How exciting. Common sense has prevailed & I’ve bought an Icom IC-M31 handheld VHF radio for £85 plus postage, which hasn’t got any of the sexy features (digital calling, panic buttons …) but will more than fulfill my needs. Mind you I might have bought one of these babies if I’d spotted it. It’s sitting forlornly in the kitchen, vainly listening to channel 16 and not hearing very much, which is exactly what I’d expect in the middle of Derbyshire. I’ll take it with me next time out & see what happens near water.
Debs thinks it’s very funny, for some reason.
Which is something I’m not allowed to say. Not at all. Ever. Along
with ‘over & out’ & ‘wilco’, apparently. Ray says so. In the interests
of obtaining the full marine experience I am now the proud owner of a
GMDSS Short Range Certificate (SRC), which means I can use a short
range VHF radio to talk to coastguards if I want. If they’re lacking
in Nottinghamshire I can talk to lock keepers and ask them to prepare
an upcoming lock for me, and I get to say ‘mayday’ if required.
I’ll probably spend most of my time trolling on channel 16.
Breaker break.
So here we are out of the marina & heading for the first lock. Tying up to get a reminder on what to do when Stan starts chatting & takes pity on us, offering to come through the lock with us & make sure we don’t do anything too stupid. All passes without incident & we repeat the process at the next one which takes us into the River Trent. A quick blat up & down the river & we brave the return journey, without too many issues once we remember to open the ground paddles before the gate ones; Debs gets to look like she knows what she’s doing at the next lock when she stops the people in the boat sharing making the same mistake. A deep breath before returning to the marina & a couple of worried looks (from us & them) when we get a bit near other boats but we make it back into the mooring. I have to sit down & shake for ten minutes to recover but we made it intact.
Phew.
Somebody To Love by Ramones
Iona School
Victoria Centre
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