Research into UV radiation when boating

[sambw2001]

Hi all! I am student at Bournemouth University and am currently carrying out research for a part of my final year project. I am designing a product which will be used for boating enthusiasts to determine the exposure of UV radiation they are receiving. As a part of this, i am required to get some primary research to help with some design requirements. Would it be possible to look at my survey and fill out a few questions? Its should only take a few minutes hopefully!
Survey link: UV Sensor for Boating Activities

If there is any questions about this, please reply to the thread or email me at s5313706@bournemouth.ac.uk

Many thanks,
Samuel Burnett-Whalley

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Hi all! I am student at Bournemouth University and am currently carrying out research for a part of my final year project. I am designing a product which will be used for boating enthusiasts to determine the exposure of UV radiation they are receiving. As a part of this, i am required to get some primary research to help with some design requirements. Would it be possible to look at my survey and fill out a few questions? Its should only take a few minutes hopefully!
Survey link: UV Sensor for Boating Activities

If there is any questions about this, please reply to the thread or email me at s5313706@bournemouth.ac.uk

Many thanks,
Samuel Burnett-Whalley

You ask the question about how many times one boats. I think your survey should say days. 30 months sailing is one time, but 90 days for instance. And for cruisers or passage makers thats the metric needed

 

[Boathook]

Having a maximum of 10+ days isn't many. Maybe have a free field for this as I possibly did well over 40 this year.

 

[jdc]

Sailing vs Yachting is a confusing distinction: I interpreted 'Sailing' as Dinghy Sailing (it's not yachting), but it was ambiguous. And my most frequent activity is rowing (in a sliding seat singe scull mainly), but it's secondary in terms of hours doing it. How should this be recoded? But anyway, I'm wholly uninterested in a gadget to tell me if I risk sunburn.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Survey completed. Straight forward to do.
Good luck with your final year project.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I find that the main danger of getting sunburnt is when it is a sunny day but with a pleasant (force 2-3) breeze. I don't feel hot, but of course, the UV is still there, and it is warm enough to have bare arms. A warning of the potential for sunburn would be useful! But equally, I dislike sunblock (it just feels sticky and yucky on my skin!) and generally prefer to cover up.

The worst sunburn I can recall was acquired on a long walk in the Falklands! Lovely sunny day with a light breeze to keep me from overheating. Of course, the Falklands are not far from the hole in the Ozone layer, and I got painful sunburn that took me several days to recover from - and I have fairly dark skin for a Brit.

When in Antarctica, wearing sunblock outdoors on sunny days was a mandatory H&S requirement, and a person who got burnt would get little sympathy! However, days when it was warm enough to be outdoors without covering up were few and far between.

 

[footsoldier]

But anyway, I'm wholly uninterested in a gadget to tell me if I risk sunburn.

That's always been my attitude, but ......

I had a very small patch of hard, cracked skin on top of my head that I totally ignored for a long time, until by chance my doctor spotted it when I saw him about something else - he immediately diagnosed it as solar keratosis, a minor skin condition in itself, but that can be pre-cancerous. It is caused by excessive exposure of the head to UV rays and - in his experience - cases are increasing. Treatment is a three-month application of ointment that I am due to complete in the new year, when I hope he will give me the 'all clear'. However I do intend to re-think my previously cavalier attitude to exposure to the sun, and resort to some sort of headgear. We lives and learns.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I live at 6000 ft above sea level so the UV exposer is much greater than at sea level.

Close to me is a large dam/lake where there is a lot of sailing /yachting.

The other factor ou may need to consider is the latitude that the ailing takes place so at my boat location closer to the equator the higher the UV density.

This also impacts on the need for a cover over the cockpit to protect from UV

 

[RunAgroundHard]

... I had a very small patch of hard, cracked skin on top of my head that I totally ignored for a long time, until by chance my doctor spotted it when I saw him about something else - he immediately diagnosed it as solar keratosis, a minor skin condition in itself, but that can be pre-cancerous. It is caused by excessive exposure of the head to UV rays and - in his experience - cases are increasing. Treatment is a three-month application of ointment that I am due to complete in the new year, when I hope he will give me the 'all clear'. However I do intend to re-think my previously cavalier attitude to exposure to the sun, and resort to some sort of headgear. We lives and learns.

+1 same treatment, twice now.

If you have the "red gene", indicated by blue eyes, red hair (maybe blond hair too, cant remember correctly) risk increases significantly.

 

[lustyd]

We lives and learns.

If only that were true! The human capacity for ignoring this kind of thing is astounding. I have 7 hats on board and often still end up going on deck without one! For some reason I'm also hard wired to eat pork scratchings instead of salad, and drink red wine instead of water...

 

[lustyd]

I am designing a product which will be used for boating enthusiasts to determine the exposure of UV radiation they are receiving.

It will be interesting to see how you measure exposure. Watches are useless for this as sailors often wear gloves, oilskins, rashvests which will cover the wrist even in summer. As seen in the thread we often won't wear a hat, and other threads will show you that many don't always put on a lifejacket.

That said, there's an app in the Garmin store for UV exposure. It would also be possible to use the solar input on the Fenix 7 as a proxy for exposure if you assume the wrist is an acceptable place to measure. Garmin already track solar input and graph it nicely so it would be reasonable to align this to local UV index values to determine direct exposure time and intensity since solar input will correlate with shade and therefore intensity.
UV-Index

For research purposes you may also want to adapt my app which can upload watch data in real time to the Azure cloud, where you could use something like Databricks to do analytics or machine learning with the information.
EventHubApp

 

[footsoldier]

+1 same treatment, twice now.

Can I ask - why twice? Did it not clear with the first treatment?

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Can I ask - why twice? Did it not clear with the first treatment?

More was identified later, about 3 or 4 years between treatments. As a result of history I get checked about once a year.

 

[neil_s]

Survey done - good luck with your project!

 

[dgadee]

I use p20 which is supposed to last all day. Perhaps you should have asked about types of sun cream?

 

[Ilduceglider]

Sam, I'm from Sydney, Oz. Skin cancer is something Aussies do well, especially yachties. All my expat mates book an appointment with their Australian dermatologist before coming home on holidays. For your research look at coverage of this year's Ashes tests, can you pick the Aussies in the crowd, they are the ones wearing hats!! Look at Wimbledon then at the Australian Open. Do you need SPF 50 when sailing, if it is not raining or dark, yes. All boats by law have to carry sunscreen . About 6 years ago when instructing on the Harbour, we had a lovely red headed Irish girl along, I asked where is your hat and are you wearing sunscreen? Her reply was to show me Boots best 10 sunscreen and she wanted to get a tan! I refused to carry her until she covered up, it was going to be 30C+!
Sorry about preaching but it is easy. Slip, Slop, Slap

Cheers Peter

Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide

 

[footsoldier]

All boats by law have to carry sunscreen .

Wow! That is taking it seriously.

My little episode has changed my cavalier attitude to this and I shall certainly take precautions from hereon. I hope that others on here heed your warnings.

 

[wonkywinch]

Handy for Solent sailors, I've had thorough checks done by these people in Lee On Solent.

Hope Physio Clinic, Lee-on-the-Solent | Skin Cancer Clinic | Check4Cancer