I never really relax while underway in a sailboat. I’m constantly looking and listening for new sights and sounds, whether they be due to gear or weather or waves.

There are many safety issues that worry me on a sailboat, but there are two main ones that I fret about while passage-making. The first is a crew member going overboard. The second is someone getting hit by the boom.

Of course this is my personal view; there are many other safety issues that cause concern. Most, like fire or a leaking boat or a medical issue, can be handled with some forethought and some discussion. I always kept a laminated one-page bullet point checklist of what to do in case of fire, water intrusion (note: when on passage use blue painting tape to mark the location of all through-hull fittings,) and abandon ship. I would review them with the crew prior to getting underway for any overnight passage. The lists were hung on a hook at the companionway for easy access.

But my first concern, crew overboard, requires more than a checklist (although I had one for that situation as well). Crew overboard puts life at risk and in bad weather can also put the boat at risk. The 1979 Fastnet Race in the UK saw the loss of 15 yachtsmen; the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race saw the loss of six sailors, the sinking of five boats and the emergency airlift of 55 sailors from their yachts. The majority of the lives lost were from being swept overboard.

Studies of these two tragedies changed the way racing and cruising yachtsmen equip their boats for offshore sailing. Some of the lessons are applicable to anyone sailing, anytime. Several years ago, an experienced sailor crossed from Buzzards Bay to Edgartown; he was single-handing his boat and while on deck fell overboard. He was wearing an inflatable belt-like device which was swept off of him as he held onto a lifeline stanchion. He let go of the stanchion and grabbed the inflatable dingy that he was towing; the dingy flipped and trapped him underwater. Luckily, fishermen saw his white shirt and rescued him, hours later, hypothermic. He went to the hospital, and the boat sailed itself onto the beach at Chappaquiddick.

It’s my own opinion that the race lessons are clear. A boat should have tethers for each crew on watch and insist that at night or in bad weather everyone is tethered when on deck or in the cockpit. (A lesson from the Sydney Hobart was to attach the tether while below, before coming up to the cockpit. One sailor died after coming up the companionway and washed overboard before he could clip on.) Life preserver technology has improved dramatically from the days of orange kaypok bulk. Everyone should be wearing an inflatable PFD, not an inflatable belt, while underway. They are light, compact and effective.

Every skipper should do a man overboard drill at least once a trip. We used to sail a 35-foot sloop around New England. At some point during the day, I’d throw a cushion overboard and yell, “Man overboard, I’ve fallen off.” I’d then sit down and watch the action, trying to refrain from offering advice or criticism. With practice, the time to get the cushion back on board got shorter and I’d be pleased to tell the crew that their improved response time had taken me from the drowned list to the hypothermic list and finally to the simply cold and aggravated list.

Man overboard practice is important especially if the skipper is the only one who is used to “driving” the boat. It’s crucial that people know what to do if the skipper goes over. Or know what to do if the skipper has a heart attack or other medical emergency. How many on board know how to work the VHF to contact the Coast Guard?

After man overboard, my second safety concern is the boom. A huge percentage of sailboat accidents involve the boom slamming into someone, usually into their head. While serving as crew on a 64-foot ketch in the Caribbean, I was knocked unconscious when the skipper focused more on a couple of bikini-clad photographers in a nearby dinghy than on his sailing. He jibed both the main and the mizzen; the mizzen boom drove me headfirst into a stanchion. When I came to, the skipper, a lovely guy, was yelling at me to go forward and get the jib down.

A friend was cruising in the Bahamas several winters ago and a boom hit him in the head. He was airlifted to Miami for immediate brain surgery to relieve the pressure on the brain. Wayward booms can cause more than temporary knockouts; concussions and death happen.

Booms can be controlled with lines called preventers, which attach the end of a boom to a secure point forward. They can be a pain to rig, to adjust and to re-set as a boat moves downwind. But they can save significant headache, at a minimum. And they are a cheaper alternative than trading your sailboat for one with a boom that does not extend over the cockpit.

There are obviously other safety concerns like not keeping a watch while underway and ignoring weather, but if you can keep everyone securely on board without anyone getting concussed and ensure there is a fallback plan should the skipper become incapacitated, then sailing should be more relaxed. But not completely relaxed.

Whenever heading offshore, I’d go through the bullet point checklists and equipment familiarization discussions and then tell the crew, “If you go overboard, the first thing I want you to do is wave goodbye. Because if we don’t find you, you’ll die. If we do find you, I’ll kill you when we get you back on board for endangering the rest of us.”

Jim Malkin lives in Chilmark.