Safety is paramount with us, we surpass the minimum to the extreme

Charter operators follow the Code of Practice dictated by the Maritime Coastguard Agency for the Safety of all Commercial Vessels for annual certification.

Legislation in our case the 'Blue Book' standard dictates exacting specifications of the current requirements for safety of a small commercial sailing vessel up to 24 metres in load line length which does not carry cargo or more than 12 passengers.

Our vessel is classified as category 'A' (Ocean) by the Recreational Craft Directive but we limit ourselves to operate under 'Category 2' permitted area of operation which is 60 nautical miles from a safe haven and is sufficient for nearly all of our clients requirements for the carriage of 8 people in total.

Our Royal Yachting Association (RYA/DTp) Yachtmaster Offshore qualified skippered charter briefing prior to departure covers the subjects of location and operation of safety equipment, fire fighting, radios, switches, engine, sea cocks, heating, shore power cables and adapters etc and procedures to be followed in emergencies. Bareboat skipper and crew will be briefed by us in the same subject matter as part of the hand over formalities.

Safety is paramount with us, although in some areas we surpass the minimum requirements to the extreme.

We use Hydrostatic 'Hammer' action fully automatic inflating life jackets with built in safety harness, automatic light (8hrs duration), whistle, crutch strap, reflective tape and spray hood in case someone is unlucky enough to be knocked unconscious before entering the water. The hammer action ensures that accidental inflation does not occur when say working under demanding conditions on the fore deck but is designed to inflate in only a few inches of water.

Lifebuoys with lights are also provided together with a danbuoy and drogue. The drogue reduces the down wind drift so the survivor in the water has a better chance of reaching the lifebuoy. The danbuoy then marks the position with a red/yellow (man overboard) flag 6' from the waters surface for easy recognition in day use and the floating light operates in the upright position for night use.

The liferaft has a fully automatic hydrostatic release system that will allow it to release from its mountings and float free to the surface. The raft has a double tube design inflated by an internal gas cylinder and is fully equipped with survival equipment such as paddles, flares, sea anchor, floating knife, bailer, sponge, repair kit, signal card, waterproof torch, thermal protection aids (TPA), signal mirror, instructions etc.

There is a full set of RORC flares of 4 red parachute, 4 red hand held, 4 white collision hand held and 2 orange smoke all in a sealed waterproof floating container.

We carry a McMurdo Fastfind Plus Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) with a built in Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system which uses the 406Mhz frequency to send the precise location in Longitude and Latitude of the activated beacon to the satellite saving precious time by the satellite trying to work out an estimated position. The PLB also transmits a local homing signal on 121.500Mhz to locate its exact position for nearby rescue services.

The vessels medical stores or first aid kit comes in a waterproof rubber sealed container and has a comprehensive assortment of dressings, bandages, gloves, paracetamol, seasickness tablets, butterfly closures, scissors, forceps etc together with a first aid manual.

A fully waterproof portable hand held Icom IC-M31 VHF radio compliments the rest of our safety packages and should only be used for contact with the rescue services.

See our equipment page for more information the above.