MARITIME AND
COASTGUARD AGENCY News Release (158 - 09) issued by COI News
Distribution Service on 20 May 2009
Double Olympic
sailing gold medallist Shirley Robertson is helping the Maritime
and Coastguard Agency to save lives this summer by presenting two
new sailing safety video podcasts for their website.
Shirley Robertson is one of the few British female athletes to
have won gold medals at consecutive Olympic Games. After success
in 2000 at the Millennium Olympic Games in Sydney, Shirley turned
her attentions to the new Yngling class three-person boat, and in
2004 she was rewarded with her second Gold Medal at the Athens Olympics.
With the summer sailing season getting underway, the Maritime and
Coastguard Agency want to help leisure sailors stay safe this
year. Her Majesty's Coastguard coordinate up to 3,000
leisure boat incidents per year and sadly 17 sailors lost their
lives in 2008.
The new films cover essential topics including preparing the boat
before you go, safety afloat, lifejackets, navigation,
communications and training. See the films at http://www.mcapodcasts.co.uk
Shirley says,
"Safety at sea and good training should be the foundation
for any fun day out on the water. Sailing is a fantastic sport
and I hope that this film helps to get the safety message out to
everyone planning to go afloat this summer."
Ciaran Rogers from UKSA at Cowes on the Isle Of Wight said,
"UKSA is keen to support this initiative, and it was great
to be involved.
Safety at sea training is key to everyone enjoying their time on
the water and these online videos are a packed full of top tips
from on the water pro's."
Notes to Editors:
If you have an on line offering for the leisure sailing market we
would be grateful if you can place a link to our sailing safety
podcast onto your web site or include a link in any e mail
communications with your subscribers. http://www.mcapodcasts.co.uk
Web banner to link to our pod cast site can be provided if
you contact us with required dimensions.
We ask everyone going afloat to take a few minutes to view our
video podcasts on our website. Video enables us to show how to
keep safe whilst out on the water in a very practical way as
demonstrated by real people doing real things. We have used video
podcasts to highlight a range of important safety messages - see
for yourself at http://www.mcapodcasts.co.uk
The MCA is a partner in the Sea Vision UK campaign to raise
awareness and understanding of the sea and maritime activities.
Sea Vision promotes the importance and economic value of the
sector and works to highlight the exciting range of activities and
career opportunities available to young people within the UK
growing maritime sector http://www.seavisionuk.org
For further information please contact
Maritime and
Coastguard Agency Press Office, on:
(023) 8032 9401
Press releases and further information about the Agency is
available on the Web at http://www.mcga.gov.uk