The Sydney Harbour Friday Twilight Inquiry Panel recommended that each skipper/boat captain/yacht owner to download the Emergency Plus App on their phone prior to the commencement of the sailing season.

The Panel understood that the crew on both yachts had difficulty explaining to Triple Zero (000) their exact location on Sydney Harbour and were asked to download an App so that they could provide the coordinates of their location to Triple Zero (000). 

There were other apps recommended in the report, such as What3Words or the given state or territory maritime regulator’s own app.

However, for national purposes, Australian Sailing recommends Emergency Plus (also presented as Emergency+) because of its universal nature. Emergency Plus is a free app developed by Australia’s emergency services and their Government and industry partners. The app uses GPS functionality built into smart phones to help a Triple Zero (000) caller provide critical location details required to mobilise emergency services.

The Emergency Plus app is available on the App Store and on Google Play.

If the emergency services know where you are, it might save someone’s life. 

For the Emergency Plus app, click here.
Major incident reports are here.

By Glen Stanaway