{"id":1263,"date":"2015-06-22T14:13:27","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T21:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.171.78.101\/wordpress\/?p=1263"},"modified":"2015-06-22T14:13:27","modified_gmt":"2015-06-22T21:13:27","slug":"pre-departure-training-for-non-sailors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/general\/pre-departure-training-for-non-sailors\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-departure Training for Non-Sailors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Quite often I am asked what skills should be taught to a non-sailor before leaving the dock for their first sail.\u00a0 I am sure each skipper has a different list, however, here are a few of the things I personally consider essential.\u00a0 Its seems like quite a list, however it only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to run through it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Marine Heads 101<\/strong> &#8230; not the most glamorous topic, however, messing up the head can ruin a sail.\u00a0 I teach how to use fresh water to fill and flush the bowl.\u00a0 I also instruct that &#8220;If it didn&#8217;t go thru you first, it doesn&#8217;t belong in the head.&#8221;\u00a0 That includes toilet paper, which gets deposited in the waste basket next to the head.\u00a0 While on the topic of heads, I am a guy, however, I hate cleaning up after guys!\u00a0 Here&#8217;s a little jingle for you.\u00a0 While at sea, all good sailors sit to pee!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Line handling<\/strong> &#8230; Some basic line handling makes for a safer sail.\u00a0 Make sure everyone knows how to double up a line so it runs from the boat, around a cleat on the dock, and back to the boat.\u00a0 Demonstrate how to use a boat hook to capture a dock cleat, and how to &#8220;cast&#8221; a coiled line around a dock cleat.\u00a0 Finally, demonstrate how to use friction by going around both horns of the\u00a0boat&#8217;s deck cleat to control motion of the boat.\u00a0 How about one more line handling tip.\u00a0 Making figure 8&#8217;s around a cleat.\u00a0 I think teaching a cleat hitch is asking too much of someone&#8217;s first sailing experience, and in most cases, several figure 8&#8217;s around the cleat does just as well as a temporary solution.<\/li>\n<li><strong>One hand for yourself and one for the boat<\/strong> &#8230; Always hold on to something sturdy while moving around.\u00a0 Don&#8217;t stand up while reaching for lines or while the boat is maneuvering in close quarters (e.g. slips and fairways).\u00a0 Kneel down instead, it&#8217;s much safer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>How to use a winch<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>DO NOT jump in the water<\/strong> after someone (even your child)!!!\u00a0 If you do, now we have two rescues to make.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Basic motoring<\/strong> &#8230; Part of this will be completed after we leave the dock and reach safe water.\u00a0 I want my guests to be able to get the boat back to me if I go overboard.\u00a0 I also want them to be able to drive if I am otherwise occupied (such as handling sails, reefing,\u00a0or using the head).\u00a0 They need to know how to start and stop the motor.\u00a0 How to shift the transmission and handle the throttle, and how to steer.<\/li>\n<li>And last, but certainly not least &#8230; &#8220;<strong>The boat will NOT tip over<\/strong>.&#8221;\u00a0 It is normal and safe to be healed over.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Quite often I am asked what skills should be taught to a non-sailor before leaving the dock for their first sail.\u00a0 I am sure each skipper has a different list, however, here are a few of the things I personally &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/general\/pre-departure-training-for-non-sailors\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-skippers-tip"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1263"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1266,"href":"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions\/1266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}