01

Arrive and assess

• Wind and the weather forecast through your planned return time.
• Walk the dock. Look at the waterline, dock lines, fenders and shore cord.
• Note anything not normal: a list, a smell, a sound, water where there should be none.
• Choose the sail plan and any reef now, while you are not busy.
• Tell someone ashore where you are going and when you expect to be back.

02

Open and inspect

• Lift the engine cover in the rear cabin. The dipstick, Racor and seacocks reach only from aft, not through the forward panel.
• Main bilge and engine pan: normal level, no fuel, oil or coolant.
• Fuel level. Drain a little from the Racor bowl — bright fuel, no water, no sediment.
• Open the engine raw-water seacock, in the engine bay.
• Open the air-conditioning seacock, under the starboard settee, only if the A/C will run. It has been forgotten before.

03

First start of the day

Skip this section on a second launch the same day

• Engine oil on the dipstick, between the marks.
• Coolant at the heat-exchanger cap; recovery bottle between the marks.
• Belt tension. Hoses, clamps and the raw-water strainer. No fresh oil or coolant in the bay.
• Spare fuel filters, filter wrench and tools aboard.

04

Power up and start

• Battery switch to ON. ON aboard, OFF when we leave; COMBINE is emergency only.
• Instruments, VHF and navigation lights on as conditions require.
• Confirm they read: depth a number, wind a direction, VHF hearing traffic. Fix anything faulty at the dock, not in the fairway.
• Gearbox in NEUTRAL, the red SHUTOFF control pushed fully in, throttle about two-thirds open.
• Preheat 20–30 seconds when cold. Crank no more than 20 seconds, then rest 30.
• Once she fires, release START and bring the throttle back to a smooth idle.
• Check the oil-pressure warning clears, cooling water is flowing at the exhaust, and no alarm sounds.
• Confirm charging. Watch for smoke and leaks for a full minute before you trust it.

05

Brief the crew

• Say the plan aloud: helm, lines, fenders, and what happens if it goes wrong.
• Show them, do not tell them: lifejackets, fire extinguisher, first aid kit, and how to stop the engine.
• PFDs aboard for everyone. Children and non-swimmers wear theirs from now.
• Hands and feet stay inside the boat. Nobody jumps, ever, for any reason.

06

Prepare the boat

• Stow the cabin. Secure hatches, locker lids and anything that can fall.
• Sail cover off. Ties stay on until the hoist.
• Sheets, the port-side furling line and any reef lines clear to run. Winch handles to hand.
• Anchor and rode reachable, not buried under the rest of the locker.

01

Disconnect shore power

• ELCI main OFF first. Confirm the AC loads are dead.
• Release the SmartPlug pigtail and cap the boat inlet.
• Stow the pigtail aboard. Push the dock connector back inside its rain shield.
• Confirm no cord can fall in the water or foul the departure.

02

Last checks before letting go

• Engine running smoothly. Cooling water still flowing.
• Rudder free — wheel lock to lock. Test ahead and astern against the lines.
• Fairway clear. Read the wind before you let go of anything.
• Fenders out both sides.
• Everyone aboard. Nobody steps onto the dock.

03

Let go and back out

• Slack lines off first, loaded lines last.
• South wind: stern lines, then bow. North wind: bow, then stern, and expect to need real power astern.
• Lift each loop off its cleat and toss the line gently onto the dock. The berth lines stay ashore.
• Every line clear of the water before you engage gear.
• Back straight out until the bow clears the finger ends.
• She walks to port astern — let her. Carry the turn to port round the end of dock 5, then with a little way on turn back to starboard and go ahead. An S out, then straight past docks 4, 3, 2, 1 to the lake.
• Cross wind: the bow blows downwind hard the moment it clears.

04

Motor clear

• Fenders aboard and stowed.
• Lookout: powerboats, paddleboards, fishing lines, swimmers.
• Pick the spot to hoist: clear water, room to leeward.
• A spare set of dock lines is aboard if we tie up anywhere else.

05

Make sail

• Head into wind and hold her there under power.
• Sail ties off. Check the main halyard runs clear to the masthead and is not wrapped.
• Ease the mainsheet and the vang. Take up the topping lift to hold the boom.
• Hoist the main. Tension the halyard until the luff creases just disappear.
• Ease the topping lift until the leech takes the boom's weight. Easy to forget.
• Bear away onto a close reach — starboard tack for choice, which puts the furling line and the working sheet both to port. Set the vang and trim the main.
• Unfurl the headsail: ease the port-side furling line under tension while hauling the leeward sheet, so the drum cannot override.
• Trim the headsail, then the main again. Coil and secure every halyard tail; nothing over the side.

06

Stop the engine

• Trim the sails and confirm she is genuinely sailing before touching the engine.
• Shift to NEUTRAL and let her idle a minute to cool.
• Pull the red SHUTOFF control and hold it until she is fully stopped.
• Only then turn the ignition OFF. Never the other way round.
• Leave the gearbox in NEUTRAL. It stays there while sailing — the propeller is meant to turn freely. Never in forward.
• Battery switch stays ON. Instruments stay on. Log the time and engine hours.