• Sunshine Coast & Caloundra

Murphy's Law

If anything can go wrong on the water, it will

Murphy's Law

Below is a summarized small list of real experiences which have occurred to offshore boaties. We’ve placed them here so you can think about how you’d handle them in the comfort of your lounge room, rather than facing the situation on the water.

These things have happened, as well as a few thousand others not mentioned! (We’ve left out the good things about boating, you’ll discover them yourself).

  • Engine breaks down when crossing a bar
  • Engine breaks down in water too deep to drop anchor
  • Boat breaks down when out of radio range
  • Boat swamped off shore
  • Boat run over by passing ship
  • Boat capsized off-shore
  • Boat capsized in bar
  • Boat swamped in bar
  • Encounter a broken down vessel
  • Tow a vessel through a bar
  • Divers below and the unmanned boat drifts away
  • Boat swamped and sunk whilst divers below
  • Boat stolen whilst divers below
  • Anchor gets stuck on a reef
  • Loss of anchor (drifting in heavy seas)
  • Seasickness
  • Injury on board
  • Gear dropped overboard
  • Transom & engine fall off boat (boat sunk)
  • Sharks gnawing on boat
  • Running out of fuel
  • Bad visibility down to 100m
  • Wind springs up causing huge seas
  • Swell comes up and closes bar
  • Stings/bites cause skipper incapacitation
  • Fire on board
  • Person overboard
  • Hitting a turtle
  • Gear malfunction
  • Beached on a reef
  • Temporarily unsure of position (lost)
  • ‘Oft heard quote in the boating fraternity’: “Ah, the joys of boating”
  • Murphy's Law

    Below is a summarized small list of real experiences which have occurred to offshore boaties. We’ve placed them here so you can think about how you’d handle them in the comfort of your lounge room, rather than facing the situation on the water.

    These things have happened, as well as a few thousand others not mentioned! (We’ve left out the good things about boating, you’ll discover them yourself).

    • Encounter a broken down vessel
    • Tow a vessel through a bar
    • Divers below and the unmanned boat drifts away
    • Boat swamped and sunk whilst divers below
    • Boat stolen whilst divers below
    • Anchor gets stuck on a reef
    • Loss of anchor (drifting in heavy seas)
    • Seasickness
    • Injury on board
    • Fire on board
    • Person overboard
    • Hitting a turtle
    • Gear malfunction
    • Beached on a reef
    • Temporarily unsure of position (lost)
    • ‘Oft heard quote in the boating fraternity’: “Ah, the joys of boating”

    Murphy's Law

    Below is a summarized small list of real experiences which have occurred to offshore boaties. We’ve placed them here so you can think about how you’d handle them in the comfort of your lounge room, rather than facing the situation on the water.

    These things have happened, as well as a few thousand others not mentioned! (We’ve left out the good things about boating, you’ll discover them yourself).

    Please consider these safety suggestions:

    The Water Police check life jacket conditions when they do vessel checks. If they find split seams, faded labels, etc, you will be warned/fined
    A new flotation device determining system is coming in 2010, to replace the Type 1,2,3 codes. The new system, and the equivalent codes are:
    Level 150 (equivalent to inflatable PFD1)
    Level 100 (equivalent to PFD1)
    Level 50 (equivalent to PFD 2)
    Level 50S (equivalent to PFD 3)

    PFD 1,2,3 type jackets will remain approved for many years, so no need to replace them now.

    Boating Terminology

    Below is a list of commonly used boating and nautical terms. If you are a boat owner or are looking to purchase a boat, it is important to know the correct boating terminology to ensure you stay safe while on the water.

    Sacrificial Anode - Metal parts fitted to the hull of a vessel to provide a transfer of ions to t he cathodic part of an electrolytic coupling and so protect other parts of the vessel that would otherwise waste away through electrolysis
    Schooner - A sailing vessel fitted with two or more masts carrying fore and aft sails. When it is fitted with two masts, the forward may be shorter than the other
    Scuppers - Drains from decks to carry off rain or sea water
    Shank - In an anchor, the straight section between the chain attachment and the flukes
    Shoal Water - Shallow water
    Sloop - A sailboat with a single mast and fore and aft rig, usually with a single jib and mainsail
    Spring Line - A mooring rope oriented at a small angle to the vessels centre line
    Starboard Side - The right hand side of a vessel when looking forward
    Stays - Fixed wire ropes leading forward from aloft on a mast to the deck to prevent the mast from bending aft. Backstays lead from aloft to aft
    Stern - After end of a vessel
    Stow - To put away. To stow cargo in a hold
    Tiller - An arm, attached to rudder stock, which turn the rudder
    Transom - The stern cross section of a square sterned boat
    Windlass - The machine used to hoist and lower anchors
    Yawing - Weaving motion of a vessel to port and starboard off course
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