"Log On" for safer holiday boating: Volunteer Marine Rescue Safety Net

5:53 AM Wed 31 Dec 2008 GMT

'"Log On" with your marine radio to stay in the Volunteer Marine Rescue Safety Net' Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol Click Here to view large photo

Every year NSW volunteer marine rescue organisations go to the assistance of up to 2,000 boats carrying between 4,000 and 5,000 mums, dads and kids who need some kind of help on the water. This ranges from the relatively simple such as running out of fuel, to the extremely serious like a fire or sinking boat.

Smart Skippers can reduce the risk to themselves, their friends and families when they go boating, with the Volunteer Marine Rescue Safety Net.

The most important principle of the volunteer Safety Net is to ensure the volunteers know you're out on the water for the day. You do this by using your marine radio to "Log On" with your local volunteer marine rescue base when you leave for your trip, whether it's a quiet cruise up a lazy river or a run out to the offshore fishing grounds.

There are three volunteer marine rescue organisations with 56 bases on the NSW coast, several thousand trained men and women and proven boating safety procedures ready to help keep every skipper and boat in the marine rescue Safety Net. The largest of these is the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol.

When you call in to "Log On" the Coastal Patrol radio operator will take some key details of your boat and your trip, including when you expect to return. Then when you return, you simply radio in again and Log-Off after a good day out. This is what happens most of the time, but if something goes wrong, the volunteer marine rescue Safety Net means that someone responsible knows you should be back and will begin to take steps to locate you.

Contact your local Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol rescue base. Check the local White Pages or go to www.coastalpatrol.com.auand click on Locations to find your nearest base then click on Radio Services to learn more about "Logging On". You'll find the volunteers are helpful, knowledgeable and very keen to help you stay in the Volunteer Marine Rescue Safety Net.

by Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol PR

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"Log On" for safer holiday boating: Volunteer Marine Rescue Safety Net

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