Safety & Emergency Preparations
Since we were planning to cross multiple oceans we wanted to make sure we were well prepared for any eventuality. We used the WCC safety equipment guidelines since we were doing the ARC. They have a very useful checklist to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything. I used the checklist for my pacific crossing in 2011 as well. Some of the equipment included:
- Seasafe Prolight 6 person liferaft
- Grab bag with Sat phone
- OceanSignal EPIRB PRO
- Lifebouy with Inflatable Danbouy
- Rescue Sling & Rescue Line
- Assorted Flares
- Spinlock Deckvest 6D lifejackets
- Personal MOB1 AIS for all lifejackets
- Wichard Jacklines
- Bolt croppers
- Assorted thru-hull bungs
- Searchlight
- Radar Reflector
- Mini Scuba gear
- etc
Safety & Emergency Handbook
Apart from all the safety equipment I also created a Safety and Emergency Handbook that the crew could easily refer to in an emergency with location charts for safety equipment and thruhulls.
First Aid and Medicine List
To prepare for our trip, Jessy and I both went on the RYA first course which was a valuable refresher for me. We have two first aid kits, one for the boat and another in the grab bag. Jessy spent a lot of time researching which medicines & equipment to carry. This is our current list, but we keep adding more as we go along 😉
| Navasana Medicine List | |||
| Ailment/Aim | Medicine | Quantity | Expiry date |
| Seasickness | Scopoderm 1.5 mg | 4 packages x 2 patches | 1-9-2023 and 10/2023 |
| Seasickness | Stugeron 25 mg | 1 package x 200 tablets | 06/2024 |
| Seasickness | Cinnarazine | 1 package x 10 tablets | 1-11-2022 – |
| Seasickness | Wristbands | 2 older ones en 2 new ones | – |
| Seasickness | Ginger tablets | 1 package x 20 tablets | 03/2025 |
| Laxative | Macrogol 4000 | 1 package x 20 sachets | 03/2024 |
| Snoring | Nasal strips | 1 package x 100 strips | – |
| Snoring | Fluticason-propionaat 50 mcg | 1 nose spray | 06/2024 |
| Pain | Ibuprofen 200 mg | 2 package x 20 tablets | 07/2024 and 02/2023 |
| Pain | Tramadol 50 mg | 1 package x 30 tablets | 11/2025 |
| Pain/heart attack | Aspirin 500 mg | 1 package x 20 tablets | 11/2024 |
| Pain | Paracetamol | 1 package x 20 tablets and 1 package x 50 tablets and 1 package x 50 tablets (30 left) and 1 package x 20 tablets | 04/2025 and 07/2024 and 02/2025 and 08/2026 |
| Pain/skin numbing | Lidocaine vaselinecream | 1 tube | 01/2025 |
| Pain/fever | Antigrippine 250 mg paracetamol, 25 mg coffeine, 25 mg vit C | 2 packages x 40 tablets | 1-12-2022 – probably not necessary to replace |
| Fever | Tylenol Flu | 1 x 8 tablets | 08/2023 |
| Blocked nose | Sea salt nose spray | 1 | 07/2025 |
| Blocked nose | nose spray Xylometazonline 1mg/ml | 1 spray | 07/2025 |
| Fungus | Lamisil once + Lamisil | 2 tubes in total | 1-9-2024 (Lamisil once), 01/2025 (Lamisil) |
| Fungus | Miconazolnitraat 20 mg/g | 1 tube | 02/2024 |
| Malaria | Ativaquon/Proguanil 250/100mg | 1 package x 12 tablets | 1-8-2022 – probably not necessary until later |
| Allergies | Cetirizine 10 mg | 1 package x 7 tablets + 1 package x 21 tablets | 1-5-2023 (small package), 09/2026 (bigger package) |
| Allergies | Loratadine 10 mg | 1 package x 7 tablets | 11/2025 |
| Allergies (eyes) | Eye drops | 1 unit | 11/2024 |
| Cold/flu | VapoRub | 1 unit | 12/2023 |
| Diarrhoea | Loperamide 2mg | 1 package x 10 capsules + 1 package x 12 tablets | 5/2024 and 12/2023 |
| Diarrhoea/food poisoning | Carbophos | 1 package with 40 tablets | 05/2026 |
| Throat ache | Strepsils | 1 package x 24 tablets | 1-12-2022 – buy in Gran Canaria |
| Throat ache | Trachitol | 1 package x 30 tablets | 01/2025 |
| Dry cough | Oxomemazine | 1 bottle | 10/2023 |
| Cough | Natterman tablets | 1 package x 20 tablets | 9/2023 |
| Sleep | Pillow spray | 1 bottle | – |
| Antibiotics (Pneumonia/tonsillitis/ear infection) | Azitromycine 250 mg | 1 package x 6 tablets | 10/2024 |
| Antibiotics (UTI) | Nitrofurantoine 1 package with 50 mg and one package with 100 mg tablets | 1 package x 20 capsules (50 mg) and 1 package x 14 capsules (100mg) | 1-9-2025 (50 mg package) and 05/2023 (100 mg package) |
| Antibiotics (ears, lungs, UTI) | Amoxicillin/Clavulanic acid 500mg/125 mg | 1 package x 20 tablets | 04/2024 |
