Show Notes
Do you have a new boating adventure starting to form as an idea?
The more adventurous and challenging the plan, the more planning you need to undertake. A significant factor in trip planning can be how much of the skills development you do for yourself and how much is suitable for the others you go boating with.
By strategically planning your training regimen and effectively navigating team dynamics, you'll set off feeling confident, prepared, and united with your fellow boaters. This episode looks at setting up your pathway to ensure you get out there feeling ready and adequately prepared for the trip of a lifetime.
Create a Logbook skills assessment account here >
Learn more about courses for your next adventure here >
More from Boating Insights
A legally compliant boat and an offshore-ready boat are often two very different things. In this episode of Boating Insights, we discuss the findings from our latest review of offshore standards used by Maritime New Zealand (MNZ), Australian Sailing Category 1, the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), and ARC / World ARC. While many skippers focus on equipment such as EPIRBs, liferafts, flares and VHF radios, one of the strongest themes that emerged from the review was the importance of training, crew competency, recovery capability and communications redundancy. In this episode, we discuss: • The difference between legal compliance and offshore readiness • Why training and competency featured so strongly across the standards reviewed • Crew overboard recovery systems and procedures • Communications redundancy for offshore boating • Common themes across offshore cruising and racing standards • Where skippers should focus their time and effort when preparing for offshore passages Access the Offshore Passage Preparation Checklist >
In Making, Storing and Using Power: See What Your Boat’s Really Doing, we look at the simple steps that help you understand how your boat generates, stores and uses power. Marine electrics don’t need to be complicated — your power budget works the same way as any other budget; you need to be clear about how much power you’re generating, how much you’re storing and how much you’re using.
Boating language can be confusing until you know what it really means — and that can lead to unintended consequences when it matters most. In this episode, Neil explores the quirky world of nautical terminology, from “make fast” and “spring lines” to “all hands on deck” and “pan pan.” We highlight some of the terms most commonly misunderstood, share ways to include simple explanations when using them, and offer ideas to help you set up clear, effective briefings that bridge the gap between what’s said by the skipper and what’s heard by the crew.
In this episode, Neil shares a practical approach to turning long-held boating ambitions into achievable plans. He explores how to decide whether to tackle each destination as an owner or crew, on your own boat or a charter, and how to structure your list in a realistic order so you give yourself the best chance to experience them all.
This episode explores the often-overlooked skill of line-of-sight navigation — using what you can see to stay aware of your surroundings and make confident decisions on the water.