Safety gear is the part of the check-in most often waved through. Count it, read the dates, try it with your own hands, and have the base make up what is short before you leave.
1 · The list
Every item aboard and in date before you sign
What safety equipment must a charter yacht have before I sign for it?
Everything on the base's list, which follows the boat's flag state, aboard and in date: liferaft, flares, extinguishers, EPIRB, first-aid kit. What is missing or expired goes on the form, and the base makes it up.
The base's equipment list is the regulation of the boat's flag state, whatever rules you know from home. Every item on it is aboard and in date before you sign; what is missing or expired goes on the form and the base makes it up. With an out-of-date liferaft you stay on the pontoon.
Item
What you check
Liferaft
Service date, capacity for everyone aboard
Flares
Expiry date of each one
Extinguishers
Gauge in the green, service date
EPIRB
Battery date, self-test, registration
First-aid kit
Contents against the list, dates
Safety locker
Bolt cutters, working foghorn, torch with spare batteries
Write the numbers from the briefing on a card by the VHF: channel 16, the base's phone, the local emergency number.
2 · Lifejackets and harnesses
One that fits, within reach, for everyone
How many lifejackets do I need on a charter yacht, and what size?
One per person in the right size, plus a spare; children's jackets are sized by weight, since an adult one slides off a child. For children and non-swimmers ask for automatic inflation and a spray hood.
One lifejacket per person in the right size, plus a spare. Children's jackets are sized by weight: an adult one slides off a child. For non-swimmers and children ask for automatic inflation and a spray hood. Jackets live in the cockpit locker, not under a sail in the forepeak.
150 N lifejacket (ISO 12402), opened
Cylinder: screwed in tight
Firing-head indicator: green
Service label: in date
Crotch strap: fitted
Light and whistle: shown to the crew
The light and the whistle are how the boat finds a head in the water at night. Set your rule before leaving: children whenever on deck; everyone at night, when reefed and in the dinghy. With small children ask for guardrail netting and child harnesses.
For a night passage rig the jackstays at the base and test each tether clip: faded webbing or a bent hook will not hold a fall. Nobody leaves the cockpit at night unclipped, or without waking you.
3 · Man overboard
Gear that goes in seconds, a way back aboard
How should the horseshoe lifebuoy be attached on a yacht?
On a quick-release clip, never a knot, with a light and a danbuoy, so it goes over in seconds. Plan the recovery at the base too: a bathing ladder that opens from the water and a spare halyard to a winch.
The horseshoe hangs on a quick-release clip, never a knot, with a light and a danbuoy. The throwing line lives in the cockpit: hold the loop and throw the bag beyond the person, so the line falls across them. Plan the recovery at the base: a bathing ladder that opens from the water, and a spare halyard to a winch for someone who cannot climb.
Rule
Engine off and key out before anyone is in the water at the stern. On a catamaran, both engines.
For the dinghy at night: lifejackets on, a torch, kill cord on the wrist, a time to be back.
4 · Fire
An extinguisher where the fire is fought
Where should the fire extinguishers be on a yacht?
Each in its bracket where the fire is fought: by the galley, by the companionway, in the cabins, and one beside the engine's fire port. All in one deck locker, they are useless below.
Check each extinguisher's gauge and service date, and that it sits in its bracket: by the galley, by the companionway, in the cabins, one beside the engine's fire port. All in one deck locker, they are useless below. The fire blanket hangs by the galley, reachable without leaning over the stove.
Engine fire: stop the engine, shut off fuel and gas, discharge through the fire port and keep the compartment shut: opening it feeds the fire with air. With no port, lift the steps a crack and aim through the gap. Pan fire: gas off, blanket over the pan from the side, leave it covered. Never water on burning oil.
5 · Liferaft, beacons, flares
Leaving the boat and being found
Which distress flare do I use when a rescue boat is close?
The red handheld flare, held over the lee side, pinpoints you as help closes. A red parachute rocket is for being seen from far off and is fired downwind; orange smoke works by day only.
The raft's capacity covers everyone aboard, its painter is made fast to the yacht, and it comes out in seconds: no padlock on the cradle, nothing stowed on top.
Launching the liferaft
Painter made fast to the yacht
Canister over the lee side
Pull the painter hard until it fires
Grab bag in, board dry
Cut the painter last
Pack the grab bag yourself: handheld VHF, flares, torch, water, papers, the crew's medicines, a phone in a dry pouch. The EPIRB passes its self-test, has an in-date battery and is registered to this yacht, or rescuers look for the wrong boat; a dead one is replaced, never tested live. A crew member's own PLB is worn on his lifejacket.
Flare
Use
Red parachute
To be seen from far off; fired downwind
Red handheld
To pinpoint you as help closes; held over the lee side
Orange smoke
By day only
Only in-date flares count on the form. A red flare always means distress: expired ones go back to the base, never up for fun.
6 · Ready for a sea
Keep the water out and the boat steering
What do I do if the wheel steering fails on a charter yacht?
Take the way off, fit the emergency tiller on the rudder stock, anchor somewhere safe and call the base. Fit it yourself once at the base, before you need it.
Under the floorboards you want a softwood bung tied to each seacock and the manual bilge pump with its handle: power is the first thing to go. Both washboards on lanyards and hatches that dog shut keep a boarding sea out. Fit the emergency tiller on the rudder stock yourself at the base. If the wheel fails, take the way off, fit it, anchor somewhere safe and call the base. Hoist the radar reflector at the base and leave it up.
Before a blow, still at anchor
Reef in
Jackstays rigged
Lifejackets and harnesses on
Washboards in, hatches dogged
Loose gear stowed
7 · Briefing and first aid
Your own briefing, on this boat
What should a skipper's safety briefing cover on a charter yacht?
Lifejackets, man overboard, the gas valve and the heads, fire gear and ways out, swimming with the engine off, and who does what. Brief every crew member, the experienced ones too: the gear and its places are this boat's.
Once the boat is signed for, brief every crew member, the experienced ones too: the gear and its places are this boat's. Note who takes which medicine and where it is kept, and tell a second person.
Skipper's briefing
Lifejackets: where, how, when worn
Man overboard: shout, point, gear
Gas valve and the heads
Fire: extinguishers, blanket, ways out
Swimming: engine off, ladder down
Who does what
Problem
What you do
Seasickness
Tablet about an hour before leaving, with food; then on deck, at the helm
Rope burn
Cool under fresh water 15–20 minutes, then a loose non-stick dressing; no cream, no ice
Heatstroke: hot dry skin, confusion
Shade, wet cloths and fanning, sips of water, medical advice at once
Practice questions
Questions from this topic, as the app asks them. Open one to see the answer.
Due 01/2026Liferaft, canister on the coachroof
8 persons
Last service 01/2023
Next service due 01/2026
The technician says the liferaft 'is fine, nobody has ever opened it'. What do you do?
Take it, but note the date on the form in case
Refuse to sail until an in-date raft is aboard
Accept it — a raft is only serviced after inflation
Ask for a second raft to make up for the old one
Show the answer
B. Refuse to sail until an in-date raft is aboard
A raft past its service date may not inflate; an expired raft means you do not leave the pontoon.
All 50 questions of this topic are in the app: practice by topic with the reason after every answer, your mistakes brought back, and a timed mock exam. Free, no sign-up, in the browser or in Telegram.
