One thing I have noticed over the years amongst dinghy club anglers is a growing and widespread willingness, possibly even desire, to fish alone. This can either be one man in a boat heading out to fish a mark in the company of like minded club mates or expecting to find others there, or it can be a single boat going out to fish with its owner and a crew on board when there are no other boats about. Many clubs operate a two boat rule even if both eventually go their separate ways after launching. Not only does that provide a guaranteed pair of ears listening out for you on the VHF, it also provides another driver to bring a second towing vehicle to help should the first one get stuck at low water with a making tide. Some clubs however also allow single boat launches, and private individuals are free to launch and fish completely on their own.

The club of which I am a member allows a single boat launch, though to comply with the rule of always having at least two tractors operational during a launch, there must be two people in the boat, and both must be approved tractor drivers. However, to qualify for a single boat launch, quite sensibly, club rules stipulate that very stringent safety rules be enforced which means carrying a very comprehensive assortment of safety equipment. All the obvious stuff is there such as spare anchor and warp, life jackets for all on board, flares and compass. At the other end of the scale, emergency steering, man over board recovery equipment, alternative propulsion equipment (auxiliary outboard or oars), spare VHF & emergency aerial, emergency grab bag and emergency rations are also required. Many of the items listed are what any sensible sailor would carry any way. However, some arguably are perhaps a little OTT. Oars for example won’t make much headway on a Warrior 165 which has no rowlocks in a strong tide or offshore breeze.

Whatever the interpretation put on 'going it alone', handling skills and on board safety take on a whole new importance. Personally, I do not like to fish alone on board, even with other boats around. For starters, I don’t particularly like just my own company. I treat my fishing as a social event rather than an escape; but each to his own. There are practical difficulties too. Open beach launching and retrieving is particularly difficult when you are completely on your own. After all, you can’t be in two places at once holding the boat and taking the trailer back up the beach. One way around this is to stick the anchor into the sand leaving the boat temporarily. But on an ebbing tide it may well be grounded when you get back. Getting the anchor in at sea is never as easy without someone else on the controls. Then there is the fishing. Fish such as tope are a two man job. And when you have caught a good fish, particularly one that is going to be released, it is nice to have someone else on board to share the moment with or operate the camera.

However, the primary concern has to be personal safety. A single person out in a boat when no one else has launched is about as risky as it gets. Even in company, small boat fishing is not without its element of risk. An example I often quote is of a lumpy winters morning along the Fylde coast when several dinghies that had launched together anchored up as a group just of Cleveleys to fish for cod. One chap somehow managed to get his anchor rope wrapped around the leg of the outboard. When the rope tightened, the boat came to rest stern into the swell and was quickly swamped. Despite being surrounded by friends in other dinghies and shouting for assistance both on and off the radio, none of the other boats were aware of what was happening. Had it not been for a nearby charter skipper picking up the distress call, like the boat, those in it would also have been lost. So there isn’t always safety in numbers. It really can be down to you to looking after yourself.

Whether there was a crew man on board that day or not, the outcome would probably not have been any different. But in many other situations it could help. The problem with having a crewman, even a regular crewman, is that unless you deliberately set out to make him as competent as you, he will always be just another person in the boat. He will have his jobs and you will have yours. What really needs to happen is that you both become inter-changeable. Show him where all the safety gear is and how to use it. Let him operate the boat and all the electronics, because one day he might have to. A bit of fish slime or discarded bait on the deck in a lumpy sea could easily result in one of you going overboard. Another scenario is sudden illness. Either way, there is no time to waste. It’s a bit late to be shouting out instructions from the water to someone who is panicking and clueless in the boat.

Unless you’ve tried it for yourself, most people simply do not appreciate how difficult it can be to get back into a boat when you are floating around in the water. Without a step on the transom, many would find it impossible on their own, and would struggle even with someone offering assistance. And if I am honest, wearing an inflated life jacket makes it even worse which I appreciate does not send out a particularly good message, but its fact. I know because I have tried it. And that was in perfect sea conditions wearing only swimming trunks. Imagine going over the side in bad conditions in winter wearing loads of water logged clothing, or even worse chest waders and no life jacket from an anchored boat. The boat stays where it is while you get washed down tide by the current. Your chances of battling the tide dressed like that are minimal, and even if you can, you then have to get back into the boat. I have done life jacket training in a pool wearing chest waders and found them fine while you are in the water. It’s when you have to drag the weight of water they contain back into the boat with you that the problems start.

If you are fishing entirely alone when this happens you are a goner. If you are fishing with a friend, providing he/she knows what to do then you are in with a chance. In an emergency, forget the cost of the anchor and cut the rope. But be aware that if you are using a lazy line, depending on how it’s fixed, unless the rope is cut forward of the connection point, the boat may not drift free and the rope might then be out of reach. Speed is of the essence. Fire the engine up and position the boat a little way down tide of the man in the water. Motoring up to a person can be both worrying and dangerous. When you are down there in the water you suddenly realise how big, or more to the point how tall the boat is. You feel as if it will be impossible ever to get back on board. Then there is the danger of damage by the prop. Better to throw a rope to that person and pull him down tide to the stern of the boat. He will have more chance of scrambling back into the splash well than climbing over the gunnels. The RYA suggest using the leg of the outboard (power switched off obviously) then tilting it upwards to lift him clear of the water.

When you are fishing entirely alone, non of the above is applicable. My advice therefore would be to attach a safety lanyard to yourself, or as lone offshore sailors do, have a long rope in the water trailing from the stern. The difference between sailors and anglers is that at some stage we will fire up the outboard. So you must remember to retrieve the rope first or you could end up stranded due to a fouled prop. Lone anglers would be wise to ensure that it is possible to pull themselves from the water into the splash well by fitting a step and grab handles in appropriate positions. It is also good policy to complete a CG66 form putting all your details on the coastguard computer. Then if you shout a mayday the coastguard can look up all the helpful extra information you might not have time to tell him. Also use the coastguard to log your proposed day. Tell him where you are going and your ETA back on shore, and be sure to cancel at the end of the trip.

One obvious pitfall to all of this is that if you slip and end up in the drink when fishing alone, you won’t have been able to use a fixed radio set to summon help. But you can if you have a hand held VHF in a water tight jacket in your pocket. Failing that, get a watertight container for your mobile phone. The coastguard service understandably does not like the use of a mobile phone in place of VHF, simply because with a VHF, when you are in difficulty lots of people can hear at the same time. With a phone it is one to one. This said, there are numerous recorded incidents (not all at sea) where mobile phones have quite literally saved lives. So if it is there as a backup to the VHF all well and good. But really you shouldn’t get into such dire situations in the first place. Non of us can predict the weather or when an outboard motor is going to let us down. But fishing entirely alone from a small boat is an option some of us will choose to make. If that is your preference, plan for all potential consequences.