The Admiral Wants To Know Your Top Ten

[Entlie]

My Top Ten List after five lengthy cruises, not in order of importance:

1. A good spice box. The overflow from our galley spice shelf fills a locking lid plastic shoe box with a handle. I keep it adjacent to the galley.

2. A good bread starter, and a good basic bread recipe to make from it. With that, you can make different varieties of bread, sweets, pizzas and foccacias.

3. Plenty of provisions. I love pulling into an anchorage or a town and saying "We don't really need anything"...but I rarely pass up a chance to stop in a store for fresh things if given the opportunity. I use an Excel spread sheet for six months of provisions.

4. Books, books, books. Read them along the way and exchange them for more at marinas and beach book exchanges. Also a collection of boat reference books - Nigel Calder, Chapmans, etc. And manuals for everything you have on board (unless you plan to live in a marina and get them off the Internet).

5. A well stocked bar. Enough said.

6. A good fold up cart with decent wheels. You might be schlepping laundry, propane, parts, distilled water, who knows what. The cart West Marine sells works great but is cheaper at office supply stores. There are small reinforcing bars in the bottom of the cart which clip on the sides and make it sturdier.

7. Games. Daily games on SSB are gin (played 3 games at a time) and Scrabble. We keep a composition book to tally the scores. Special prizes for the winner

8. A watermaker, even a small one. Ours is 1.5 gph and makes the best tasting water - ever. We store it in 1 gallon bottles.

9. An EPIRB if you're going off shore

10. AIS if you're going off shore.

Hope this helps - enjoy cruising!

Entlie
Sailing Catamaran Sunspot Baby

[FSMike]

1) Get out all the clothes you'll need and put them on the bed.
2) Get all the money you'll need and put it on the bedside table.
3) Take half the clothes and twice the money.

On a more serious note, the one thing every Admiral/First Mate/whatever must take is the ability to operate the vessel by herself should disaster befall the Captain. There is no excuse for not possessing that knowledge.

I once knew a guy who got seriously injured while coastal sailing. Neither his wife or either of his two children even knew how to work the vhf. He finally got rescued, but death might have been an appropriate reward for being such a control freak.

How commonly do you see the female crew on a boat up on the foredeck trying to fend off pilings and attach lines, while the male is behind the wheel using his superior upper body strength to push levers back and forth?

Lastly, having worked some years at a marina in the Florida Keys, I have come to the opinion that most women, given a chance, can handle a boat better than most men. When I expressed that to a young guy I was training as a dock hand, he asked why I felt that way.

Why? Because women feel no need to be macho, they just want to park the boat.

Ladies, if you prefer to leave boat operating to your husband, who's going to get him to shore when he's unconscious? What if you have children on board, or non-sailing guests?

NO EXCUSE FOR IGNORANCE!

Sorry for the diatribe, but this is something both my lady and myself feel strongly about.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

[speakeasy]

Entlie, that is a fine list. You garnered my full agreement with #1. I would bet it would be fun to meet you folks in any anchorage. Here's to it!

[osirissail]

I would vote with FS Mike and so would Steve Dashew, one of the best out there on the oceans. He has stated more than once that he only trusts Linda, his wife to dock and undock the boat while he handles the work on deck. He says the ladies are just better at it than men, once the get the feel of doing it.

[roger.waite]

Originally Posted by bstreep

Hot lingerie. Very, VERY important.

And what will the missus be wearing?

[roger.waite]

Yep. OK, so the list of "blokes" top 10 is getting pretty long. And we have some really nice ideas for the admiral too. A couple of variants ...

[1] Spices, condiments, and a man who knows how to make stuff interesting;
[2] LED lighting, so she can experience the bright lights without me whinging about the amp hours;
[3] Her own SSB license, so she can chat with friends she meets along the way;
[4] A darned good anchor, 'cos I am much better company when I sleep well.

But hey, what do I know?

[teejayevans]

Originally Posted by jaak ennuste

My sailingproof mobile phone
my sailing-proof video camera
indeed, waterproof laptop
and broadband dongle
Jaak

Have a problem holding on to things are we?
Tom

[Sonosailor]

Soap that will suds in salt water. We use Joy and Dawn for everything, and use a little fresh water for rinsing. You'll find that it does a wonderful job as both a body wash and shampoo. We no longer have other hand soap or bar soap on Cat Tales.

[TikiCat]

Besides your boat registration, take a copy of your boat insurance policy - in the event you need to be hauled or go into temporary storage anywhere, the marina will almost certainly want to see it or take a copy.

Take as many repair manuals as you can find for the major equipment you have on board.

Tools. Tools for your engine and other machinery. Tools for plumbing. Tools for woodwork. Tools for electrical. Tools for rigging. Tools for cooking. Tools for fishing. Tools for your bicycles (if you carry them).

Figure out how to get the weather. TV works in some places; notebook computer and wifi works in some places; cell phone works in some places; SSB or ham receiver works for the waterway net in most places. More than anything, you need good weather data to make smart decisions.