Coming into the Easter long weekend, everyone is prepping for a bit of extra time on the water, so it’s a great time to get your boating checks done, and get a little refresher on what you should be doing before you head out for the day.
Skipper, Colin Neilsen has been volunteering at VMR Brisbane for nearly a decade. He gave us his top tips on what to do for your pre-Easter checks.
What sort of checklists do people need to be going through before heading out on the water?
We need to make sure that our vessels are up to scratch, we have all our servicing done, we’re got the appropriate safety gear and also our life jackets are up to scratch.
What about on the day of?
We check out weather, make sure the weather is appropriate for the vessel we’re going out in. Making sure we’ve got adequate fuel. If you run out of fuel that is actually an offence and you can get charged.
Also making sure that our tides are right for launching our vessels.
Tell us about the VMR Brisbane logging system.
It’s really important that when you’re going boating that you actually log on or you tell someone where you’re going.
By logging on, you’re allowing us to know where you’re going and in the event you don’t log back off we can start looking for you.
Can you tell us about VMR Brisbane’s membership and what that gives you?
With VMR Brisbane and also Coast Guard we offer a $77 12 month membership which gives you up to two and a half hours of free towing so if you were to break down, rather than costing you $160 an hour for the tow, that covers you for the full 12 months from Bribie Island down to Southport.
Why do you volunteer at VMR Brisbane?
One of the reasons I joined VMR is because I wanted to give back to the community and being in VMR for nearly ten years I’ve made long life friends and it’s just giving back to people that I really love.
The most rewarding thing I’ve found being in VMR is just at the end of the tow job or whatever you may be doing it’s the thanks that you’re given from the public. They so much appreciate it.
You can get involved with VMR Brisbane by heading to their website or give them a call at 3269 8888
