Good people all...
Thanks for the well thought advice. While I do think of myself as a
reasonably competent yachtsman, I've thankfully never been near a
potentially life-threatening situation, so we'll certainly act on the
suggestion to do some practical sea safety/ survival training.

I learnt my coastal nav the hard way as a kid, finding the position of
almost every sandbank in Moreton Bay by intimate aquaintance before I
found out how to miss them... I'd vaguely thought I'd fiddle 'round
with celestial nav once we were away, but I guess there's always the
possibility that may be too late even very early in the show, so I'll do
something there, too. One of the factors in our decision to retire to
cruising has been the advent of GPS navigation, I'll have to make sure I
don't start taking it for granted...

I'm getting in early with my basic planning as the first major ocean
passage isn't planned until about 2011, but once we go I don't
anticipate coming back for a good many years. We're on the coast in SEQ
at the moment and will be doing a lot of coastal cruising 'til the big
day, but we want to make sure we've got all the bases covered before we
get too far & have to rethink something major.

Thanks again.

John Moores