Most of us have a taste for ‘old fashioned’ ways and amateurish eccentricity, but when it comes to Boat Safety Recommendations we must be professional, realistic and up-to-date. We may sail a clinker lugsail dinghy, but we nevertheless wear a modern lifejacket, not one made of cork or kapok! Besides, let’s face it, some day our Boat Safety Recommendations may be questioned in a coroner’s court, so they should stand up to critical examination.

As readers may already know, the RNLI in consultation with the RYA have recently launched their ‘Sea Check’ scheme, whereby they will inspect leisure craft free of charge, and award silver stickers if the boat is considered to carry the essential safety equipment; and gold stickers if all their recommendations have been followed. Their recommendations for ‘small leisure craft’ are primarily aimed at inexperienced users rather than people like ourselves, and their ‘sheltered use’ category (craft operating in daylight only) and their ‘inshore use’ (yachts staying within ten miles of land) are aimed at motor and sailing yachts rather than cruising dinghies. Nevertheless they are based on good modern practice, and there are a number of points which could be incorporated into our own recommendations. For a free Sea Check list ring freephone 0800 328 0600.

Perhaps the most critical Sea Check recommendation from our point of view is carrying VHF. We already recommend carrying pyrotechnics, but current practice is they should not be fired off like Guy Fawkes Night, but used to pinpoint the casualty’s position after the Coastguard and other shipping have been alerted by VHF Mayday, or by phoning the Coastguard. Obviously neither VHF nor pyrotechnics would be much use to the crew of a capsized dinghy struggling in the water, but carrying these items should be recommended as good safety practice, whether we personally carry them or not!

The bottom line is that the DCA Boat Safety Recommendations are a valuable reference, but are in urgent need of critical examination and updating. They could be kept to the present one page format. Len Wingfield