Before a gale: the ten-minute berth check

Where the wind comes from

Malta’s autumn and winter gales arrive fast and mostly from the north-east, the gregale. This is the check we run on Gold plan boats when a warning is issued, and the one we suggest every owner does.

In short

• Double the windward lines and add chafe protection.
• Move fenders to where the boat will actually touch, not where they look tidy.
• Take down or lash anything that catches wind: biminis, covers, loose canvas.

The ten minutes

1. Lines: every line doubled on the side the wind will come from. Springs (the lines that stop the boat moving forward and back) checked.
2. Chafe: hose or leather where lines cross the toe rail (the raised edge of the deck) or a fairlead (a fitting that guides a line).
3. Fenders: at the right height for the neighbouring boat or the pontoon, and one spare.
4. Canvas: bimini folded, sprayhood down, sail covers tight.
5. Hatches and seacocks: everything closed that should be closed.
6. Bilge pump: test it. Check the float switch is free.
7. Shore power: cable secured so it cannot swing and pull out.
8. Photograph everything, so you know the state you left it in.

Doubled and led to two cleats, so one failure does not become two.

Afterwards

Walk the pontoon again the morning after. Photograph the lines and fenders, check the bilge, and look at the neighbours’ boats too — their damage becomes yours if a fender has gone.