We have the following items of safety gear aboard our 34’ yacht:
- Harness clip-on eye in
cockpit;
- Jackstays of nylon webbing
on deck;
- Lifejacket for each person
of the automatic type with automatic lights and harness eyes;
- Grab bag with small pack of
flares, water bottles, torches, whistle;
- Radar reflector of the IMO
type secured to the mast;
- Searchlight. Can be
hand held but must be powerful to look for MOB. The searchlight can
also be shone on the big white mainsail to make the yacht more visible if
a ship looks close;
- Towline 30m long. 1mm
diameter stretchy nylon;
- Main anchor 16kg of the
‘Delta’ type;
- 8mm or 10mm anchor chain at least
50m in length;
- Kedge anchor of 10kg;
- Flameproof hose used for the
engine coolant seawater intake hose as the sea water intake seacock is
inside the engine compartment;
- EPIRB of the 406 MHz type;
- Wire cutters/bolt croppers;
- Thermal Protective Aids (TPA)
– one for each person;
- Liferaft of the SOLAS B type
(see note below);
- Radar (optional);
- Danbuoy;
- Lifebuoys with floating
lights x 2;
- MOB rescue sling with
floating line;
- Boarding ladder fitted to
stern;
- Torches – at least one per
person and lots of spare batteries;
- Gerber floating knife;
- Gerber multi tool (always in
my pocket);
- Pack of distress flares of
the offshore type;
- First aid kit;
- First aid manual;
- Emergency tiller if you have
wheel steering;
- Binoculars;
- Drogue;
- Tool kit;
- Foghorn;
- Emergency portable
navigation lights;
- Smoke detectors – one for
each cabin;
- Gas detector;
- NAVTEX weather forecast
receiver;
- Laptop with 3 dongle for
weather forecasts;
- Fixed VHF radio of the DSC
type which is linked to a GPS;
- Emergency VHF aerial;
- Handheld VHF radio in
working order;
- Lanyard to secure the main
hatch washboards shut whilst at sea;
- Fire extinguishers – one for
each cabin and cockpit;
- Fire hole and bung set into
companionway steps above engine;
- Fire blanket;
- All opening hatches,
skylights and portlights are fitted with signs that state ‘Do not open at
sea’;
- A sign stating ‘Exit’ near
to the companionway in the saloon ( a bit obvious I know);
- Bosun’s chair;
- Owner’s manual that came
with the boat;
- Maintenance manual that I
wrote (mostly ignored);
- Training manual to show crew
where all the bits are;
- SOLAS life saving signal
table;
- Tool kit;
- Clock;
- Barometer;
- Boat hook;
- Buckets with lanyards x 2
(strong good buckets);
- Motor sailing cone signal
shape;
- Anchoring sphere signal
shape;
- Inflatable tender.
Liferaft: We have an older RORC
four-man valise liferaft that has its own built-in SOLAS B safety kit bag
inside. This liferaft is horrendously expensive to have serviced.
In the December 2011 issue of Sailing
Today you will find an excellent review of the cheaper ISO 9650 standard
liferafts. These liferafts are better than the cheapies that you find in
chandlery shops for around £550.00 but it has to be ISO 9650 Group A for
charter use.
Ocean Safety
www.oceansafety.com, Zodiac and Viking make good liferafts to the ISO
9650 Group A standard.
If you intend to charter out the yacht
or use it for teaching, you will need a liferaft built to the SOLAS standard
and it must be marked with the ships wheel logo (or it can be to the ISAF OSR
standard).
ISAF stands for International Sailing
Federation and the raft must comply with the Offshore Special Regulation
Appendix A part 2 (OSR).
Or it can be ISO 9650 Group A as
mentioned above.
Liferafts should ideally be of the
canister type and be able to float free and self inflate by the use of
hydrostatic release units. However, valise type, manually operated
liferafts are fine.