Christmas winds have arrived, there’s a nice cool breeze at
night and no mosquitos. Rough seas mean no diving, so I tried to catch up on
some boat maintenance. I finally fixed my compass light – so happy about that.
In the end I bought a tiny 12v LED stick-on light for five bucks from Parkers,
the best auto parts shop on the island.
I also fitted a new VHF radio; it’s submersible, and has an
AquaQuake function.
The reason I bought it (an icom m324g) was it also has
built-in GPS. My coordinates are displayed on the screen, which means that if I
have a problem with my chart plotter I have back up for navigation.
Online I got a ship radio license and registered the MMSI
number, so now if I lift a cover and press a cool red button for three seconds,
the radio broadcasts a digital distress signal with location on a dedicated
channel. So it’s also back up for my
EPIRB, which is registered with the US coastguard. Since Sonic Boom’s homeport
is Troon, I had to register my MMSI number with UK coastguard. Does that mean I
get double rescue?
Camana Bay
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