Sea Safety, for the more numpty boater

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by codprawn

May I ask where you keep it?

In a secure pouch on the strap of my lifejacket.

But I do take your point that mobiles should be in waterproof bags.

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by malthouse

A good vhf is one of the things I will not leave harbour without, am I alone in that?

No - I have the Icom base set on the boat but also an HX270 handheld clipped to my lifejacket. I discovered by nearly losing it over the side that the belt clip on the HX270 is not that secure (it would most likely get detached if you were thrown out of the boat for example)

So I drilled it, fixed about a foot of of nylon cord through the clip with a bowline, and a small carabiner on the other end which is also clipped to the lifejacket ring, so if it falls off the lifejacket strap for any reason I won't lose it. The cord is long enough that I can take the radio off and use it but it still remains attached firmly to me at all times! Photo attached - well worth doing.

The phone lives in an Aquapac inside my flotation suit usually. Something that should be obvious but hadn't occurred to me until relatively recently is that an Aquapac is eff all use with the majority of modern clamshell style phones (i.e. nearly all the expensive ones) because of course you can't use the phone without opening it and you can't open it without taking it out of the pac so it might keep the phone dry but it ain't going to be much use as a rescue tool. Not a problem for me because I have a scraggy old Nokia brick but worth mentioning!

[SeaSkills]

I like the idea in principle. I think the RNLI already has a pretty good safety summary which is well supported with various free resources (booklets, CD ROMS etc) and it would make sense to promote that message for consistency. The following is from their website ...

Sea safety advice
The RNLI believes, and its service return information confirms, that a very large majority of lifeboats services can be attributed to a group of reasons, which can be summarised, as preventative activities.

We hope to bring your attention to these and other pieces of advice through these pages and continually develop new ways of delivering safety advice in an interactive and informative method.

1. Wear a lifejacket

2. Check your engine and fuel

3. Tell others where you are going

4. Carry some means of calling for help

5. Keep an eye on weather and tides

6. Get proper training, and boat within your limits

There are many other pieces of advice related to boating safety that are covered within the CD-ROM of Sea Safety, The Complete Guide, available free from www.rnli.org.uk/seasafety or 0800 328 0600 (UK) or 1800 789 589 (RoI)

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by SeaSkills

I like the idea in principle. I think the RNLI already has a pretty good safety summary which is well supported with various free resources (booklets, CD ROMS etc) and it would make sense to promote that message for consistency.

Your are dead right, and the safety efforts of Harbour Watch have always been discussed with the RNLI at the highest level. At the most basic we want to be a feeder for the Sea Check scheme, but on a bigger level we think we can reach people that are not normally associated with a boating fraternity.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

No - I have the Icom base set on the boat but also an HX270 handheld clipped to my lifejacket. I discovered by nearly losing it over the side that the belt clip on the HX270 is not that secure (it would most likely get detached if you were thrown out of the boat for example)

So I drilled it, fixed about a foot of of nylon cord through the clip with a bowline, and a small carabiner on the other end which is also clipped to the lifejacket ring, so if it falls off the lifejacket strap for any reason I won't lose it. The cord is long enough that I can take the radio off and use it but it still remains attached firmly to me at all times! Photo attached - well worth doing.

The phone lives in an Aquapac inside my flotation suit usually. Something that should be obvious but hadn't occurred to me until relatively recently is that an Aquapac is eff all use with the majority of modern clamshell style phones (i.e. nearly all the expensive ones) because of course you can't use the phone without opening it and you can't open it without taking it out of the pac so it might keep the phone dry but it ain't going to be much use as a rescue tool. Not a problem for me because I have a scraggy old Nokia brick but worth mentioning!

I was thinking of doing that to my HX270 but to be honest the way the clip attaches in the first place doesn't seem very secure to me. I may just use the screw hole to mount a metal strip with a lanyard through that.

You are right - aquapacs make the use of a clamshell type phone impossible - of course the hi-tech freezer bags work with anything!!!