Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle/Secrets

Infinity Bow early
At the very beginning, run full speed down the beach. You will spot a stairwell to the right and at the very bottom will be an Infinity Bow. You should just have time to open your inventory and pocket it before the storm takes the last of your party (or you yourself) and dumps you on the real shore.

How to avoid losing your equipment
At the beginning, a spell will change all your equipment in wimpy things. If you want to avoid this, simply drop everything, wait the spell is casted and then get back everything. Now it'll be much easier to go on in the game :)