The kit and the radio doctor

This module is theory preparation only. First aid is a hands-on skill: do an accredited practical course, and always follow the most current official resuscitation guidance — protocols are reviewed and updated over time. Reviewed against Resuscitation Council UK 2021 Guidelines and NHS guidance, June 2026.

A coastal boat’s kit is built around what the sea actually serves: plenty of wound dressings and bandages (the big ones — kitchen injuries bleed generously), burn dressings or gel, seasickness medication in more than one form, painkillers, sunscreen and after-sun, tweezers and gloves, scissors that can cut clothing, a foil blanket or two, and personal prescription medicines for every crew member with spares. Offshore, the kit grows with the distance from help — and ONLY in step with the training to use it; carrying instruments you cannot use is weight, not safety.

Stow it where the off-watch can find it half-asleep, marked, dry, and audited each season: medicines expire, dressings wander off into fingers-cut-on-Tuesday attrition. Put a waterproof first-aid quick-reference in the lid — the boat’s most-read book in an emergency — and a pencil log of anything given: WHAT, WHEN, HOW MUCH travels with the casualty.

Then remember the kit’s biggest item is not in the box: PAN-PAN MEDICO from the radio course connects the cockpit to a doctor, and turns your dressing-and-reassurance into supervised care. Describe honestly, write down the advice, report changes. Helicopter or lifeboat evacuation is the doctor-and-Coastguard call to make WITH you — the skipper’s job is to ask early enough that the option still exists in daylight.