Later on that dark and stormy night... (not really, the conditions are
benign)....

We're now at anchor in a designated anchorage, but just to be safe, we have
our anchor light on. We have a very secure holding, but to be doubly
certain, we're keeping an anchor watch.

Around midnight, the skipper, who is standing watch, notices a vessel
heading toward the boat, clearly out of control, weaving this way and that.
Despite his best efforts, he is unable to maneuver the sailboat away from
the oncoming vessel by using the engine, hauling in the anchor line or even
dropping the anchor. In fact, there's little time to do anything, and within
seconds, the oncoming vessel has struck the boat. The vessel is a small
sport fishing boat, whose operator suffered a stroke. (This was determined
after the fact of the collision of course.)

After the collision, the skipper assembles the passengers, has them don
their PFDs, distributes their weight as best as possible, and secures all
watertight doors, hatches, etc., and the Coast Guard is called using the
proper procedure words. They respond, and soon they arrive.

Fortunately, no one is killed, the injuries on both boats are relatively
minor, and the sport fishing skipper is airlifted to a hospital and will
recover, but there is considerable damage, perhaps several hundred thousand
dollars, that might even necessitate abandoning one or both boats.

Once again, they do a thorough inspection, and they now find all the
required postings, including the Emergency Check-off List (the skipper
created one and posted it in the last few hours).

Unfortunately, they've now found something else that is lacking aboard the
sailboat. The Coast Guard have these particular items and use them, but in
any case the skipper is cited for not having them. Name this item.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com