Noises in the heads!

When people are new to yachting they are often not prepared for the lack of privacy on small craft.

This can manifest itself by an unwillingness to use the heads aboard. This is more common with female crew.

If it is necessary to use the boat's heads one trick I have found useful is to run the engine (to charge the batteries!) when the heads are in use. Unless you have a very quiet engine this usually covers any noise from the heads!

---

Sea Survival

As an instructor I am often asked what I would include in a grab bag.

The answer is not simple as obviously it depends on the area of the voyage and the size of the crew. This book will give you some very good ideas about what you should include and discusses the advantages and disadvantage of various items of equipment.

All skippers, but especially those on long open water crossings should put some thought to creating a grab bag, The Grab Bag Book is a good place to start.

Sailtrain.co.uk is free to use, but if you feel you would like to contribute to the running and development costs you can donate via Paypal: