The most normal piece of equipment you have forgotten?

[westernman]

10mm spanner when going to a rowing regatta.

 

[Thistle]

I have been know to leave without a beer bottle opener, but have been shown how to use all sorts of its of metal ranging from a spoon to a winch handle to open a bottle of beer.

The REME stable belt buckle has the motto "Arte et marte", sometimes translated as "Twist and open". It makes an excellent bottle opener!

 

[DanTribe]

Nail clippers.
Using a portable angle grinder is a mistake
Rigging cutters are too big.
A knife also a mistake.

Why not just bite them?

 

[dancrane]

The only time I ever launched the dinghy in January, I realised half a mile offshore that my buoyancy aid was in the car.

Not as bad as a shortage of socks, but I doubt I'd have lived if I'd gone swimming.

 

[coopec]

A can opener

 

[penfold]

Why not just bite them?

Are you flexible enough to do your toenails? I'm not.

 

[John the kiwi]

My son came on an overnight sailing trip with me. Come bedtime he realised his sleeping bag was still in the car. There were no spares on the boat then so he made do with spinnaker.
It was summer, but still nippy at night.
I should add that he was not a kid, but already in the army so nothing compared to some of the training he had done. A spare blanket and pillow is now permanet part of boat inventory.

 

[rich]

A hold all, left on the kitchen table with all the ship’s papers, then boarded by French customs in Granville, they left about 4 hours later, no fine!

 

[coopec]

A hold all, left on the kitchen table with all the ship’s papers, then boarded by French customs in Granville, they left about 4 hours later, no fine!

I've never heard of a "Hold All" but apparently it is what we would call a haversack in Australia. (I've driven 110km to Perth for shopping and realised I left my wallet back home)

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Remembered the teeth but not the Steradent.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Wire cutters are perfect. I don't think I've used anything else for years...

Sandpaper is adequate.

 

[Sandy]

A pipe wrench is as good a bottle opener as wire cutters are nail clippers. I don't think I've used anything else for years...

Never carry nail clippers onboard as they only have one function.

 

[dancrane]

As I recall, the conventional-looking caps of beer-bottles in France could be unscrewed by hand. Hasn't that been adopted here?

I surprised an acquaintance of long experience aboard his own yacht...I had a shackle key; he had always used pliers, which had to live below because they didn't fit comfortably in his pocket.

I don't make recommendations to old salts who are content doing things the way they always have, but there are plenty of dedicated items which don't add significant cost (or weight) to a yacht's permanent kit. If there's one already aboard, it can't be forgotten.

Seriously Coopec, you never heard of a hold-all? There's a clue in the name. It's not much like a haversack. There probably is an Aussie equivalent, like a 'chuckitin'.

 

[Gary Fox]

Do you often drive without shoes?

I sometimes drive barefoot, why do you ask?

 

[penberth3]

I've never heard of a "Hold All" but apparently it is what we would call a haversack in Australia. (I've driven 110km to Perth for shopping and realised I left my wallet back home)

Typical "Holdalls", older people might call them a "Grip":

 

[penberth3]

Not boaty, but on one of my field trips to Svalbard, someone (not me!) forgot to pack the toolkit we required to assemble our prefabricated equipment. We managed with a set of tools that included my Captain Curry pen-knife, along with a few begged, borrowed or stolen spanners etc.

I always make a list. And sometimes forget the list.

 

[Gary Fox]

Wire cutters are perfect. I don't think I've used anything else for years...

Same here. I relish having dry hard feet, and my toenails are like an animal's.
I visted several French ports having left my passport in London, nobody cared. (They might these days though..)

 

[dancrane]

How vulpine.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I always make a list. And sometimes forget the list.

So did we. The guy who was responsible for packing the stuff was NOT popular! Indeed, the only time I ever heard my boss lose his temper was a later incident involving the same person.

 

[dancrane]

My mate and I used to take an enormous variety of stuff on annual tenting trips. We always needed a "list of lists".

We had a big old red and cream canvas octagonal marquee, with Arabian embroidery on it, very exotic-looking.

One year we arrived at the site, hauled everything out and realised we'd forgotten the central support-pole. ?