Chichester Yacht Club Magazine April 2018 | Page 24

Practical Guide to the SOLAS V Convention
for Pleasure Craft, Part 2—by Tim Walker
Voyage Planning Regulation V/34 ‘Safe
Navigation and avoidance of dangerous
situations’, is a new regulation and has now
been incorporated into UK Maritime Law. It
concerns prior-planning for your boating trip,
more commonly known as voyage or passage
planning. Voyage planning is basically
common sense.
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As a pleasure boat user, you should
particularly take into account the following
points when planning a boating trip:
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Weather: before you go boating, check
the weather forecast and get regular
updates if you are planning to be out for
any length of time.
Tides: check the tidal predictions for your
trip and ensure that they fit with what you
are planning to do.
Limitations of the vessel: consider
whether your boat is
up to the proposed trip
and that you have
sufficient safety
equipment and stores
with you.
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Crew: take into
account the experience
and physical ability of
your crew. Crew
members suffering
from cold, tiredness
and seasickness won’t
be able to do
their job
properly and
could even
result in an overburdened skipper.
Navigational dangers: make sure you are
familiar with any navigational dangers you
may encounter during your boating trip.
This generally means checking an up to
date chart and a current pilot book or
almanac carried onboard.
Contingency plan: always have a
contingency plan in case something goes
wrong. Before you go, consider places
where you can take refuge should
conditions deteriorate or if you suffer an
incident or injury. Bear in mind that your
GPS set is vulnerable and could fail at the
most inconvenient time. This might be
due to problems with electrical systems,
jamming or interference with the signals
or meteorological activity. It is sensible
and good practice to make sure you are
not over-reliant on your GPS set and that
you have
sufficient skills
and information
(charts, almanac
and pilot book) to
navigate yourself
to safety without it
should it fail.