We often assume that because we’ve learned something, we can do it. That’s not always true. You may know what to do, but can you pull it off with ease when the chips are down? The only real way to feel cool and competent in an emergency is through practical experience.
When you’re getting started in boats, your path to managing a crisis is drilling, or practicing, on sunny days.
Schedule your drills as part of your routine and use your phone’s calendar or some other means to receive reliable reminders. Write down the steps of your drills, run them, and then ask your crew for help in refining them to your boat’s particulars. Make them part of your normal sailing procedure, keep them in your three-ring boat binder, and remind yourself of drills you haven’t done in too long. Drill, build experience, bank assurance.
Drill day is a good time for the crew to review that stoves can cause both fuel fires and food fires, and that grease fires are never, ever to be put out with water. Say it out loud. Imagine the emergency. Where is the baking soda? How long does it take you to remove the closest fire extinguisher?