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Home / Seamanship / Onboard cards to print: Mayday, MOB, anchoring

Onboard cards to print and share

When things go wrong, nobody reads a website. What matters then has to be on board already: the Mayday call next to the radio, the man overboard drill by the companionway, the anchoring routine in the anchor locker. Here you will find every drill from our seamanship pages as an onboard card to print or an image to share.

Getting the card on board

Open the card you want and choose Print as onboard card. Only the drill goes on the paper, black on white and large enough to read by torchlight. Laminated, it will last a season in the cockpit.

As an image for the crew chat

Share as image creates a ready-made portrait picture. On a phone it goes straight into WhatsApp, Signal or an email; on a computer it is saved. That way everyone aboard has seen the drill before you slip the lines.

Free for clubs and sailing schools

Print the cards, pin them up, put them in your course notes: that is expressly allowed, in any number. Our one request is that the footer with the address stays on, so anyone can find the full page behind the card.

Why drills rather than essays

Under stress people read numbers and short sentences, not paragraphs. Each card therefore has numbered steps in the order they happen on deck. The reasoning lives on the page behind it; the card is the reminder.

Six knots, and what each one is actually for

Mooring knots: the cleat hitch and the round turn and two half hitches Knots and ropework on board, 4 steps

How to tie a bowline: six steps Tying a bowline: the loop under load, 6 steps

Washing ropes: getting the salt and grit out When a line is finished, 5 steps

A boat lies as well as its lines lie

How to moor a boat: which line goes on first Mooring and anchoring, 6 steps

How to cleat a line, step by step Making fast on a cleat, in four moves, 5 steps

How to anchor properly: the sequence Anchoring: scope, bottom and checks, 6 steps

Planning a harbour manoeuvre before the first line goes ashore Berthing under engine, 5 steps

Towing a boat: agreeing the plan and passing the line Towing and salvage, loads and costs, 5 steps

Manoeuvres are agreements, not tricks

Tacking and gybing, step by step Sailing manoeuvres and deck work, 6 steps

MOB procedure step by step: alarm, flotation, position Man overboard: the first seconds, 6 steps

Locking through: lines, bollards and the engine Locks in a pleasure boat, step by step, 6 steps

Slab reefing the mainsail, one calm step at a time Reefing before you have to, 7 steps

Using a fire blanket on a boat Fire on board: the first thirty seconds, 5 steps

The plotter shows where you are. Not why

Plotting a course: from the chart to the course to steer Navigation on board, 6 steps

Cardinal marks: colours, topmarks and light characters Buoyage: red, green, cardinals, 4 steps

A log book template: the columns a page needs Keeping the log book, 7 steps

Watching the weather underway: cloud, wind and weather apps Reading the weather on board, 5 steps

There is no rope on board

Ready about: tacking commands in order Commands on board: who says what, 5 steps

The Mayday call under GMDSS, word by word Radio: channel 16, Mayday, Pan-Pan, 9 steps

Seamanship Blue water cover

What this has to do with insurance

Many of the claims we read start with one action taken in the wrong order. A card in the right place does more about that than any clause.

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