The briefing covers the boat. It does not cover the week. Here's the rest of it.
The dinghy is the actual boat. You'll spend more consequential time in the dinghy than at the helm — every meal, every bar, every beach. Learn the outboard properly before you need it in the dark. And put the painter somewhere it can't foul the prop, because everyone does it once.
The dinghy dock is a contact sport. Bow in, tie short, leave room. If you tie off long and sideways at a crowded dock you will come back to find your dinghy has been relocated, possibly with commentary.
White Bay is a swim. The Soggy Dollar is famously named for the state you arrive in. Assume anything you bring ashore gets wet, and put your phone and wallet in a dry bag rather than trusting your pockets.
The 4:30 scramble is real. The whole fleet moves on the same clock. If you're not reserved and you're not in by three, you're competing with everyone. Plan your day around the arrival, not the departure.
Nobody sails at night. There's essentially no navigational reason to and a lot of unlit hazards. Everything closes down by dark. Build your day around being tied up before sunset — not because it's a rule, but because that's when the good part starts.
Cash still matters. Some mooring collections, some beach bars, some taxis. Card coverage has improved a lot, but arriving with nothing but a phone is a mistake.
Cell coverage is patchy and expensive. Check your plan before you go. Or don't — plenty of crews consider the dead zones a feature.
The trades are consistent, and that shapes everything. Passages that are pleasant one direction are wet and slow the other. When you're planning your route, look at where the wind is coming from before you commit to the loop direction.
Somebody will get sunburned on day one. It's always day one, it's always the tops of the feet, and it always affects the rest of the week. Reapply before you think you need to.
Fuel is settled at the end. You return the boat and pay for what you burned. Motoring everywhere because you're behind schedule shows up on the bill.
The check-out inspection is not a formality. Do a proper walkthrough at handover and photograph anything already damaged. This is the single easiest way to protect your deposit and the single most commonly skipped step.
None of this is complicated. All of it is the difference between a crew that spends day one figuring things out and a crew that spends day one in the water.
The Logbook is where we keep notes from the water. If you've got a trip worth writing up, we want it.