General Safety Considerations

Some scenerios encountered while cruising your vessel with suggested actions are listed here.

Reporting a Lost Dinghy

Question. Whilst underway at night our dinghy we were towing became detached from our yacht. Being unsure when the loss actually occurred we were unsure of the best place to search so retraced our course hoping to find the dinghy. However, being a windy night the dinghy could have drifted some distance or even become submerged making virtually invisible in the dark. Should we have reported the loss of the dinghy?

Answer. Our recommendation firstly would be to transmit a Securité message to alert other vessels in the area that a potential hazard exists for collision but noting that no person was aboard the dinghy. It would also be advisable to alert the local coast station that should your dinghy be found and concern expressed that there might be someone missing, the authorities as part of their checks would know from contacting the coast station that it was lost property and that no person was endanged. It would also be known to whom the dinghy belonged should it be found without the need for searching for the owner for possibly an unnamed/unregistered dinghy.