With spring on the way, now's the time to get yourself, your craft and your crew season-ready and refresh your skills.
No one sets out to get into difficulties, but we all know it can happen to even the most experienced people. Have you reviewed your safety kit and vessel?
Safety kit is always evolving and best practice changes with it. So HM Coastguard, part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), has teamed up with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Royal Yachting Association (RYA) for their 'Reduce the risk, boost your skills' boating safety campaign.
A Personal Flotation Device (PFD), can save your life.
Try before you buy. The best lifejacket is the one you wear. Consider whether a manual or automatic lifejacket suits your activity. Ensure lifejackets are serviced annually.
Take steps to avoid becoming separated from the boat; tethering yourself to the vessel can prevent a MOB emergency. It's important to practice how to get back into the boat if you find yourself overboard.
Register your Distress Beacon
Always prepare for the worst and consider a 406 MHz beacon. Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) are registered to an individual, Emergency Positioning Radio Indicating Beacon (EPIRBs) are registered to a vessel.
When activated, UK-coded 406 MHz beacons transmit a distress signal via satellite with the beacon's Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) position to HM Coastguard.
Importantly, 406MHz beacons need to be registered with the UK Beacon Registry. Registration provides rescuers with vital information. Registration details need to be kept up to date. If a beacon is sold or passed on, it must be re registered to the new owner, so information is current.
Personal AIS MOB
A personal AIS Man Overboard (MOB) beacon will alert vessels within a 2 – 4 mile range.
While a 406MHz PLB will alert the Coastguard of your location, an AIS MOB helps your vessel's crew and nearby craft pinpoint your location. There are now products that combine both 406MHz and AIS into one single device.
MOB alert and recovery
If someone ends up in the water it can be hard to see them; LED strobe lights, sea dye, horseshoe buoys, and danbuoys are all designed to help indicate the person's location.
Guidance about recovery equipment is in Marine Guidance Note (MGN) 544, sections 5 and 6.
Other considerations
Carrying a suitable flare on board remains an important safety measure, helping to improve visibility and alert others in an emergency.
End of the month media recs — sf & f reads, TV worth a mention, and some game demos I liked. All the details and caveats in the post! (Main links/projects post coming tomorrow.)
Mid-week deadlines are the worst. Working on the flagship post next… But I started this on the weekend, so it’s ready!
In book recs, Voyage of the Damned by Frances White, A House Between Sea and Sky by Beth Cato, Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett, Children of Strife by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Gates of Mars by McFall and Hays, The Husbands by Holly Gramazio, Coyote by Allen Steel. In TV, Small Prophets was a huge adorable win for me, and I also liked Paradise s1, plus some other stuff worth a mention. Game-wise, I played a bunch of demos the past month and have more to point you to.
Details, caveats, and more below!...
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