| Antibiotics (drops for serious eye infections) | Sofradex | xx | Ordered online on 11-10-2022 at moms’ place |
| UTI | Cranberry & D-mannose | 2 packages x 100 capsules | 12/2024 |
| General health/cold | Echinaforce | 1 package x 80 tablets | 04/2024 |
| Mosquito | After bite and Apaisyl after bite | 2 | 12 months after opening (Afterbite) and 05/2024 (Apaisyl) |
| Mosquito | 40% deet | Several bottles | 06/2027 and 11/2026 |
| Thrush/yeast infections | Fluconazol 200 mg and 150 mg | 1 package x 7 capsules (200mg) and 1 package x x 6 capsules (150mg) | 1-8-2022 (200 mg package) and 06/2024 (150 mg pacahe) |
| Dental care | Emergency filling | 1 package | 05-2023 |
| Anaphalactic shock | EpiPen | 2 EpiPens and 1 Jext | 2x 04/2024 (EpiPens) and 1x 02/2024 (Jext) |
| Cold sore | l-lysine | 2 jars x 60 tablets | 06/2025 |
| Cold sore | Zinc cream | 1 tube | 07/2025 |
| Plasters | Corn (likdoorn) plasters | 1 package x 6 plasters | 05-2025 |
| Plasters | Waterproof plasters | 1 package x 20 plasters | 04/2027 |
| Plasters | Plasters blister | 1 package x 2 plasters | 03/2027 |
| Plasters | Adhesive wound closure strips | 1 package of 50 packs of 5 strips | 04/2026 |
| Plasters | Waterproof plasters | 1 package of 100 plasters in different sizes | 01-07-2026 |
| Plasters | Hydrocolloid plasters for deroofed blisters/ wounds | 1 package with 10 plasters in 4 sizes | 01-07-2024 |
| Bandage | Velpeau Nyl 7cmx4m + 2x 5cmx4m | 3 package in total | 09/2016 and 10/2026 |
| Bandage | Velpeau crepe cotton washable | 2 package | 31-01-2027 |
| Bandage | Compressive bandage 2 sizes | 4 packages in total | 04/2026 (small ones), 01-06-2025 (large ones) |
| Bandage fixation | Hydrofilm roll | 1 package | 01-12-2026 |
| Broken leg/arm | Splint | 1 | – |
| Injured finger | Finger splint | 1 | – |
| Wounds | Paraffine compress | 1 package, 10 compresses | 01-05-2026 |
| Wounds | Disposable skin stapler | 1 | 01-10-2026 |
| Wounds | Stapler remover | 1 | 01-09-2026 |
| Wounds | Leukosan skin glue for incisions/cuts | 1 | 18-08-2023 |
| Vitals | Automatic blood pressure monitor | 1 | – |
| Vitals | Digital thermometers | 2 | – |
| Vitals | Stethoscope | 1 | – |
| Vitals | Pulse Oximeter (2 AAA batteries) | 1 | – |
| Surgical tape | Tape 3m | 1 package | 25-11-2024 |
| Injured neck | Neck brace | 1 | – |
| Disinfecting | Antiviral/antibacterial hand gel | 2 100 ML bottles | 09/2025 |
| Disinfecting | Antibacterial wipes | 200 wipes | – |
| Disinfecting | Bottle of pure alcohol | 1 bottle | – |
| Disinfecting | Betadine 10% | 2 bottles | 1-1-2024 (Betadine) and 06/2025 (Povidona Iodada) |
| Dry eyes | Lubricating eye drops | 20 single doses | 09/2023 |
| Eye exposure to hazardous materials | Emergency eye wash with sodium chloride | 1 dose | – |
| Dry, cracked skin | Sterilized vaseline | 1 tube | 11/2026 |
| Lice | Lice treatment | 1 flask | 03/2022 |
| Virus protection | FFP2 face masks black | 30 | – |
Water
The human body won’t last long without water, we need about 3 litres of water per person a day. So when crossing an ocean it was critical we had water under any eventuality. We had multiple backups:
- First we have a 105L 12v water maker which fills one of our 300L tanks. We run this nearly everyday on an ocean crossing to keep it topped up.
- We also keep the second 300L tank completely separate with chlorinated water. So in case the watermaker fails or the tank get contaminated we have 300L.
- We have about 100L in 4 jerry cans and bottles in the grab bag
- We have a rain catching system to fill the jerry cans from rain water falling on the roof
- Finally we have a QuenchSea emergency watermaker that can produce 2 liters an hour.
Lastly for every single critical system on the boat we have a backup, e.g for the autopilot we had a spare drive and rudder sensor installed. More details here: Outfitting Navasana for ocean cruising
We also carry an extensive list of spares to deal with most emergencies. More details here: Spares for long distance cruising/circumnavigation
Thanks for these blog posts Chet, very useful!!
Love it, but very curious to hear more on the rain catchment system to fill jerry cans… Now we are in the Caribbean I’m starting to think it might make sense to setup