the line on a cleat)

  I really should have said "palms down, thumbs TOWARD you, for cockpit winches", as that makes all the difference. Pulling down on halliards is a different story.

• Bring boom 1/2 way in when "prepare to jybe" (preventer off)