... Then the stupid

Two and a half years ago we sold our previous boat P******n to fund in part the acquisition of Annabella. She was very comprehensively kitted out for coastal cruising and I reckon the chap that bought her got her for a song. One of the assets was a GPS EPIRB manufactured by Ocean Signal. Now read on:

1145 Zulu Time - somewhere in northern england: A mobile call is received from an undisclosed number:

"Hello, who's that?"

"This is the coastguard."

"The coastguard you say - I wonder why you are calling me ?"

"We've received an EPIRB alert registered to you for a boat called P******n. We're wondering if you're alright"

"On no, not again! I'm so sorry - I sold that boat about 2 years ago with the express instructions to re-register the EPIRB. Do you think the new owner is in any danger ?"

"Not as it's from G*****t marina, do you have his contact details"

I provide the contact details

"I'm so sorry you have been inconvenienced like this - I suppose it squats on the frequency as well..."

"He only needed to make one short phone call.to sort it out..."

The whole event is a bit embarrassing, because the first place the alert goes is Falmouth SRC centre, but it also seems rather selfish, because of all the resources taken up to respond to a false alarm all because this chap didn't have the wit to store the EPIRB in a dry location. All one can hope is that whilst the coastguard were busy sorting out this cockup no one who was in real danger ended up dead.

 Names have been changed / omitted to protect the stupid.

First the sad post Signal pennant C

Following the recent sad events in France, Herve Hillard  suggests sailors everywhere hoist signal pennant C

for Charlie, in solidarity. Link to his facebook post.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153493891143912&set=a.170375603911.120677.533238911&type=1&theater

Sadly I am rather far away from Annabella at the moment to accomplish this, so this is the first substitute.

Sea Survival - A Manual

The first mate also read 'Adrift' (see previous post) with an interest which I find slightly uncomfortable, as there is an unhealthy interest in disaster and deprivation at sea. Steve Callahan refers a number of times to Dougal Robertson's
book 'Sea Survival'. This was unavailable for many years, and certainly out of print, but was a welcome Christmas present from the first mate.
Robertson - now dead - had been the skipper of the sailing boat 'Lucette' with whcih he was attempting a circumnavigation with his familly, when it was lost in the western part of the pacific in 1972. They spent 38 days in primative survival craft and much of the manual is informed by this gri first hand experience. 
Although some (much) of the content has now been superseded by more modern information, taken overall it's themes are still very valid  and would be valuable addition to the grab bag.
Regrettably the two 'survival charts' have become disconnected, but the hunt goes on!