Skipper’s Debrief: Turn Every Trip into a Better One
Great skippers don’t wait for experience to “just happen”—they harvest it. A short, no-blame debrief turns every outing into a better one, whether you’ve crossed Lyme Bay or pottered to a pub pontoon. Ten minutes, one page of notes, and a couple of clear tweaks will do more for your skippering than any new gadget.
When and where to debrief
Do it while the day is still fresh: tied up, on a visitor’s mooring or quietly at anchor. Keep it short (10–15 minutes), warm (kettle on) and focused. If you’re entering late or the crew are cold, postpone to the first calm moment alongside—but don’t skip it. Tomorrow’s plan should benefit from today’s learning.
Set the tone (no blame, all signal)
- Curious, not critical: the aim is to understand, not to point fingers.
- One skipper, many voices: you facilitate; everyone gets 30–60 seconds per prompt.
- Facts first: “what happened vs what we expected” before opinions.
The 10-minute debrief: prompts that work
- Goal: What was today for (skills, destination, crew practice)? Did we do that?
- Weather & tide: What actually happened vs forecast and tide plan? Any wind-against-tide surprises? Would a different window have improved comfort? (See Weather.)
- Pilotage & navigation: Were waypoints in safe water with generous turns? Did sector lights/transits help? Any “hold” or abort points we should add next time? (See Getting In & Out of Harbour.)
- Sail plan & boat feel: Did we reef early enough? How did heel/helm feel? What would we change for the same conditions?
- Comms & teamwork: Was the pre-departure brief clear? Were VHF calls calm and concise? Who wants to swap roles next time?
- Three tweaks: One gear fix, one plan fix, one habit to change. Keep them specific and doable.
Use a simple structure (RAG snapshot)
A quick red/amber/green snapshot helps you see patterns over time:
- Green: keep doing (e.g., “Reefed 30 min early—boat settled, crew happy”).
- Amber: worth improving (e.g., “Night entry—dim screens earlier, clearer mark calls”).
- Red: change now (e.g., “Waypoint placed on buoy—move into safer water”).
Capture once, reuse forever
Write a single page per trip. Include date, crew, route, wind/tide, good calls and tweaks. Photograph the page and save it with your passage plan so next time you sail that route you have the “voice of experience” at your elbow. Use our simple templates to keep it neat:
Weather Forecast Capture Sheet
Passage Plan Template
Fold lessons back into tomorrow’s plan
- Pilotage card: add an explicit hold area and an abort line; move waypoints off marks and widen turn radii.
- Default sail plan: jot a trigger: “Reef 1 at steady 18 kt or before headland X”. It removes dithering when you’re busy.
- Timing rules: write “bar at slack or with making tide only” in big letters—future-you will thank you.
- Comms crib: add a one-line VHF script for the next harbour; keep Mayday/Pan-Pan wording by the radio.
- Kit & spares: from chafe guards to spare head-torches—record what you wished you’d had.
Celebrate small wins (and log near-misses)
Morale matters. Note one thing each crewmember did well (great bowline, calm radio call, tidy pilotage). Equally, record near-misses while harmless: a mis-identified sector, a roaming fender, a forgotten jackstay. Near-miss notes are free training value.
Common traps (and quick fixes)
- Vague actions: “be better at pilotage” becomes “print card; call marks out loud; add abort point at 4/5”.
- Too long: stop at 15 minutes. If debate runs, park it and book a focused practice.
- Blame game: challenge processes, not people. Swap roles next trip so everyone learns.
Example one-page debrief (steal this)
Goal: first night entry. Wx/Tide: W 11–16 kt, showers; flood 1700–2300. Plan vs real: wind veered early; left 60 min sooner (good). Pilotage: WPT 3 too close to buoy—moved 0.1 nm inboard. Add hold area off 6 m contour. Sail plan: Reefed before headland—boat settled. Comms: next time, call sector colours aloud. Three tweaks: dim plotter sooner; mark “abort if not in white by No.4”; add spare head-torch to grab bag.
Keep the learning loop alive
- Feed the tweaks straight into your next Passage Planning & Making checklist.
- Book a refresher on the weak area: Weather for timing, Rules of the Road for night entries, or Harbour pilotage drills.
Short, kind, consistent. That’s the whole trick. Ten minutes, one page, three tweaks—repeat. Your skippering will get calmer and more predictable, one small improvement at a time.
