It's that time of year again. The travel hoist is working hard and the boatyard is starting to fill up as boats come out of the water for the winter. We've just booked to come out at the beginning of January, to extend the season as long as we can, but already we're starting to shift gear off the boat: summer clothes that won't now get worn, passage rations that won't now get eaten.
I'm amazed, looking round the yard, to see how many people seem to lay up without taking anything off the boat. Every yard has examples: boats sitting in their cradles all winter with fenders and lines left on the deck, sails still bent on, lifebuoys on the stern, liferaft on deck, maybe even ensign and burgee still flying - and halyards rattling to boot.
I can't understand why anybody would take such little care of their property. For one thing, it might all get stolen. It's high value stuff, and in the dead of winter, boatyards tend to be quiet and relatively unsupervised. And in those circumstances, all that gear might not even be insured.
In any case, it's silly to leave it all out there exposed to the worst of the weather. Sails, sail covers, spray hoods and the like all eventually succumb to exposure. Leaving them out during the months you are not using them will significantly reduce their useful life. The cost of not taking the trouble to take them off will be considerable.
And it's worse than that, because the sails and spray hood especially create extra windage, which in winter storms can cause the boat to rock in its cradle, or in extreme circumstances, fall out. Every year there are cases of genoas unfurling during winter gales, trying to sail yachts out of their cradles. If they're lucky, it's only the sail that's written off.
It's really worth the time and effort to take it all off and store it in the dry - if only down below on the yacht. Stripping the boat before lay-up also gives the opportunity to check things and get them repaired if necessary. Your sail maker will bless you if you take sails in for overhaul in October, and curse you if you do it as an afterthought in the spring - demanding them back in time for the Easter cruise!
The first winter we owned a boat, we set to work on it the moment it was out of the water (well, it was quite a project.) We had completed the final coat of antifoul before the people whose boat was next door to us first appeared in the yard.
The man climbed up the ladder, returning a few minutes later with the washing up bowl - containing the unwashed saucepan and mugs from the soup served on the final cruise. They were covered in an impressive green carpet of mould. What the inside of the boat smelt like, I dread to imagine.
“Lucky you!” he said, glumly, looking at our pristine craft, and contemplating the daunting task still ahead of him. The proprietor of the yard - a man who loved people who loved boats as much as he did, and despised those who did not treat their craft with respect - pointed out in no uncertain terms that luck had absolutely nothing to do with it.
The fact is that the sooner you get to work on the boat, the better it will be for both the boat and you. My best tip is to unload everything, and do as much as possible while the boat is still in the water. It saves all those scary trips up the ladder.
I suspect it may be because most people hate that perilous climb over the sky-high guard rails as much as I do that all that expensive kit so often gets left on deck to rot all winter!
