First, understand that most people have a limited attention span with safety briefings. The world’s best safety briefing is for naught if nobody is listening.
With that in mind we recommend a three-minute, three-item general safety briefing for everyone.
Then find out one or two people who are particularly interested and take them through an extended safety briefing.
The three-minute safety briefing (which starts at 1:08) takes you through these scenarios:
1) Man Overboard – point and shout
2) Hitting Something – tell the skipper if you see something
3) Fire – tell everyone if you smell gas
The extended safety briefing presents the following ten points:
1) Life Jackets (starts at 4:06)
2) Gas (starts at 5:47)
3) Fire Extinguisher (starts at 6:12)
4) First Aid Kits (starts at 6:39)
5) Radio Use (starts at 7:14)
6) EPIRB (starts at 7:49)
7) Life Raft (starts at 8:49)
8) Grab Bag (starts at 9:20)
9) Flares Kit (starts at 10:08)
10) Man Overboard (starts at 10:41)
We have a blog post that goes into further detail on this, which you can find at: https://info.sailingvirgins.com/blog/boat-safety-briefing
We hope you enjoy this. If you do, please subscribe!
Jack Karger is a Cruising Instructor certified by the Royal Yachting Association. James Kell is a Yachtmaster Instructor certified by the Royal Yachting Association, ASA, IYT and US Sailing. Together Jack & James run Sailing Virgins, a Caribbean-based adventure sailing school dedicated to leveling up the sailing skills of people in their 20s and 30s. See https://sailingvirgins.com for information on courses.