Tips & Lessons Learned 2016

[svfinlandia]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

svfinlandia, your lesson might be "don't go in Oregon Inlet." It was once large enough for the Battleship Oregon to enter, hence the name, but has opened and closed several times during my life. Major shoaling, hence the dredge.

With that kind of outlook your lesson might be "don't go sailing". Sorry, no disrespect meant, but I have been in and out of Oregon Inlet (and Ocracoke and other "difficult" inlets up and down the east coast) many times. Oregon inlet is used daily by fishermen and is perfectly safe if the proper caution is used. Apparently I did not use the proper caution and got caught by surprise.

Al, S/V Finlandia

[Charlie]

I think the main lesson I learned this year is to stay calm. When there are problems onboard it helps to use the space between your ears and getting excitable doesn't help that.

[JPA Cate]

Charlie, maybe a corollary to that is to avoid the kinds of situations that tend to make one "excitable"? ;-)

[Lojanica]

good tip

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Check the date on you inflatable PFD bobbins

Wire tie the spare impeller beside the pump it fits.

[Charlie]

Ann

You are right. Sailed under the GG Bridge the other day in a monster Ebb. Crew was friends from high school and their wives. Standing chop west of the gate 5' or 7'in a matter of minutes we were sucked out a mile or so. One of the wives was an avid photographer and wanted to jump out of the cockpit to take pix. I asked her to stay in the cockpit. I should have given a reason since other people had gone forward earlier in the day. She wasn't particularly steady on the boat. Spent half an hour sailing back and forth making 6 knots thru the water and near nothing over the ground. Finally turned the engine on.

Trying to fish someone out of the water in those conditiond would have been epic. Crisis avoided.

[JPA Cate]

@charlie,

Good on ya, mate, exactly the sort of forethought I had in mind.

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Fairly rookie error - but here goes.

When starting to take your new to you boat out a bit more, check the basics. We had completed a few large projects on our boat and rewarded ourselves by going sailing last weekend. Saturday was fairly benign; @ 10 - 12 knts. Sunday was sportier, topping out @ 25 knts or so. Since we had little experience with our different sail combinations we (crew of 4) were trying a bunch of sail combinations and making many trips to the mast as well as forward. Upon leaving the cockpit about 2/3 through the day, I put my hand on the lifeline - and it kept going. The nut at the bow pulpit had backed off and the whole line was slack. Had anyone put all their weight on it (yes - we all know you are not supposed to do that), we would have been doing MOB drills for real. Checked and re-tightened all the lifeline nuts and used loctite.

There's more errors - but they just cost time and money while at the dock and weren't dangerous; as we realized them with a quick palm to forehead

[Kenomac]

That's not a "rookie error" at all, it can happen to anyone.

[Celestialsailor]

Do not buy the most expensive boat you can afford...but the boat you can afford to maintain.
Oh ya...check your hose clamps very often. Especially if they are near salt water. I just found 4 hose clamps on my engines anti-siphon, broken. If I had a flow of water in the boat, I probably would not think to check the engines anti-siphon.

[tbodine88]

I started volunteering with Sea scouts.

The week before we went out, the scout leader worked on the boat.

The scouts took the boat out and I tagged along in my boat with the other scout leader. It was fortunate I was there as I had to rescue the scouts when their boat appeared to be sinking. When I towed them ashore, we found the drain plug was missing. It had been lost by the scout leader while repairing it. He who wasn't with us, but on a business trip.

Lesson learned, have a check list which is read and followed before setting out.

We also learned to check for overhead power lines when pulling the boat out.

[Mirage35]

Originally Posted by tbodine88

I started volunteering with Sea scouts.

The week before we went out, the scout leader worked on the boat.

The scouts took the boat out and I tagged along in my boat with the other scout leader. It was fortunate I was there as I had to rescue the scouts when their boat appeared to be sinking. When I towed them ashore, we found the drain plug was missing. It had been lost by the scout leader while repairing it. He who wasn't with us, but on a business trip.

Lesson learned, have a check list which is read and followed before setting out.

We also learned to check for overhead power lines when pulling the boat out.

I love this. When I learned to fly I learned the value of checklists, and have since applied the concept to many other needs in my professional and personal life. Pilots are taught, and others should understand: it doesn't matter how many times you've done it, going through a checklist is an incredibly cheap and easy way of ensuring you didn't miss anything.

[Sandero]

The lesson which seems to resurface in so many variations involves fuel issues for the dink's Outboard. Some of them are... ethanol in fuel messes up carburetors, induces moisture into the gas... run very low in your tank and you'll suck up accumulated sediment which will invariable foul your carburetor, check your fuel level and ALWAYS carry at least a fresh gal. in the dink. When filling up use the spare tank and then replenish it.

[Plangstraat]

2016 was a great year. We moved from the prairies to Victoria, B.C. Bought a Beneteau 321 and started sailing the Gulf Islands
Lessons learned:
Get out - often. Even if you just have a couple of hours to spare on a warm summer evening - get out and learn about the boat.
Experiencing tides and currents is different than reading about them in a book. Going 1 knot against the current makes for a long afternoon!
Take the navigation course and practice with your charts - often. Comes in handy when the new chartplotter blows a fuse and you don't have an extra.
Don't leave your dinghy out in the sun. It deteriorates and gets a beautiful brown sticky varnish on it. Makes for a few fun hours of cleaning at the dock before you realize you're supposed to spray it with UV protectant!
After playing bumper boats trying to get your new boat into your new slip to the great joy of the people on the patio sipping beer hire a competent skipper to give you a few lessons. Next time take the docking lessons first!

[sailorboy1]

Don't let a convenient laundry pass by
Yes the buoys aren't the same as on the chart, follow them anyway
Refill the propane the first chance you get after a month use
Know how much fuel you use per hour motoring as a backup to the level gage
Weeds can clog up hull valves, recognize indications and just because the strainer is clear don't accept there isn't a problem
Not cruisers are the friendly boaters you rea d about
Don't go into a river inlet during ebb tide!
Love your autopilot, give it praise like you would a child
Having wifi and having internet access aren't the same
Cruising guide books greatly lie about places
Weather forecasts are based on reading the tossed chicken bones during a secret voodoo ritual, you decide much to believe it
Your credit card will get hacked or you he number stolen along the way. Have notices setup to catch the ******** use
Don't trust the Post Office to deliver on time even if you pay the extra fee if you are making a marina stop to get the package
Some towns seen to be closed for a whole day during the week, even in the States
Florida will charge you sales tax on your 4month old dinghy you brought at home before you left