An important item that gets lots of use not just for swimming, but for getting back on board from the yachts' tender and getting someone who has accidentally fallen overboard back on board. It should be a permanent fold-down job, sturdy enough to take any overweight guests, and preferably with wooden steps over stainless steel pipework. Salt is hygroscopic any of the stuff introduced into the yacht and onto floors, saloon berths and the like will make the interior damp and uncomfortable in the cooler months. I make it a rule that anyone on board showers after a swim. If there is one item that while apparently simple in terms of choice and execution, in practice is not.
Nothing raises blood pressure more than the subject of anchors and anchoring.
For some this anchoring business is a comparatively new or at least an unpractised process if all they are used to is nosing into marina berths or picking up moorings. Choosing which anchor is a matter of taste and experience, but basically boils down to a plough type anchor as the main anchor, typically a CQR, Bruce or Delta, and a Danforth type for the kedge. The trouble with anchoring in the Mediterranean is weed. Often an anchor will collect a lump of weed on the tip and no amount of pulling it along the bottom will get it to dig in. Raise the anchor and clear the weed off before trying again.