Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Q:
What types of safety equipment did you purchase and why?
A: While we have invested in some essential pieces of gear (notably, a life raft, EPIRB,
and rarely-used radar), we don't feel that safety can be purchased and ticked off a to-do
list. Our most important safety gear are our eyes, ears, and common sense. For example,
we keep a constant lookout on deck. We are always surprised to hear of crews who spend
most of their night watch time below decks (some even watching DVDs). We stay clipped
on in the cockpit and only pop below to check the chart, get a snack, etc. Of course, we
read or listen to music during night watches, but we constantly scan the horizon and feel
the wind on our faces rather than simply monitoring the displays of AIS, radar, or any oth-
er equipment. This way we feel more in tune with the conditions around us, rather than
cocooning ourselves away from them.
Similarly, we try to avoid trouble by tracking weather carefully. Even when we can't
avoid a system, at least we can prepare for it. We reef early and switch to our smaller stay-
sail when conditions call for it. Finally, we also try to avoid dramatic emergency opera-
tions by checking the rigging, steering, and other vital systems before every passage. That
way, we lessen the chances of having to leave the safety of the cockpit in rough conditions
to repair something that should not have been overlooked in the first place. That said, we
know that the sea and our boat will always keep a few surprises in store for us, and strive
to keep spares and appropriate safety gear on board for different eventualities.
With a small boat and limited budget, we feel we get the most effective protection through
the simplest of systems: things like safety harnesses, equipment checks, and maintaining a
good look-out. The same really should hold true for crews on bigger boats with bigger
budgets.
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