NATO Phonetic Alphabet
| A
- Alpha |
K
- Kilo |
U
- Uniform |
0 - Zero |
| B
- Bravo |
L
- Lima |
V
- Victor |
1
- Wun (One) |
| C
- Charlie |
M
- Mike |
W
- Whiskey |
2
- Two |
| D
- Delta |
N
- November |
X
- X-ray |
3 - Tree (Three) |
| E
- Echo |
O
- Oscar |
Y
- Yankee |
4
- Fower (Four) |
| F
- Foxtrot |
P
- Papa |
Z
- Zulu |
5
- Fife (Five) |
| G
- Golf |
Q
- Quebec |
|
6
- Six |
| H
- Hotel |
R
- Romeo |
.
- decimal (point) |
7
- Seven |
| I
- India |
S
- Sierra |
.
- (full) stop |
8
- Ait (Eight) |
| J
- Juliet |
T
- Tango |
|
9
- Niner (Nine) |
I have given you the NATO table as this is the standard today and the most
widely used. Learn this so you can reel it off from the beginning
e.g. 'Alpha, Bravo, Charlie .........', and also backward just as fluently
e.g.'Zulu, Yankee, X-ray, Whisky......'. Once you have mastered this you
will be able to roll it out whenever you need to. Learn it now rather than
later when you will have much other mind clutter and things to think about
as you progress with your planning and come closer to your departure date.
Two other websites giving you these tables are
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/ and
http://www.geocites.com/
Safety at Sea:
This a major subject and one that often there is
not enough thought given to and consequently may have tragic results because
a piece of equipment failed, was not carried on board or worn, or crew had
not been correctly or fully trained. We could fill every Newsletter for the
next year on this subject, so I will take one or two aspects of it from time
to time so that eventually we will cover them all.
To begin with I shall give you my list which we will then examine, not
necessarily in that order:
Liferaft
Life jackets
Jack Lines
Danboy system with strobe
Life Rings
Harnesses
Flares
Pistol flare kit
406 MHz EPIRB
Grab bag with 121.5 EPIRB
Personal EPIRBS
MOB button on GPS
MOB retrieval block and tackle kit
2182 alarm button on SSB radio
Fire extinguishers
Fire blanket(galley)
Medical
kit
Let's look at a
couple of these.
Liferaft:
Oviously this is a critical safety item and no ship
should ever put to sea without one that has not been recently checked and
certified. This certification needs to be done annually. Most used craft
will come with one, so the first job is to take it to your certification
station and have it checked. They will completely open it up and test it for
soundness, no leaks, and also check all the contents and replace any that
are not 100% satisfactory.
I recommend that when you have purchased your yacht
and going for the first time, that you stay on and watch the procedure. Most
will allow you to do this( you may have to go back at an appointed time)
and it lets you see what your liferaft looks like on the inside.
Many liferafts are just strapped on the foredeck for coastal sailing and
not particularly well affixed. If you are going ocean voyaging, then it
needs to be well bolted down. Check the fixings and strengthen them if
necessary - you
DO NOT want your liferaft coming adrift and
separating from your foredeck during bad weather - especially if there is a
possibility that you may be needing it.
If purchasing a new liferaft, always get one the next size up for the
number of crew you will have i.e. if you are going to have three or four
crew, purchase a six-man raft rather than a four, and so on. The price is
very little more (maybe a hundred or two dollars only) and the additional
space you will have if you ever have to use it in anger is a godsend. There
are many good brands out there but do your research first and find the one
that suits your purposes best.
Obviously, once it is in position, you don't want to test it out as it is
very difficult to pack it up again, so I recommend you attend a 'Liferaft
Safety' course. They are run frequently in your area and you can book them
anytime. It is a good idea to wait until you have your crew organised and
have them attend as well. It is a lot of fun, but more importantly,
familiarises everybody with a process which otherwise none of you would know
until you had to use it for the first time - not
good practise. Good Seamanship therefore is be prepared - it is a very steep
learning curve having to take all that in for the first time if you are
preparing to leave a foundering vessel!
So, now you have your new liferaft in place, lets hope and pray that it
remains there for the entire trip, only to be ever removed for its annual
certification. Remember, if you ever do have to use it for real, this old
nautical 'saw', 'When abandoning ship, never step down into your liferaft,
only ever step up.'
