andrew j cox
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2015
- Messages
- 149
As a mad keen aussie angler who like to angle way out in the briney deep (20koff shore on the cont shelf and canyons beyond) and using a not so young Outboard of 29 years of age a dramatic or catastrophic failure is very very high on my wish to not happen list but if it did say for example throw the dizzy drive belt and stop and that little old auxilliary motor you forget to get that little miss and fart seen too does miss fart and stop, visually there’s no boats in sight, you call out a May Day and using your highly expensive finder sounder plotter thing you can give the local coasties a shout and they send out the old rescue boat to get you and tow you home all’s well and ends well.
The above is what we all wish should happen, but and with this there’s lots of boats , not all boats are correctly or smartly fitted out for the type of fishing one does and I’m only picking on fishos not the sailing cruising fraternity, not all boats are the same, in this country we can tend to throw caution out the window or over the side lol the old no worry’s mate she’ll be right ay, I have little alloy dinkys in places they shouldn’t be carrying too many beer idiots not wearing vests or jackets, Ill bet my left one they won’t have jackets on board, the cooler box is full of beer, Ive seen guys in boats that think they are safe coz they have a radio and phones, in this country if you go out of sight of the coast you must carry an EPIRB, you must have for every person on the boat you must have 4 litres of water per day ! You must have life vests that are in time! The old PFDs are not liked by the Maritime Services Board, do they have a grab bag and a waterproof bag for phones, portable VHF radio, your ID wallet etc , you must also have the standard 4 flares a V blanket,
The above for power boat owners that do venture out should make them sit back n think about there boats and there behaviour, when I say behaviour do you take yobbo approach boat built for 4 carrying 6 or more, esky full of ****, sorry aussie slang for cooler full of beer lol, have life jackets that were made when Jesus was a lad, and flares five or more years old, bugger all else. It’s usually these types that end up needing help, look and think what can happen, your belting along at 35 mph with a few stubbies in ya sorry stubbies is bottle of beer, tinnies are cans lol ok so your bashing along and what can happen , well, the options here are endless, old motor go bang, hit a submerged reef a) hole your hull, b) take your prop off, you could hit a container that’s been floating around submerged for years and the damage from that will see you bobbing around in the water with you any mates that survived , what’s in your pockets , ah this is the good one so she’ll be right any probs ill call the missus ( wife etc ) and she will sort it no worries mate. What’s in your pocket, wet phone, soggy smokes, and bugger all else, were you wearing a vest? No time to think boat did the Titanic trick,
The above the should have points, should have told local police or volunteer coast guard who you are how, many you are , where your going , how many souls on board and the xpected time of return,
should have right PFDs, should have in date flares, should have a grab bag and water proof container should have made sure peoples on board have a vest and should have made sure that you as the skipper and you who is responsible for the souls on board and your self and vessel, should have made sure the right saftey gear is on board and should make sure that mental checklist is adhered too.
Ok so anything can wrong there’s no knowing what will or can happen, you have no idea who or how many survive, or if that radio call was received or that distress flare seen wether your on board or in the drink wondering WTF just happened,
In my mind wether your an Aussie a Yank or a Pom saftey is saftey.
Your at the ramp or mooring or wherever what do you do first, visually check your plugs are in and tight, your front rope is secure blah blah ,
so your in the boat and it’s in the water or beached or whatever, that waterproof container, in there go
Your phone and anyone else willing to forget Facebook n selfies for the day there phone is in there to, keys, wallets, hopefully a portable VHF Radio,
The grab bag, in it the flares, V blanket, water proof matches, knife, water proof container with basic first aid supplies, few bottles of water.
yourself and your mates are wearing PFDs, you have spent a few minutes talking to your mates and laying down the law, the donts and dos the safties, where they are, if you have too leave the boat coz it left you , you will grab the EPIRB and set the EPIRB off, grab the grab bag, stuff the waterproof tainer in the grab bag, make sure it’s tethered to you, in the drink you go and the rest should be common knowledge if you don’t know the first thing about saftey or boats you don’t deserve to have a boat and the volunteer coast guards would prefer to not go and put himself and his shipmates in danger going out to hopefully find this lil tinny boat full off beered up nut jobs .
This is my view of a perfect world
Every boat ramp would have a permanent volunteer who would take note of your boat rego number, number on board, and visually check your safties,
Every boat would have either a fixed radio or portable unit.
Everyboat under 10 meters would have there bottoms to the chine line or waterline be painted Air Sea Orange, why? If your boats gone tits up and is upside down that orange hull is going to stick out like tits on a bull to any chopper or fixed wing out looking for you.
Every boat regardless of size will have an EPIRB.
