Here I entreat everyone to send in stuff while conveniently forgetting stuff I have. I've added a preparation, launch, and recovery checklist that Lloyd Kelman, whom some of the long-time M-boaters may remember, prepared when I bought Vixen from him. He sailed quite a bit around Seattle/Vancouver before moving to Florida and sailing to the Bahamas every so often. He still boats to the Bahamas in his outboard, but instead of 14 hours, it takes him 2-3. Hmmm. Maybe these powerboats will catch on someday. Blasphemy! But I digress. The checklist is in Word so you can download it and modify for your boat. I think it covers all of the important stuff, but if you have anything to add or change of importance, why not post it to the list so folks can consider adding it? Would be good to include the words preparation checklist in the Subject so archive searches will work better (always good to remember for the Subject line). I'll change the master if it seems broadly applicable or earns consensus. See "Launch and Recovery Checklist" at the bottom of the How-To menu, or go to http://msog.org/how-to/mboat_prep.cfm now. FWIW: Cherri, I'm a firm believer in not re-inventing the wheel, and learning correctly the first time rather than by making [potentially dangerous] mistakes, though yours weren't (I refuse to even discuss some of mine, since the Coast Guard, Navy Seals, FBI and Interpol may still be looking for me.) I heartily recommend a sailing school, if you want to learn a whole lot in two days. Though I had been sailing for a little while, I went a couple of years ago (made a vacation out of it in Tampa-St. Pete area) and learned as much, and correctly, in two days as I had just reading, sailing, and experimenting with others in 4 or 5 years. Learned a lot of tricks and techniques that made sailing much easier and more enjoyable. It was a really good course. One interesting rule they had, spouses were not supposed to be assigned to the same boat. At the time, early in the season, only three of us were at this session, and the other two were married, so the three of us sailed together. Though there were no real problems, I understood why the rule was made. I noticed that New Jersey Sailing School is about a half-hour from where you live. Could make a nice, inexpensive weekend. The Virginia School of Sailing, which is a scant seven hours from me and the closest good sailing, out of Deltaville VA (why'd you buy a sailboat, Doug?), offers private lessons, and on my own boat. I'm trying to set up to go over there and have them tune the rig and generally look things over, and show me how to sail my own boat better. I mention this because you may be able to do the same thing. Schools tend to be pretty flexible. Just my pennies, Doug ------------------------------------------ Doug King M-17 #404 "Vixen" Montgomery Sailboats Owners Group Web site: http://msog.org Email: mailto:msog@msog.org