POSITION-INDICATING & SIGNALLING EQUIPMENT
Sandy Robson attended the 2012 NSW Rock and Roll Sea Kayak Symposium which included a search and rescue workshop. As a result she has written a review of current position-indicating and signalling equipment which all sea kayakers would find very informative. Click here to read it.

TOWING PROCEDURES
As part of the ongoing upgrade of club safety procedures, Rod Coogan has drawn up a plan for who does what, when towing a paddler in distress. It's available as a PDF document from the Safety guidelines page. 

ROUGH WATER PADDLING NOTES
Rod Coogan has put together some thoughts on paddling safely in rough water. Click here to view the full article.

AUTOMATIC BILGE PUMP
Malcolm Blanch has designed a bilge pump with an automatic switch that turns on when water is detected in the cockpit. He has written up the plans so that you can make one too. Click here for the full article.

AIR SWITCH FOR KAYAK
Tim Hale has a great suggestion for a new switch to replace those mechanical switches that suffer corrosion problems. Click here for the full article.

photo Tim Hale

NAVIGATION AID
Below are the Zipped OziExplorer calibration files Steve Foreman has created for the Western Australian Digital Nautical Charts, Lancelin to Dawsville, July 2006 as released by the Department for Planning and Infrastructure. He has only calibrated the ECW map image set as those using OziExplorer would use them in preference to the TIFF images.
Download file here (ZIP, 32KB).

NEWSLETTERS
The Club no longer produces newsletters, relying instead on information on the website and notices sent by email. However, some of the old newsletters have some interesting articles. The July 2008 edition was the last of the Club newsletters, with a report from the Dampier trip in May, plus more notes from the Cape to Cape, and other items. Download your copy from here (PDF file 2.8MB), or go to the Newsletter page for links to this and past editions.

DO-IT-YOURSELF LOGBOOK
The Club has put together a do-it-yourself logbook kit, so that those paddlers who would like a logbook can easily make one. The instructions and files for printing are here.

EXEMPTIONS FOR PADDLE CRAFT USERS
The WA Department of Transport, following meetings with CWA and other interested bodies, has exempted paddle craft users from carrying a PFD Level 100 and flares within 400m of shore (defined as any shore including an island and any rigid structure such as a jetty attached to and protruding from land), and has also exempted paddle craft users from carrying an anchor at all times. There is also an exemption from carrying a PFD Level 100 beyond 400 from shore as long as a PFD Level 50 is carried. The current legislative requirements are to remain to carry 2 hand-held flares or 2 parachute distress rockets AND 2 hand held orange smoke signals or 1 orange smoke canister, and a bailer (if not a self-draining craft) beyond 400m of shore, an EPIRB beyond 2nm and a radio beyond 5nm from shore.

EXTRACTION LINE
Rod Coogan explains how to make a useful extraction line for kayaking. Click here to view the full article.

TRANSIT THROUGH THE PORT OF FREMANTLE
The club appreciates the efforts of Roger Lloyd for giving us an answer from Fremantle Ports on transit of kayaks through the Fremantle Port. There is nothing in the department of Planning and Infrastructure WA Marine Act or port Authorities Regulations which prohibit small craft transiting port waters. There is a maximum speed of 8 knots in the harbour, and under the Port Authorities Regulations there is a 30 metre exclusion zone around all berths and ships at berth. We have a copy of this e-mail and are printing out copies for sea leaders to attach to their boat in the event of being challenged entry to the harbour.