Pre-Departure Checklist

Every serious incident review reads the same way: the decisions that mattered were available at the dock and made at sea instead.

This is the list. Work it in order — the sequence is deliberate, because later items depend on what earlier ones tell you.

#Two to three days out

Weather pattern. Read the synoptic prognosis, not just a wind arrow. Identify what system is driving the forecast and what it is expected to do. Compare two or three models and watch whether they agree — divergence is itself a planning input. See weather routing.

Route appraisal. Charts, Notices to Mariners, Zone of Confidence for anything you will approach closely, tidal gates, bail-out options. The method is in passage planning.

Write the go / no-go criteria. Maximum wind and sea state for departure, the conditions that trigger a turn-back or diversion, the point of no return, and whether you will attempt the destination entrance at night.

#The day before

Tide and stream. Heights and times for departure, every gate and arrival, from current official predictions for those specific locations. Compute under-keel clearance honestly — charted depth plus height of tide minus draft minus a margin that absorbs chart, tide, swell, squat and sounder-offset error. See tides, currents and chart datum.

Fuel, water, oil, filters, bilge, rig. Mechanical, not electronic, and still the most common cause of an aborted passage.

Food prepared. A crew that has to cook in a seaway stands up a watch to do it.

Beacon and safety equipment. Registration current, battery in date, self-test passed. Lifejackets, AIS MOB devices, flares, liferaft service. Verify against the current requirements for your waters — see EPIRBs and safety equipment.

#The morning of

#Electronics

• Source selection confirmed for position and heading — the step most often skipped, and the one most often wrong after a firmware update. See GNSS.
• Position cross-checked against a known harbour feature
• Heading checked against a transit or known bearing
• Depth offset confirmed, and the crew agreed on what the number means — see depth sounders and transducers.
• Alarms set: depth, cross-track, arrival, CPA/TCPA profile, anchor watch ready for arrival
• Radar tested and tuned in daylight, not saved for when you need it
• AIS transmitting, with correct static data
• Night palettes set on every display, including instrument repeaters and engine panels

#Redundancy

The redundancy guide is blunt about this: a backup is useless if the battery is flat, the charts were never downloaded, the subscription expired, or nobody knows where it is.

So actually open it:

• backup tablet or phone charged, offline charts for the whole route confirmed present
• stored disconnected from the vessel network, so it shares no failure domain
• handheld VHF charged, in the grab bag
• magnetic compass inspected
• torches with red mode, spare batteries
• spare network connectors and fuses where appropriate

#Communications

• DSC MMSI programmed, radio receiving position
• satellite messenger charged, active plan
• satellite broadband tested if fitted, and its power draw in the energy budget — see satellite communications.

#Crew

• plan, watch system and night orders agreed
• everyone knows where the EPIRB, handheld VHF and messenger live, and how to use them
• everyone has pressed the MOB button once
• harnesses and jackstays rigged before dark, not after

#Shore

• contact holds the route, ETA, crew number and vessel details
• and knows when to escalate and who to call

#The last decision

Apply the go / no-go criteria. If the warning was upgraded, if a crew member is unwell, if the boat is not ready — the criteria you wrote in calm conditions are better than the judgement you would make now.

Not departing is a successful use of this checklist.

#Bottom line

The list exists so the watchkeeper at 0300 in deteriorating weather is executing decisions rather than making them. Work it in order, scale it to the passage, and honour the thresholds.