The drills you never use, until the day you need them.

A trip built entirely around the things you never use until the day you need them. Man overboard, engine failure, steering loss, fire, flooding, a real distress call, and anchoring in a blow. Run once or twice a year, it catches the quiet drift that creeps into every capable owner's handling without them noticing.

Who this is for

Owners who are already good, and know that is not the same as current

You handle the boat well. You have done the miles. And if you are honest, you have not practised a man overboard recovery since the year you bought her, your last flare check was a while ago, and you are not certain how the boat behaves with the steering gone.

Nothing has gone wrong. That is exactly why this is worth doing.

Complacency does not announce itself. It just quietly removes the things you would have done five years ago.

How it runs

The drills, and an honest look at your handling

1. Man overboard, for real. Not a talk through. Something goes in the water, and we recover it under the conditions of the day, twice, until the manoeuvre is yours again.
2. Engine failure and restart. Losing one, losing both, what the boat does next, and how she handles on a single engine into your own berth.
3. Steering loss. Emergency tiller out of the locker and actually fitted, not just located. Steering on engines. Most owners have never tried either.
4. Fire and flooding. Where the extinguishers are, which one for which fire, shutting off fuel and gas, and finding the source of water before it finds you.
5. The distress call. Mayday and pan pan, what to say and in what order, DSC on your own radio, and who is actually listening.
6. Anchoring when it is unpleasant. Setting properly in wind, knowing she is holding, and what to do when she is not.
7. The handling audit. Then we just run the boat, and I tell you honestly what has drifted. It is always something, and it is always small.

What you walk away with

The confidence you had, verified rather than assumed

You will find one or two things that had quietly gone stale, fix them in an afternoon, and go back to using the boat knowing your competence is current rather than remembered. Owners tend to make this an annual thing, usually at the start of the season.

Owner questions