TIPS FOR FIRST TIME CREW

Please wear white-soled athletic type shoes on the boat.  Black soles leave marks that are hard to remove.  Plain old tennis shoes work fine - you don't need special boat shoes.

 Bring extra clothing in a small bag.  Don’t forget sunglasses, sailing gloves, and sunscreen.

 Ask where to stow you bag below.  It might be launched with a spinnaker or damaged during a tack.

 Never leave wet clothing or gear on the boat.

 Go to the bathroom well before the boat is ready to leave the dock.

 Learn how the head works.  If you leave the valve in the wrong position, you can flood the boat.

 Make sure to put sunscreen on your ears, forehead, neck, and the backs of your hands.  These are prime skin cancer sites.  For us bald guys, do the top of your head or wear a hat.

 Don't pull or push on stanchion tops when docking.  There's lots of torque and you will damage the fiberglass deck.  Always catch the stanchion at its base.

 Don't abruptly stop the boat with a dock line when docking.  A 9,000-pound boat has lots of momentum and snubbing a dock line sharply can damage the deck.  Slow the boat down slowly and smoothly.

 Learn to rig the boat.  If you don't know perfectly where every line goes you can create problems later in the race.  Ask someone who does to teach you and have them check your work.

 Be at the boat on time.  Early is better.

 If you're good at something, teach it to someone who isn't.  Learn someone else's job.

 Walk softly.  Don't stomp on or jump on the deck.  The decks are fiberglass with balsa wood cores and high or repeated impacts can delaminate the layers.

 Talk about what you see, hear, feel, and think.  Is the boat going fast?  Is the wind building or shifting?  Is another boat faster or higher on a different part of the course?  Is the jib lead too far forward?  Is the boat accelerating too slowly?  How could the last mark rounding have been better?

 Learn where all of the safety gear is and how to use it (e.g. life jackets, inflatable life jackets, VHF radio, Channel 16, man overboard gear, flares, etc.)

 After the race strip off all of the lines and clean up as much as possible before breaking out food and drink.

 Don't set gear or lines on the deck where they can slide or be kicked off into the water.

 Bring a dry change of clothes for after the race.  They'll stay drier in the car.

 Don’t walk on hatch covers or windows.

 Don't kneel on, hit, or otherwise abuse instruments (or the skipper).

 Even if you're not pulling lines or trimming sails, you can make very important contributions during a race.  These can be observations on the wind and weather, how lines are run, where other boats are at, where racing marks are at, etc.  Learn how to recognize these things and distinguish what's important from what's not.

 Get safety straps for your glasses and hat.

 Never lie on top of, walk on, or sit on sails! They are extremely expensive!

 Find a safe place to put your keys and wallet inside the boat.  This is crew bin so you don't risk losing them when rifling through your gear bag for a hat or foul weather gear.

 You might want to wear kneepads until you get to know the boat.  The bruises will eventually fade (or just merge together) when you reach this state.

Tips to ignore!!!

 When we are about to hit something, put your body between the boat and the object we are about to hit.  Bodies heal, boats don't!

 First year crew members must always stand up and salute the boom during a jibe.

 Break out the White-Star Champagne as soon as the race is over.