Sailing primer one-pager for newbie crew

[mijagourlay]

Hello,

When I sail, I frequently bring folks who are novices but who want to help. After going through a beginner crew briefing a number of times, I felt it useful to provide a study guide ahead of time. I wanted everything to fit into a single printed page (front and back):

https://sites.google.com/site/mijago...aelGourlay.pdf

I'm open to feedback: correctness, usefulness, formatting, whatever.

Thoughts?

[Adelie]

Probably be a lot better if you uploaded the PDF rather than linking to it, especially since it’s 2 steps away, not just a single click.

[Tillsbury]

A good start, although there's a lot of unspecified stuff in there. Is this intended for your boat? In which case you have to identify things like whether you put the transmission in reverse or not. Otherwise it's pointless putting it in there.

Spelling of "gybe" and "gybing"

The temptation to teach all you know is overwhelming when doing something like this. I think it would be more useful to have some very specific instructions in there for example how to turn off the autopilot, dump the halyards, and turn on the engine in case you fall overboard.

[Tillsbury]

I don't want that to sound too critical. This is a very hard thing to put together and very few people would go to the trouble of posting it for comments, so great job so far

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, mijagourlay.

[DanCan]

Originally Posted by mijagourlay

Hello,



When I sail, I frequently bring folks who are novices but who want to help. After going through a beginner crew briefing a number of times, I felt it useful to provide a study guide ahead of time. I wanted everything to fit into a single printed page (front and back):



https://sites.google.com/site/mijago...aelGourlay.pdf



I'm open to feedback: correctness, usefulness, formatting, whatever.



Thoughts?

I always like a good “couple of pages” quick guide. It is an easy refresh / intro. Otherwise they can read a good intro book (comes in mind “Plain Sailing, learning to see like a sailor” by Dallas Murphy and “Sailing the Basics” by Dave Franzel). I like yours too!

[skwanderer]

This is great! Thanks!

I usually just single hand everything so as not to rely on newbies or guests, but having them familiar with these things will also make their journey more enjoyable, too.

Cheers
Lee

[Brioche]

Congratulations on a nice job. I could suggest lots of little edits and additions, but that would just be personal taste. What you have done gives people something to hold on to and a good advance notice of what to be ready for. When they come aboard they will have forgotten half of the content anyway, but this gives them a good basis to build on. Anything missing will be something you fill them in on.

[Longinod]

Thank you for the primer, you've put some work into this and it's a very good start for novices. More would be confusing. I remember my first overnight sail a friend of mine had invited on, with an experienced female captain who had crossed the Atlantic with one other in this 32ft. sloop. She needed/wanted company to bring the boat to another harbor on the other side of Cape Cod canal. I brought my girlfriend, who between the two of us we had about 1.5 hours of sailing experience. Jill quickly realized she had bodies aboard but almost no "crew". She immediately took out her label gun and started labeling every sheet and wench and everything she might have occasion to bark out an order for. It was very helpful, we had a great time, learned a ton stuff, and developed a passion for sailing which continues to this day, almost 45 years later. More memorable stories about this trip I'll save for another post.
Buzzy

[slug]

Originally Posted by mijagourlay

Hello,

When I sail, I frequently bring folks who are novices but who want to help. After going through a beginner crew briefing a number of times, I felt it useful to provide a study guide ahead of time. I wanted everything to fit into a single printed page (front and back):

https://sites.google.com/site/mijago...aelGourlay.pdf

I'm open to feedback: correctness, usefulness, formatting, whatever.

Thoughts?

Short list is best

Don’t clog the toilet

Don’t fall over the side

Don’t hang out in the companionway

No politics

[skipper53]

And don't forget to add, "THE CAPTAIN IS ALWAYS RIGHT"

[dickfred]

Good two page primer. On other boats, I've always heard "helms alee" or "hard alee" and I've never heard "tacking", but maybe you want all three.

[slug]

Originally Posted by dickfred

Good two page primer. On other boats, I've always heard "helms alee" or "hard alee" and I've never heard "tacking", but maybe you want all three.

I use neither

I shout

Stand aside or loose a limb !

Everyone knows what this means

[sondra elliott]

I found your sheet very helpful. I had two novice people sail with me last summer. It was horrible. I thought they knew something about sailing but learned afterward they got on the boat it had been years and they had forgotten most everything.

you can tell you gave this serious thought.

thanks. I'm printing out and keeping onboard.
sondra

[Tillsbury]

Every boat I've ever been the call has always been "Lee-ho" or "Gybe-ho". Lee-ho refers to pulling the tiller to lee.