Odd question

My wife's aerobics class is having a beach party next weekend and she volunteered the boat. Any advice as to instructions/rules/waivers that I might need?

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The ox is slow but the earth is patient

Make everyone wear a life jacket - no exceptions.

Do a pre-flight briefing with all passengers. Explain the importance of listening to the skipper and why it's called the boom.

Don't overload the boat just so friends can ride together.

No alcohol - including the passengers.

Keep the rides short.


Others will probably come up with more.
Brian C

The life vest thing was #1 on my list. Also no non-swimmers.

The briefing is necessary but I'm probably not the greatest speaker. Boom, skipper, weight distribution. Anything else? Audience participation or should I solo with passengers?

The boat is an 18 magnum. What's overloading? I've had probably 650 lbs aboard with no problem. In fact more weight means less chance of capsizing ( obviously up to a limit ) so what is the limit. Also what is the limit per wing?

Everything is dependent on conditions obviously. My limits would be 10-15 kts and seas on the gulf less than 3 ft. Probably 4-5 adults depending on weight. Does that sound reasonable?

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The ox is slow but the earth is patient

The believe magnum wings are load rated between 350 to 400 lbs. I wouldn’t put more then two people on a wing regardless of weight. (Also don’t want to ask the women their weight. That would be more hazardous then anything else.)

I would keep it down to 4 people max. If the win is reasonable you can probably solo with three passengers easily. If one of the passengers can handle the jib sheets when you tack/jibe, that would help. I’d just set the jib and forget it.

If you plan to fly a hull I’d include a briefing to the passengers about what to do in case you capsize. (With 4 people flying a hull would be difficult except in good winds.)

Pay your insurance premium and have fun.

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John Latimer
'79 Hobie18 - Magnum
Sail#4854

all the replies have been good, sound advice...

I would make sure all passengers understand the risk involved. That they may have a bumpy ride, the may get wet, they may fall off, they may cut themselves and get bruised. A verbal explanation to everyone of these risks with a reliable witness, and a verbal reply from each that they understand the risks involved.

I'm no attorney, but this process will show a good faith effort to inform your guests of the inherent risks.

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Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

Advice given above is good, no doubt.

However, what a shame it is that when an opportunity arises to share the joy of sailing with a group of people, and one of the very first thoughts is how do you protect yourself from liability.

I wouldn't even TRY to use a written waiver, they are all but worthless.
The current thinking seems to be anything your lawyer can write, my lawyer can get around.
Lawyers have ruined so many great things about living life in this country.
Whatever happened to personal responsibility.

Don't go out in conditions that YOU are not comfortable sailing in.
Make sure your insurance policy is up to date, and then go out and have some fun, share your love of sailing without first trying to scare the heck out of them. Ya never know, a couple of them might come to a regatta and sail with you or someone else.

This posting does not constitute legal advice and I cannot be held responsible or accountable for any credibility given the words written above.

Stephen

Just a quick update for anybody that cares. Got to the ramp late; had a lot of new equipment and setup procedures so we got off late. Had to put in on the bay side and traverse a pass with a bascule bridge as we approached at 1:13, what do you know up goes the bridge! I figured it went up on the hour and my watch (or the tender's) was off.

First time in the open gulf. Had to follow the channel almost 1/4 mile into the gulf to find a spot deep enough to head up the beach! The were waves 3-4 feet at that spot which is about as big as I'd experienced in the bay but I felt very comfortable and the water flattened out once we got away from the channel.

Arrived about 1:30 to some pretty eager sailors. Winds 6-8 kts. Gave rides for 2 hours or so. Swimmers only, PFDs mandatory, gave the talk. 3 passengers and me soloing. The cat was a major attraction when it was on the beach. Lots of curious admirers with lots of questions. Had a great time.

The wife opted out of the trip back so it was just my 16 year old and me for the trip home. Mike is pretty good crew in that he follows instructions and likes being on the water but could care less about learning to sail. Made great time up the beach but as we approached the channel a we couldn't find anyplace deep enough to get into it. Weird because the tide was supposed to rising on a full moon! Add to that a small 10% chance of rain rolled in. The waves were bad near the channel going out but now I've got 6-8 foot seas, 12-15 kts of wind and I'm near shallow water! Not conditions I was comfortable with at all and I'm headed out to find deeper water.

We got tossed around pretty bad. Landed on one shoal and I hear something crunch. Now I'm worried! Finally about 1/2 mile out we found a spot. I told my son that if we made it past a big line of foam things would get better. As we hit the channel all of a sudden the sea flattend out.

Couple minutes later the sky cleared but the winds had shifted to straight into the pass and I had to jibe my way 1/2 mile up a narrow channel 1/2 mile back to the pass. At 5:13 we watched the bridge go up as we had to make one last jibe away from the bridge to stay in the channel. A sailboat that had been waiting there went through while we frantically tried to make it before it went down. Unsuccessfully.

We putzed around between the keys for an hour practicing what amounts to starting line type skills. Sure enough a boat pulls up on the other side around 6:10. At 6:13 on the dot the alarm goes off and we start getting into position. We let the other boat go through first but as we approached the bridge stated coming down! We turned hard and missed what would have been a very unhappy event. After a conversation with the tender it turns out that it opens by request via vhf! 3 times in one day at exactly 13 minutes after the hour! Go figure.

Back at the ramp we discovered the crunch had been one of the daggers. Will do triage on it tomorrow. All in all much more fun than most things I could have done today. Lots of good experience and learned a lot. Thanks for all the wise advise. If this post bored you you should have stopped after the first sentence.

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The ox is slow but the earth is patient