4 practical takeaways
1 UNDERSTAND THE ENGINE
Don’t rely on having had a look at the engine manual and your notes from your diesel engine course.
Make sure you know the location of the fuel dipstick and the coolant header tank, know how to tighten the alternator fan belt, where the fuel and oil filters are, how to bleed air out the fuel system and have a plan to troubleshoot if the engine stops or overheats.
2 UNDERSTAND THE BOAT
Try to do challenges regularly onboard, such as taking away instruments and engine; it’s surprising how quickly knowledge escapes you in times of stress. Take your boat out and get to know her characteristics. Find an empty marina and spend some time pontoon bashing – try coming in forward and astern. You need to know whether you have enough steerage astern and other boatspecific characteristics such as prop walk one way or another.
3 LEADERSHIP ROLES
Although we don’t usually sail with one person solely in charge it was interesting to have the exam take place under these conditions. It did highlight how little official pre-emptive trouble shooting we tend to do. It’s well worth having a variety of ‘what if’ scenarios pre-planned ranging from safety critical MOB drills through to more off the cuff situations. ‘What if’ plans will also be useful for night sailing where what you are faced with might look quite different to what you think you will see from your planning at the chart table.
4 CHEAT SHEETS
Struggling through much of the maths for blind navigation forced me to create a number of cheat sheets. Even for those who do not struggle with such things, I’d strongly recommend writing some out anyway.
The basic maths for tide and depth calculations might not seem that hard but when you are tired and stressed there is nothing better than having something that allows you do a quick common sense check.