8:44 PM Mon 29 Mar 2010 GMT
Marine Rescue NSW Easter Boating Safety Net Tip No 1. - Know your Position at Sea for greater Boating Safety
Easter is often the last chance for many skippers to get in some boating before the days get shorter and the seas become colder. If a skipper runs into trouble when out boating, the first thing they should do is get on their marine radio and call for help from Marine Rescue NSW. The marine radio is the first line of communication for help because a radio call is heard not only by the Marine Rescue operators, it will also be heard by other boats. Some could be close by and able to help even faster.
But the skipper has to provide some vital information for whoever answers that emergency call. What's your position? If you don't know where you are, how can you tell the rescuers where to come looking for you?
Many boats today have GPS equipment that provides an accurate position, but what if you don't have GPS? And what if you're out of sight of land?
Fortunately, there are other ways to keep track of where you are. Always keep a note of these three things:
1. What was your compass direction as you travelled from port to where you called for help?
2. How long did it take to get there?
3. What speed were you travelling?
This information will help the Marine Rescue operator narrow down the search area and make it more likely for help to find you.
Marine Rescue NSW Easter Boating Safety Net Tip No 2. - Wear your lifejackets for safety.
Last year a fisherman died after falling overboard from his tinny on the South Coast and within swimming distance of shore. He was not wearing a lifejacket.
Another man fell overboard from his fishing boat off Port Stephens. He was also not wearing a lifejacket. But he was lucky. He was found after more than four hours alone in the water.
And just two weeks ago three men were thrown from their boat crossing the bar at Little Box Head at the northern end of Broken Bay in Sydney. They were lucky too.
But don't bet your life on luck. An emergency at sea can happen at any time. Sometimes it can happen too fast to grab lifejackets before you're in the water. So smart skippers know to wear their lifejackets and ensure their passengers do too.
Smart skippers know that wearing a lifejacket at sea makes exactly the same kind of safety sense as wearing a seatbelt in your car.
It's even more important as the seasons change and the water temperature gets colder.
Smart Skippers will definitely reduce the risk to themselves, their families and friends when they wear lifejackets and go boating with the Volunteer Marine Rescue Safety Net.
Marine Rescue NSW Easter Boating Safety Net Tip No 3. - Log on before you leave for safer Easter holiday boating.
The Easter Weekend will see everyone who can, get out on the water for maybe the last chance to enjoy a few days boating before the colder weather sets in. But the more boats there are on the water, the more risk there is for something to go wrong.
Imagine this. You've been out with a couple of mates for a day's fishing at a favourite spot 24 nautical miles out. You've had a sensational day with more fish than you've caught in years. But at 2:30 that afternoon you're hit by a big wave, your big catch shifts and next thing you know the boat has capsized and you're all in the water. Your radio's under water and useless but you're all wearing your life jackets and you used your radio to log on with your local Marine Rescue base when you left port.
This is exactly what happened just a few months ago to three men off Port Macquarie.
When the Port Macquarie Marine Rescue radio operator hadn't heard from the boat at the agreed time, the rescue crew swung in to action and began a search. It was 10 to 10 that night when Port Macquarie Rescue One found them - the fishermen had been in the water for over seven hours and drifted more than 13 nautical miles from their capsize position.
All three men were suffering from hypothermia from their long immersion but their lives were saved because they logged on before leaving. The skilled Marine Rescue volunteers had the search plan and local knowledge that kept those men in the Marine Rescue Safety Net.
Find out about safer boating with Marine Rescue NSW. Contact your local Marine Rescue unit
For a full list of all volunteer marine rescue units in NSW, go to
www.marinerescuensw.com.au
You'll find the volunteers are helpful, knowledgeable and very keen to help you stay in the Volunteer Marine Rescue Safety Net.
Marine Rescue NSW is the new unified marine rescue organisation that has been launched to give the NSW boating community a stronger, better equipped and highly efficient search and rescue, radio communications and boating safety education service. Marine Rescue has over 2,400 trained members and proven boating safety procedures ready to help keep every skipper, boat and their passengers in the marine rescue Safety Net.
by Ken McManus - Marine Rescue NSW
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