“Roger Roger. What’s my vector Victor?” Not quite checklists, but I do love Airplane, and this seemed like a reasonable place to cram it into the blog. This entry I’ll post a couple of checklists under development for Wild Rumpus (with credit given to the folks I stole the idea from and a whole lot of disclaimers).

Oh, and I’ll share some news about being asked to review a book for the blog — see Ma, I told you someday people would covet my stupid opinions!!

Checklists

Checklists are a great safety tool used by most pilots, but are woefully under-utilized by sailors. Even a day sailor should check the weather, tides/currents, rigging, lines, safety equipment, bring their personal sailing gear, apply sunscreen, and whatever else their ideal routine includes. Checklists help ensure a good and safe sail with all of your gear, whether it is a day, a weekend, or longer.

In my search for checklists I found a good number that were designed for rallies and races. The World Cruising Club publishes a safety gear list. Gone with the Wynns, a popular YouTube channel, published a checklist on their blog. And several yacht clubs have lists, one of the better being the Seattle Yacht Club’s.

By far the best checklists I found were published by 59 North on their new sailing social media site called The Quarterdeck. (I have no affiliation with The Quarterdeck other than as a member.) The Quarterdeck is a cool site with great information and discussions for sailors. Although it is a pay site, there is a free trial option to whet your appetite. The videos, discussions, and overall level of conversation about sailing is far above the various internet forums. So, bottom line, I highly recommend The Quarterdeck.

The checklists posted on The Quarterdeck suit my level of anal retentiveness and are modifiable. So, the following drafts are the current versions of the checklists as modified by me. Andy, the owner of 59 North and The Quarterdeck, was nice enough to give me permission to post these here. Any errors, typos, or simple jackassery are all mine and not from the originals.

These are works in progress and I welcome suggestions.

Book Review In The Works

Recently, a publisher reached out and asked that I accept a free copy of a book to review here on the blog. They also offered to let me give two of those books away.

Hmm, cool. But, what about the ethics of taking a free book . . . . Oh, who the heck am I kidding!! I’m just flattered that anybody even knows this blog exists (other than my family, who I compel to listen as I read from it while wearing a smoking jacket by firelight every Thursday night before dinner in my best Samuel L. Jakson voice).

The book is A Knot a Day by Nic Compton. Essentially, it is 365 knots useful for a variety of hobbies and tasks. I only just got it and it seems pretty cool. I will give it a thorough read and review it at a later date. In the meantime, let’s start a little contest for the giveaway of two books. Send me a picture of a complete monkey’s fist that you tied yourself plus one other cool knot with an explanation of what it is and its function. The best two (in the event of a tie, the earlier submission wins) will get the books.