Shake Down Your Skills

After a long break the skipper may need to knock the rust off a few skills, as well as getting the boat working, says James Stevens

- James Stevens

Come spring when most of us start sailing again we suffer from a bit of skill fade, especially this year after being locked down for so long. Theory knowledge which was red hot the day we took the test is probably not so near the mark. Practical skills such as boat handling tend more towards ponderous than slick. So it’s worth starting the season with your own refresher course.

Fortunately some knowledge and skills always stick. You don’t normally have to revise how to put on a lifejacket, raise the mainsail or the basic sailing rules and buoyage. What you might have forgotten is what is inside the lifejacket, how to prepare the sails for heavy weather and the less common Colregs.

Modern plotters have made pencils and plastic plotting instruments almost redundant, but a little revision on how to estimate a position or shape a course on a paper chart might make a big difference if the electrics fail. On the chart it is not too important if you are unable to distinguish between a castle and a fort but it is more serious if you confuse a rock which is not a hazard with one that is. As chart plotters and instruments gain ever more functions, knowing how to use them is an important part of navigation too. Skills such as interrogating features on a vector chart, generating routes and setting alarms need to be revised, as well as more traditional skills such as how to plot a visual fix on screen or on paper, and knowing what isophase and occulting lights look like.