Jack Lines:
If these are not already fitted it is essential you
fit a set - see 101 Tip no. 84 and page 48 'Voyage of the Little Ship 'Tere
Moana' on my site
www.sailboat2adventure.com
They are there to clip on your harness line any time you or your crew leave
the cockpit. They run the whole length of your boat on the port and
starboard decks. Take 35mm black webbing, cut it to length and visit your
sailmaker and have him sew up the ends. Fix them to the forward deck
with triangle tangs and at the stern end (beside the rear end of the
cockpit) with quick link shackles.
Tighten them to a twanging snap on the deck. Now you have a fine, taut and
extremely durable and strong set of jack lines. As tight as you have them
on the decks, you will still find you can easily slip your fingers under
them to snap on your harness lifeline shackle.
Every time any crew member leaves the cockpit they should clip on to
these jack lines. Many a life has been saved in rough weather by crew being
'clipped on' when the boat has been tossed, a wave come on board or a boom
swung over. Even in fair sailing conditions it can easily happen that
someone trips as they climb out of the cockpit or walking along the deck.
If no one else is on deck at the time that crew can go over without being
noticed. It is difficult to retrieve a MOB from the sea anytime in the best
of conditions - but if that MOB goes over
without anyone knowing, retrieval is infinitely less likely.
More safety issues later.
This month I will leave you with a revised version of John Masefields'
'Sea Fever', with words aimed at the electronic nuts out there.
"With apologies to Masefield", author unknown
I must go down to the sea again, in a
modern high-tech boat,
And all I ask is electric, for comfort while afloat,
And alternators, and solar panels, and generators going,
and deep cycle batteries with many amperes flowing.
I must go down to the sea again, to the autopilot's ways,
And all I ask is a GPS, and a radar, and displays,
And a cell phone, and a weatherfax, and a shortwave radio,
And compact disks, computer games and TV videos.
I must go down to the sea again, with a freezer full
of steaks,
And all I ask is a microwave, and a blender for
milkshakes,
And a watermaker, air-conditioner, hot water in the sink,
And e-mail and a VHF to see what my buddies think.
I must go down to the sea again, with power-furling sails,
And chart displays of all the seas, and a bullhorn for loud hails,
And motors pulling anchor chains, and push-button sheets,
And programs which take full charge of tacking during beats.
I must go down to the sea again, and not leave friends
behind,
And so they never get seasick we'll use the web online,
And all I ask is an Internet with satellites over me,
And beaming all the data up, my friends sail virtually.
I must go down to the sea again, record the humpback whales,
Compute until I decipher their language and their tales,
And learn to sing in harmony, converse beneath the waves,
And befriend the gentle giants as my synthesizer plays.
I must go down to the sea again, with RAM in gigabytes,
and teraflops of processing for hobbies that I like,
And software suiting all my wants, seated at my console
And pushing on the buttons which give me complete control.
I must go down to the sea again, my concept seems quite
sound,
But when I simulate this boat, some problems I have found.
The cost is astronomical, repairs will never stop,
Instead of going sailing, I'll be shackled to the dock.
I must go down to the sea again, how can I get away?
Must I be locked in low-tech boats until my dying day?
Is there no cure for my complaint, no technologic fix?
Oh, I fear electric fever is a habit I can't kick.
And software suiting all my wants, seated at my console
And pushing on the buttons which give me complete control.
I must go down to the sea again, my concept seems quite sound,
But when I simulate this boat, some problems I have found.
The cost is astronomical, repairs will never stop,
Instead of going sailing, I'll be shackled to the dock.
I must go down to the sea again, how can I get away?
Must I be locked in low-tech boats until my dying day?
Is there no cure for my complaint, no technologic fix?
Oh, I fear electric fever is a habit I can't kick.
Nautical saying for September:
Ahoy, or Ahoy there!
In ancient times 'Ahoy' was the
battle cry of the Vikings.
Then it became the traditional method of hailing
between ships. Today it is used as a general greeting or a way of attracting
someones attention. It is still used when hailing other vessels at sea or
when approaching a vessel on a marina berth when there is no one on deck.
The hail 'Ahoy' goes out followed by the name of the vessel. This is the
correct and polite method. The strength of the hail depends on the distance
of the other vessel or whether or not the occupants of the moored craft are
awake or not!
Enjoy and talk to you all again
next month
Cap'n Vinnie
