What is your initial crew briefing?

[DreadPirateRob]

Originally Posted by Cpt Pat

In aviation, there were many cases like when the First Officer said: "Ah, the fuel gauges read nearly empty - maybe we should land," and when the captain said there was plenty of fuel, everyone else just sat back until the plane crashed. "It's skipper's problem" is not a good attitude.

I've seen this referred to as 'disastrous excess of professional courtesy,' and it's a very real phenomenon. Good pilots and sea captains tend to stay calm - often to the point where it's difficult for an observer to tell if we're appropriately worried about something or not. Clear communication helps - if someone gives you information, repeat it back to make sure you've heard them well, but it's still not a total fix. If I know the toilet supply line drips a little, I may ignore you telling me "The toilet's leaking" because I think I already know... when you actually mean "The hose has come off and if we don't close the seacock, we're a few minutes away from a swim." So it's important to train both your crew to be clear about their concerns, and yourself to make sure you understand them.

That said... when I was in grad school and dealing with some hard stuff on a major team project... I asked my advisor if we were beyond hope... and his advice was "Only the captain needs to worry about whether the boat's sinking. Everyone else needs to worry about how fast they can bail water." There's value in that philosophy too. I want people to speak up when they see something, but once we've come to an understanding, I do want them to focus on their jobs too.

[Scotty Kiwi]

While I'm down below, have had newby sailor friends minding the wheel yelling about how to avoid the container ship, for me to some up and see its about 5kt away, and others calmly asking whether they should pass ahead or astern of the container ship, for me to come up calmly and avoid a collision.

The new crew are capable of going in any direct.

One night, in harbour, I gave an apparently sensible guy the wheel, I got involved in conversation, lost concentration, for the acting helmsman to ask "I pass between the lighthouse and the land, right?" We were drift sailing at about 1.5 kts, but I reckon he though to ask the question just about 10 meters from a grounding.

Many crew, you think you've briefed them, but you can't brief stupid.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Scotty Kiwi

While I'm down below, have had newby sailor friends minding the wheel yelling about how to avoid the container ship, for me to some up and see its about 5kt away, and others calmly asking whether they should pass ahead or astern of the container ship, for me to come up calmly and avoid a collision.



The new crew are capable of going in any direct.



One night, in harbour, I gave an apparently sensible guy the wheel, I got involved in conversation, lost concentration, for the acting helmsman to ask "I pass between the lighthouse and the land, right?" We were drift sailing at about 1.5 kts, but I reckon he though to ask the question just about 10 meters from a grounding.



Many crew, you think you've briefed them, but you can't brief stupid.

Just consider your guests to be a little less smart than your autopilot. That way you remember not to leave them to make any decisions that you wouldn’t normally leave to your autopilot.

For passages, I give the watch keepers very clear parameters for when I want to be called. These include dark clouds, lines of clouds, wind rising above a certain number for 30 seconds or longer, changes of course of more than x degrees if in wind vane mode or changes of wind direction beyond basic trimming if in heading mode, AIS alarm sounding, any other alarm sounding, closer than expected proximity to land, breakers or vessels, and for anything that they’re unsure about. I generally wake up anyway when conditions change, even if it’s just to spend 10 minutes in the cockpit with the watch keeper to assure them, and me, that things are OK.