Personal Safety Items When Crewing

awol said:
Do people actually navigate using Navionics on a phone?
Click to expand...
Again that may depend on the voyage….
If crossing the pond once you have left somewhere like the Canaries there are zero rocks or navigation hazards for 3,000 miles, until reach the Caribbean. So only need a daily GPS position to remember to start looking before hit the first Caribbean island.
On the other hand, as you will know, in Scotland, Norway, Sweden etc there may be a hundred hazards in the first mile.
But as an emergency backup worth having.
 
awol said:
Do people actually navigate using Navionics on a phone?
Click to expand...
Some people do that as their main means of navigation / plotter but certainly compared to a handheld GPS it’s got a lot going for it - provided you have the means to charge it.

I think what nobody else has commented on is it depends what “as crew” means. If it means a passenger who is able to winch the sheets or do a bit of sailing, it is quite different from someone who is expected to take watches and different again from someone who is being invited along because the skipper is relatively inexperienced or on a new boat so wants a trusted “old hat”.
 
If anyone was considering taking their OceanSignal PLB1 from their own UK boat onto someone else’s boat, remember that they should have already registered it to their boat.
If they trigger it aboard a different vessel then the boat details any SAR would be using would be wrong.
I have one of these PLBs and IIRC I linked the registration to my own boat mmsi
The sticker that the uk registry sent for the plb bears my boat name
 
Dellquay13 said:
If anyone was considering taking their OceanSignal PLB1 from their own UK boat onto someone else’s boat, remember that they should have already registered it to their boat.
If they trigger it aboard a different vessel then the boat details any SAR would be using would be wrong.
I have one of these PLBs and IIRC I linked the registration to my own boat mmsi
The sticker that the uk registry sent for the plb bears my boat name
Click to expand...
An EPIRB is linked to a single boat, but a PLB is not.
 
Dellquay13 said:
If anyone was considering taking their OceanSignal PLB1 from their own UK boat onto someone else’s boat, remember that they should have already registered it to their boat.
If they trigger it aboard a different vessel then the boat details any SAR would be using would be wrong.
I have one of these PLBs and IIRC I linked the registration to my own boat mmsi
The sticker that the uk registry sent for the plb bears my boat name
Click to expand...
My PLB1 is linked to me and registered for use on any vessel, hiking etc. I've taken it to remote parts of the world, eg the Atacama Desert, just in case.

The MOB1 however is linked to the MMSI of my boat.
 
ylop said:
Some people do that as their main means of navigation / plotter but certainly compared to a handheld GPS it’s got a lot going for it - provided you have the means to charge it.

I think what nobody else has commented on is it depends what “as crew” means. If it means a passenger who is able to winch the sheets or do a bit of sailing, it is quite different from someone who is expected to take watches and different again from someone who is being invited along because the skipper is relatively inexperienced or on a new boat so wants a trusted “old hat”.
Click to expand...
Of the 3 scenarios you give only one might e a case for someone taking their own navigation equipment on a boat and that is the experienced sailor on a new boat with inexperienced skipper. Taking a watch does not require someone to use their own navigation tools ( electronic or not) that's what the ships equipment is for.
 
Fr J Hackett said:
Of the 3 scenarios you give only one might e a case for someone taking their own navigation equipment on a boat and that is the experienced sailor on a new boat with inexperienced skipper. Taking a watch does not require someone to use their own navigation tools ( electronic or not) that's what the ships equipment is for.
Click to expand...

I would wager that many people here do have navionics on their phone ... you can install on more than one phone / tablet ... so the question of whether taken on another boat is a bit of a non-starter surely ??
I know on my boats - Alex who crews with me and his sone quite often ... BOTH of them fire up their Navionics on their phones and follow the boats track ...

I would think that many would do it just out of curiosity etc ... plus they can scroll ... see ahead etc etc without interfering with the main gear on-board.
 
Refueler said:
I would wager that many people here do have navionics on their phone ... you can install on more than one phone / tablet ... so the question of whether taken on another boat is a bit of a non-starter surely ??
I know on my boats - Alex who crews with me and his sone quite often ... BOTH of them fire up their Navionics on their phones and follow the boats track ...

I would think that many would do it just out of curiosity etc ... plus they can scroll ... see ahead etc etc without interfering with the main gear on-board.
Click to expand...
Yes I have it on my phone from the days when I had it on an I pad ( 2011) but I wouldn't use it to navigate on someone else boat nor mine for that matter.
 
Fr J Hackett said:
Yes I have it on my phone from the days when I had it on an I pad ( 2011) but I wouldn't use it to navigate on someone else boat nor mine for that matter.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't use it to 'navigate and interefere' with Skippers decided route etc .. but having it to view - why not ?

My MoBo (24ft) that I run on the river and close to harbour ... I use the phone Navionics - mainly to keep a tab on the distance covered and speeds ... the MoBo drinks gasoline and this then gives me a check on when to turn back. This has saved me from embarrassment a couple of times ! I also use on my 25ft sailboat river for distance etc to check.

On my 38ft racer ... if I am up at bow ... in cabin ... out of view of plotters (I have 2 .. one at chart table, other in cockpit bulkhead) .. then its a good check on progress without having to ask others or change position on board.
 
I was watching on my Navionics app as the skipper of the Queen Elizabeth stopped the ship and turned us around to look for suspected 2x MOB off the coast of Haiti last week.

False alarm but was interesting.
 
At some point all this kit creates a barrier to entry. If I was undertaking a voyage on a friend's boat Im not sure I would take flares, a plb (i don't own one) or even my hand held vhf.

I love tech and am undoubtedly safer than 25 years ago but it feels like we are so gadget obsessed these days, one has to spend a fortune to get on board. Not just sailing..cycling. canoeing. Camping. Motorbikes. The great outdoors is being monetised like never before and I do not like the thought of people avoiding a crewing opp because they do not have evey item listed.

Good wet weather gear and a life jacket are the priority. Maybe a tether if the yacht doesn't have one (but it should, or i would wonder what else was missing or not done).
 
All the above and I would also add this as it costs nothing... Be able to tie a bowline and/or clove hitch at super fast speed and at all angles. The later preferably one handed,and no I'm not kidding. S'got me out of a bind a couple of times.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies, some interesting ones with people taking a lot more kit that I expected!

Just to clarify I'm well sorted clothing/wet weather gear wise, I'm relatively unexperienced having round a years experience helping out as crew on race boats and I'm currently going through my Day Skipper coarse. I'm trying to get as much extra experience as I can so I'm jumping at any offer I get which is what made me think of bringing a certain level of personal safety gear as you never really know people's level of competence.
 
Last edited:
I don't think there is any one answer, it depends on many things! :

1.) The boat you are going on (and it's condition and equipment)
2.) The skipper in charge (and your confidence in their abilities)
3.) The location you are sailing in
4.) The predicted weather
5.) The length of voyage, including whether any night work involved
6.) Your personal risk/preparedness appetite

Personally (in addition to appropriate clothing/foulies/footwear for the expected conditions) I always have my own LJ, handheld DSC VHF and knife as minimum, and depending on the above question add various extras to the bag as needed. If I'm expecting to be more of a skipper than crew, or it's e.g. a new boat to someone that I'm helping deliver, then the bag gets much bigger with nav kit, tools, etc!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top