Alcohol and boating needs to be addressed there’s way to many ratbags that go drishing rather then fishing.
Everyboat should have a Drogue or sea anchor / sea brake they can deploy to slow the hull up in case of a bad current
I have more but it’s crack of sparrows ( indecently early morn) here I had a wierd nights sleep so I’ll look into this later
The above is what we all wish should happen, but and with this there’s lots of boats , not all boats are correctly or smartly fitted out for the type of fishing one does and I’m only picking on fishos not the sailing cruising fraternity, not all boats are the same, in this country we can tend to throw caution out the window or over the side lol the old no worry’s mate she’ll be right ay, I have little alloy dinkys in places they shouldn’t be carrying too many beer idiots not wearing vests or jackets, Ill bet my left one they won’t have jackets on board, the cooler box is full of beer, Ive seen guys in boats that think they are safe coz they have a radio and phones, in this country if you go out of sight of the coast you must carry an EPIRB, you must have for every person on the boat you must have 4 litres of water per day ! You must have life vests that are in time! The old PFDs are not liked by the Maritime Services Board, do they have a grab bag and a waterproof bag for phones, portable VHF radio, your ID wallet etc , you must also have the standard 4 flares a V blanket,
The above for power boat owners that do venture out should make them sit back n think about there boats and there behaviour, when I say behaviour do you take yobbo approach boat built for 4 carrying 6 or more, esky full of ****, sorry aussie slang for cooler full of beer lol, have life jackets that were made when Jesus was a lad, and flares five or more years old, bugger all else. It’s usually these types that end up needing help, look and think what can happen, your belting along at 35 mph with a few stubbies in ya sorry stubbies is bottle of beer, tinnies are cans lol ok so your bashing along and what can happen , well, the options here are endless, old motor go bang, hit a submerged reef a) hole your hull, b) take your prop off, you could hit a container that’s been floating around submerged for years and the damage from that will see you bobbing around in the water with you any mates that survived , what’s in your pockets , ah this is the good one so she’ll be right any probs ill call the missus ( wife etc ) and she will sort it no worries mate. What’s in your pocket, wet phone, soggy smokes, and bugger all else, were you wearing a vest? No time to think boat did the Titanic trick,
The above the should have points, should have told local police or volunteer coast guard who you are how, many you are , where your going , how many souls on board and the xpected time of return,
should have right PFDs, should have in date flares, should have a grab bag and water proof container should have made sure peoples on board have a vest and should have made sure that you as the skipper and you who is responsible for the souls on board and your self and vessel, should have made sure the right saftey gear is on board and should make sure that mental checklist is adhered too.
Ok so anything can wrong there’s no knowing what will or can happen, you have no idea who or how many survive, or if that radio call was received or that distress flare seen wether your on board or in the drink wondering WTF just happened,
In my mind wether your an Aussie a Yank or a Pom saftey is saftey.
Your at the ramp or mooring or wherever what do you do first, visually check your plugs are in and tight, your front rope is secure blah blah ,
so your in the boat and it’s in the water or beached or whatever, that waterproof container, in there go
Your phone and anyone else willing to forget Facebook n selfies for the day there phone is in there to, keys, wallets, hopefully a portable VHF Radio,
The grab bag, in it the flares, V blanket, water proof matches, knife, water proof container with basic first aid supplies, few bottles of water.
yourself and your mates are wearing PFDs, you have spent a few minutes talking to your mates and laying down the law, the donts and dos the safties, where they are, if you have too leave the boat coz it left you , you will grab the EPIRB and set the EPIRB off, grab the grab bag, stuff the waterproof tainer in the grab bag, make sure it’s tethered to you, in the drink you go and the rest should be common knowledge if you don’t know the first thing about saftey or boats you don’t deserve to have a boat and the volunteer coast guards would prefer to not go and put himself and his shipmates in danger going out to hopefully find this lil tinny boat full off beered up nut jobs .
This is my view of a perfect world
Every boat ramp would have a permanent volunteer who would take note of your boat rego number, number on board, and visually check your safties,
Every boat would have either a fixed radio or portable unit.
Everyboat under 10 meters would have there bottoms to the chine line or waterline be painted Air Sea Orange, why? If your boats gone tits up and is upside down that orange hull is going to stick out like tits on a bull to any chopper or fixed wing out looking for you.
Every boat regardless of size will have an EPIRB.
Alcohol and boating needs to be addressed there’s way to many ratbags that go drishing rather then fishing.
Everyboat should have a Drogue or sea anchor / sea brake they can deploy to slow the hull up in case of a bad current
I have more but it’s crack of sparrows ( indecently early morn) here I had a wierd nights sleep so I’ll look into this later
