DeckVaktSkipper's standing orders: a template you can adapt tonight
Most incidents offshore involve a watch that waited. Not out of stupidity — out of politeness. Standing orders exist to take that judgement away from a tired person at three in the morning and put it in writing, in numbers, decided by you in daylight.
What standing orders are for
Two things. First, they remove the social cost of waking the skipper: if the order says call at twenty-eight knots, then calling at twenty-eight knots is obedience rather than fuss. Second, they hold a standard when you are not there — which, on a watch system, is most of the time.
Good orders are numeric wherever possible. "Call me if it gets windy" is not an order, it is a mood. "Call me if true wind exceeds 28 knots" is something a crew member can read off an instrument at 03:00 without interpreting your character.
The call-me-if template
Adapt the numbers to your boat, your crew and the forecast. These are reasonable starting points for a 40-foot cruising yacht with a mixed crew on an ocean passage.
| Call me if | Threshold | Note to the watch |
|---|---|---|
| True wind over | 28 kn | Reef first if it is safe to, then call |
| Wind shift more than | 30° | Sustained, not a gust |
| Visibility under | 1 nm | Fog signal on, radar on, wake me |
| Any vessel inside | 2 nm | Or any vessel you cannot explain |
| Boat speed under | 3 kn | For more than 20 minutes |
| Any new noise or alarm | Always | Bilge, engine, rig, autopilot |
| Anything you are unsure of | Always | No exceptions, no apologies |
Things the watch may never do alone
The other half of standing orders is the list of actions that require a second person on deck, regardless of conditions. A typical set: no going forward of the mast alone at night, no sail change alone, no engine start without checking astern for lines, no leaving the cockpit unclipped after dark, and no unclipping to use the heads without waking somebody. Written down, these stop being nagging and start being procedure.
Briefing them so they get used
Read them aloud before you slip lines, with everybody present, and get each person to acknowledge them individually. That acknowledgement matters more than it sounds: it converts the orders from something you wrote into something they agreed to. Record who acknowledged and when — for a commercially operated boat this is part of the paper trail, and for a private one it is still the difference between a briefing and a chat.
Then keep them where the watch can see them. A folder in the chart table is not visible at three in the morning. The bulkhead is. So is the top of every watch's screen, which is where DeckVakt puts them.
When to change them
When the forecast changes materially, when you enter shipping lanes or start a coastal approach, when crew join or leave, and when something happens that the orders did not cover. Tighten the thresholds before bad weather rather than during it. Any change should be re-acknowledged by everybody — an order half the crew has not read is worse than no order, because you will assume it is being followed.
A worked example you can copy
What follows is a complete set for a forty-foot cruising yacht with six crew on an Atlantic passage, written the way it would appear on the bulkhead. Change the numbers, keep the structure.
| # | Order | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Call me if true wind exceeds 28 kn sustained | Reef first if it is safe to do so |
| 2 | Call me if the wind shifts more than 30° and stays there | Sustained, not a gust |
| 3 | Call me for any vessel inside 2 nm, or any vessel you cannot explain | AIS is not a substitute for looking |
| 4 | Call me if visibility drops below 1 nm | Radar on, fog signal on |
| 5 | Call me if boat speed drops below 3 kn for 20 minutes | Usually a wrap, weed or a sail problem |
| 6 | Call me for any new noise, alarm or smell | Bilge, engine, rig, autopilot, gas |
| 7 | Nobody goes forward of the mast alone after dark | Wake the off-watch instead |
| 8 | No sail change without a second person on deck | Including reefing |
| 9 | Tethers clipped on from the companionway after dark | No exceptions, including the heads |
| 10 | Call me for anything you are unsure of, at any hour | No exceptions, no apologies |
Night orders on top of standing orders
Standing orders last the passage; night orders are for tonight. Traditionally the master writes a short entry before turning in — expected conditions, what has changed, anything specific for the hours ahead — and every watch reads and initials it. It is a habit worth keeping even on a small crew, because it forces you to think once a day about what tonight actually requires.
Three lines is enough: what you expect the weather to do, anything unusual about traffic or the route, and any temporary change to the thresholds. Then the crew know that the 28-knot rule is 22 tonight because there is a reef under the lee.
Making the orders work when you are not there
Written orders are necessary and insufficient. Crews wait before calling because of the relationship, not the paperwork: they have seen a skipper be short with somebody at 03:00, or they suspect the call was unnecessary and do not want to be the person who got it wrong.
There is only one fix, and it is behavioural. Thank people for calls that turn out to be nothing, out loud, in front of the rest of the crew. Say the sentence explicitly at the briefing — that you would rather be woken fifty times for nothing than once too late — and then live up to it the first time somebody tests it, because the whole crew will hear about how that went.
Commercial, charter and training operations
If the boat is coded, chartered or used for instruction, standing orders stop being good practice and start being part of your safety management system. Expect to show that they exist, that they are appropriate to the vessel and passage, that every crew member has read and acknowledged them, and that changes were re-acknowledged.
The practical requirement is a record with dates and names rather than a laminated sheet. Alongside rest-hours records — see hours of rest — that acknowledgement log is one of the first things a surveyor, an insurer or an investigator will ask for.
Questions skippers ask
What are standing orders on a yacht?
The skipper's written instructions to every watch for the whole passage: when to call, and what never to do alone. They exist so a tired crew member does not have to judge a situation from scratch.
What should be in a skipper's standing orders?
Numeric thresholds for wind, visibility, traffic and boat speed; rules on sail changes, engine use and going forward; lifejacket and tether policy; the log routine; and an unconditional order to call when unsure.
How often should standing orders be updated?
Whenever conditions or crew change materially, and always before bad weather rather than during it. Every change needs re-acknowledging by the whole crew.
What is the difference between standing orders and night orders?
Standing orders apply for the whole passage; night orders are a short daily entry from the skipper covering expected conditions and any temporary change, read and initialled by each watch.
How do you get crew to actually call the skipper?
Say explicitly that you would rather be woken fifty times for nothing than once too late, then thank the first person who wakes you unnecessarily — in front of everybody. The written order is not what decides it.
Write the thresholds once in DeckVakt and they sit at the top of every crew member's board, day and night, with a record of who has acknowledged them. That board is the phone. The desk app is extra.
See how it works