The world-leading app has been designed to improve safety at sea and potentially cut vital minutes off the time taken to pinpoint a casualty’s location. It can monitor the trips you make and alerts a nominated emergency contact should you fail to arrive on time or close the trip down. So if you’re heading out for a quick blast on your own or with friends, downloading the app could prove to be a life-saver should the worst happen and you need assistance. Using iPhone and Android smartphone technology, this free tracking and alerting system is easily accessible and is ideal for everyone who enjoys being on the water.
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Available to any UK resident, it already has over 13,000 users and is an accessible and simple-to-use way of providing information to HM Coastguard that will help with search and rescue. It even has a direct 999 connection in the event of distress that transmits your location at the same time.
“When we receive an emergency call we need a huge amount of information fast. This app helps us access your details, so that you can get a swifter response with the right resources,” says the MCA’s Director of Maritime
Operations & HM Coastguard, Richard Parkes.
You can download the app from the Apple app store or Google Play. Once downloaded, you can run unlimited free trips using the app. In addition to the Sail Plan mode, the app has a tracking option called Track Only mode, which enables windsurfers to analyse their speed and performance on the water. For customers who do not wish to use the mobile app, there is an option to register their details online at https://safetrx.rya.org.uk/login.html
The app can be used free of charge in UK territorial waters and is used by many other search and rescue organisations across the globe.
HM Coastguard adopts RYA SafeTrx as new safety ID scheme
More recently, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) revealed that the RYA SafeTrx app will be used as HM Coastguard’s new official voluntary safety identification scheme,
superseding the CG66 scheme. SafeTrx combines a more technologically cutting-edge version of the CG66 database function with additional lifesaving technologies so that you can make a 999 call to the Coastguard at the touch of a button.
“RYA SafeTrx uses real-time advanced technology. CG66 was just a database, but the new app allows users to do so much more, including summoning the Coastguard – which could save lives. The precise geolocation feature for example, allows the Coastguard to know where the caller is, an important consideration when the person in distress is unsure of where they are,
disoriented, injured or unfamiliar with the area.
We have already contacted CG66 users to tell them about the switchover to RYA SafeTrx. The handover is now well underway and since Wednesday 11 July people have been redirected from GOV.UK’s CG66 page to the RYA SafeTrx website. Information on CG66 will still be accessible to the Coastguard, but it will no longer be accepting new information. I’d like to take this opportunity to remind all boaters that you must continue to use emergency alerting equipment appropriate to your sport. RYA SafeTrx complements this equipment, but is not designed to be used instead of it,” explains Richard Parkes.
About SafeTrx
SafeTrx is a Microsoft Azure based solution that connects rescue operations with an easily downloadable phone app. It operates by connecting the app to the Coastguard via a highly secure web-based monitoring console that displays positional information on SafeTrx apps in their area. If a boater is overdue, the SafeTrx system triggers an alarm process, alerting rescue staff. And if the boater runs into rough water, harsh weather, or another dangerous situation, they need only press a button on the app to alert the Coastguard. That contact gives the rescue coordinators the craft’s precise location and coordinates for rescue – in a scenario where every minute counts. Family and friends onshore or at sea can also track the position of the SafeTrx-equipped boater and will also get messages pushed to their phones if the SafeTrx boater is running overdue or when the battery of the phone is running low. Download the app today from the Apple app store or Google Play.