The Safety at Sea course is essentially what you're describing. They issued a book in the course, that was excellent. I'll have to go look for it on the shelf. It's been 5 or 6 years, since I took the course, and I'm out of compliance.

 

I am aware of the S@S program. I am envisioning something more comprehensive to include topics such as:

fuel
water
dink
stores
energy
weather
communication
navigation
rigging & sails
planning
permits
crew & watch schedules
cost of cruising offshore

etc.

 

All those topics were covered in the courses I took, sans cost.

 

Are you talking about long distance cruising or offshore passages?

 

I am talking both actually... you can't cruise long distance... say the Caribbean if you are from NE with doing an offshore passage.

But doing an offshore passage does not prepare you for cruising the islands.

Two sides of the coin I suppose.

 

I think I've been through it all, from varnishing cans to having many, many long lists of things that one must have aboard and do, before departure. The more trips I made the shorter the lists became and varnishing cans ended a few years before it would have been a really great thing to have done as a hurricane filled the boat with water three times, and washed all the labels into the pumps.
A dozen or three bareboat returns to Fla from the Virgins with little more time spent before sailing than provisioning and sealing my sleeping area with some Visqueen to keep my sleeping area dry no matter how badly the boat leaked, and even the lists were gone.
I really don't know what I'd say to those setting forth today, when a half dozen bits of electronic equipment make it possible for folks with absolutely no practical offshore experience set sail on transoceanic voyages surrounded by dozens of others with as little knowledge as they have, or even less, in some rally. People who would be at a total loss to dock their boat w/o a bow thruster and at least three people on the dock to catch lines or figure CPA visually.
Since the idea of actually apprenticing at any trade is no longer in vogue, especially seafaring, more and more folks with the money just buy the boat of their dreams (again, without the actual experience to choose wisely), outfit it from youtube videos or forum suggestions and set sail for a magical paradise so few actually find.
The shock I see on the faces of new cruisers when they actually realize that instead of sitting in a tiki hut somewhere sipping umbrella drinks all day but actually having to do all kinds of maintenance on their boats is a sad thing to see.
So, sadly to say, anything the Sailnet members worked hard to put together would probably just end up bookmarked with a bunch of other information most of those with too little experience to see it's value, and never be used.

 

Cap, you're being too cynical. While those who don't know.... know that they don't know... some (how many???) will try to figure it out before pulling each of the many triggers.

People expect to learn from YT's and surely a lot can be learned from this format. But these tend to be narrow focus such as replacing engine mounts on a Yanmar.

What I am suggesting is a medium / format which people are comfortable with.... online... organized into sections/chapters which cover in the aggregate preparation to get somewhere offshore and cruise over there.

Those who have done it... whether trial by fire or not... don't need the *course*... or if it has check lists probably can't tick off a lot of the boxes... been there done that one. And consider that as tech changes... checklists of yore are often out of date. I have one prepared in the 90s. There wasn't even AIS back them or plotters for that matter! Safety considerations, preparation has no expiration date.. but tech IS changing and availing oneself of the latest and greatest is not a bad thing. Having this data organized into a LIVING *document* on the www seems a good approach.

No?

 

Cap, you're being too cynical.

No?

I have no doubt you are absolutely right. It probably isn't the best day for me to be online and responding to posts.
This internet thing has got me way down and I'm not sure I'll ever get my head above the water again.

 

Back on topic. I am sure there are books on this sort of thing... and probably seminars to attend. I envision something more or less like a crowd sourced website... organized into categories where someone can find all the latest information and current wisdom along with sources for purchasing things.
Perhaps the site could include discussions forums in each category, maybe reviews and real world experiences of real sailors doing whatever.

SailNet or other sailing websites are something like the concept but nor focused and organized well enough.

 

Give it a go.

However, I don't think crowd sourced information will be self-organized the way the edited information we are used to has been. Crowd sourced is a new language. Computer models are being written to decipher, pretty accurately too. Even this site has a Seamanship, Navigation, Maintenance, Weather and Cruising subforum, but most drop their comments in General Discussion. You were very disciplined to put your thread in Cruising, buy may get frustrated by the crowd's lack of discipline.

 

Give it a go.

However, I don't think crowd sourced information will be self-organized the way the edited information we are used to has been. Crowd sourced is a new language. Computer models are being written to decipher, pretty accurately too. Even this site has a Seamanship, Navigation, Maintenance, Weather and Cruising subforum, but most drop their comments in General Discussion. You were very disciplined to put your thread in Cruising, buy may get frustrated by the crowd's lack of discipline.

No No not self organized. There does need to be editors or moderators whatever who structure the info.

Take an example: Navigation

Discussion / presentation of paper charts - includes sources
ATNs
Discussion of / presentation of digital charts - includes types, sources, costs and delivery formats and so on
devices: compass, binoculars, RDF??, sextant,
plotting on paper, tools
tide charts
Radar
GPS
AIS
plotters, mobile devices

and so on.. some of this information changes.

A paper publication will be out dated before the ink dries.

Monetizing??? Make it a subscription

 

As Minne said, Safety At Sea. Which originally was a 1-day seminar but now has an optional pricey second day.

You could probably take the coursebook for any sailing school's "Bareboat Charter Prep" as a starting point, but then there's the question of how "offshore" do you want to prep for? Should that include a full day of demonstrating weather routing, the gear options to receive it? Practice deploying parachute drogues and retrieving?

I think it could easily turn into a week-long course.

 

As Minne said, Safety At Sea. Which originally was a 1-day seminar but now has an optional pricey second day.

You could probably take the coursebook for any sailing school's "Bareboat Charter Prep" as a starting point, but then there's the question of how "offshore" do you want to prep for? Should that include a full day of demonstrating weather routing, the gear options to receive it? Practice deploying parachute drogues and retrieving?

I think it could easily turn into a week-long course.

Prepping for off shore cruising is much more than all the safety at sea prep. I think the safety issues are covered in classes and pre rally / race seminars.

 

For sure many sailors who have been preparing themselves and their boats for years. One needs a lot of knowledge and a decent amount of experience. However there are those who have a vision and start out more like a table rasa... with a goal to cruise off shore.

If you take a topic like communications there is a lot of information to sort through and acquire... different systems and equipment and so on. Having a comprehensive wiki like guide would certainly be handy.

I think all the prep guides should be online, free and crowed sourced including narratives of sailors who have real world experience with the details.

Topics like dinks would interest many... what is available and what are the best dinks? What size do you need? RIB or roll up and so on... How do you get your dink across an ocean? When can you tow and when shouldn't you tow? OBs? what size? Which material is better?

This is nothing to do with safety at sea... but information that someone who is thinking about off shore cruising would want to know.

 

I can't find the text I originally received, it may be on the boat somewhere. I recall it being far more than simply safety. Of course, everything, include dinghy and OB storage, have a safety aspect. It very clearly covered how to secure the vessel, such as floor boards, proper lifelines, etc. 90% or more of brand new boats are not properly offshore prepared (and yet carry the CE Ocean rating..... silly). They are often missing some basics, such as floorboards, hatches, doors, bin lids, etc, should be mechanically secured and unable to fly open in a knockdown.

Indeed, the course was designed for pre-race instruction, but it had nothing to do with racing itself. It was solely focused on issues of making a long crossing type passage. It included meal prep tips, watch schedules, seasickness and crew morale, for example. It did not include anything about what to do once you arrived and cruising essentially begins.

 

Precisely! and that is a missing part I would like to see...

 

OK, are you going to do it?