Boaters Must Take Safety Precautions When At Sea

Every year, boaters are left stranded at sea due to negligent acts of safety.

The Marine Rescue NSW has released its Top 10 Boating Safety Check List designed to help boaters ensure they are well prepared for an outing:

1. Tell your local Marine Rescue radio base when you go out and when you'll be back. Log on with your marine radio so MRNSW knows you're out there and log off to let us know you're back.
2. Wear your lifejackets. Lifejackets save lives - but only when you wear them!
3. Travel at a safe speed and keep a good lookout. A safe speed is one at which you can stop quickly in an emergency.A good lookout means the skipper is always aware of conditions around the boat.
4. Check your mechanicals before you go. More breakdowns are caused by mechanical and electric faults than any other cause.
5. Check your safety equipment BEFORE you go. This includes lifejackets; marine radio; anchor and chain or line (attached to the boat); emergency flares; EPIRB if going out 2 nautical miles or further; bailing bucket; fire bucket; fire extinguisher; navigation lights, orange V-sheet; and waterproof torch. Smart skippers will also have first aid and tool kits on board.
6. Make sure your fuel is fresh. Old fuel causes serious problems that can leave you stranded at sea. This is a common problem with fuel tanks for outboards.
7. Call your local Marine Rescue radio base for a radio check. The Marine Rescue operator will tell you if your radio signal is strong and clear, so if it's not, you can fix it before you need it.
8. Check the weather forecast BEFORE you go.
9. Know your position. If you break down or another emergency strikes, Marine Rescue needs to know where you are. If you don't know where you are, it's hard for help to reach you.
10. Take extreme care crossing bars. Do not attempt to cross a bar you've never crossed before without getting local advice. Then prepare and plan your crossing.

As more and more boats are going out at sea, it is very important to know these safety protocols. If in doubt, DON’T go out. When a boater leaves land, there is always a very real possibility they might never see it again.

It is extremely important that we keep our boats maintained. Precautions for 2012 should be kept. The experienced attorneys at V&B want you to know that safety must always come first.