Cold Water Shock — Symptoms, What Happens, and What to Do Cold water shock kills people every year in the UK. Not because they could not swim. Not because they were far from shore. Because the involuntary physiological response to sudden cold water immersion overwhelmed them before they had a chance to react. If you…
How to Make a Pan Pan Call — When to Use It and Exactly What to Say Most people know Mayday is the distress signal you send when lives are in immediate danger. Fewer people know that there is a signal one level below Mayday — the Pan Pan urgency signal — which is often…
What Does the Coastguard Do? — HM Coastguard Explained When something goes wrong at sea in the UK, HM Coastguard is the organisation you call. But most people have only a vague idea of what they actually do, how they operate, and what the difference is between the Coastguard and the RNLI. Here is the…
How to Read the Shipping Forecast — Plain English Guide The Shipping Forecast is one of the most distinctive broadcasts on British radio. Heard on BBC Radio 4 four times a day, its rhythmic recitation of sea area names — Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty — is iconic enough to be used in…
How to Make a Mayday Call — Exactly What to Say If you are at sea and in serious danger, a Mayday call on VHF Channel 16 is the fastest way to alert HM Coastguard and any vessels in range to your situation. The procedure is simple, the words are fixed, and knowing them before…
UK Coastal Safety — What Every Tourist Needs to Know Before Visiting the Coast Britain has extraordinary coastline. Over 11,000 miles of it — dramatic chalk cliffs, remote sandy beaches, tidal estuaries, rock pools and headlands that attract millions of visitors every year. Most people arrive without any understanding of how the sea actually behaves,…
Marine Weather Safety UK — How to Check Forecasts and What They Actually Mean Weather kills people at sea, i have seen it personally and don’t want to see it again. It can be deamatic, not with much warning — usually because someone did not check the forecast before they went out, or checked it…
Swimming in the Sea UK — Dangers Nobody Tells You I have worked offshore for nearly two decades. I am a PADI Divemaster with over 400 dives. I have swum in the sea since childhood in Robin Hood’s Bay on the Yorkshire coast. And I can tell you that most people who swim in the…
Cold Water Swimming UK — A Beginners Guide My first cold water swim was in Robin Hood’s Bay on the Yorkshire coast. I was a kid. My best friend dared me. I did it. It was horrible. And once my shoulders were under, it was completely fine. That experience — the dread before, the shock…
What Goes in a Grab Bag? — An Offshore Worker’s Honest List I call mine the zombie apocalypse bag, all the things that Shaun forgot in Shaun of the dead. That is genuinely how I think about it. It is the bag you grab when everything has gone wrong, you have seconds to act, and…
Fire Safety on Boats UK — What You Need to Know I have dealt with one real fire on a vessel. Hot oil left on an induction hob — it went up while we were present. Fire blanket over the pan, kept everything cool around it, did not touch it again for an hour. We…
What to Do If Someone Falls Overboard — A Step-By-Step Guide People panic. That is the honest truth about man overboard situations. Even experienced crew who have done the drills can freeze or start shouting over each other, which will achieve nothing, I can tell you – that first 30 seconds of blankness feels like…