Boaters beware: RYA SafeTrx vessel tracking safety app will soon close

RYA SafeTrx – the vessel tracking, safety and communications platform – is to be discontinued at the end of this month, from 31 December, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has announced.

The decision to close RYA SafeTrx has been made by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), in discussion with HM Coastguard, ‘due to advances in technology since the app’s inception’.

HM Coastguard’s search and rescue services remain fully operational, alongside all other safety measures, equipment and resources.

Boaters are advised to plan ahead and know what to do if there’s an emergency at sea:

• To call for help when needed, please make sure you have a reliable means of communication onboard, such as a VHF or DSC radio, a personal locator beacon (PLB), or mobile phone in a waterproof pouch.
• Tell someone at home where you are going and when you expect to get back. If you are late returning, they can raise the alarm by calling 999 and asking for the Coastguard.
• While on the water always wear a personal floatation device like a lifejacket, and regularly check onboard and personal equipment.

The RYA and HM Coastguard are working together to ensure that the data originally provided to RYA SafeTrx will be transferred to a secure database within HM Coastguard.

Users who do not want their data to be transferred to HM Coastguard are asked to delete their account prior to the service closing on 31 December 2025.

Thereafter, you can update or remove your details at any time by emailing safetrxdata@mcga.gov.uk

RYA SafeTrx was adopted as HM Coastguard’s official voluntary safety identification scheme in July 2018. Credit: RYA

Data ‘transferred to HM Coastguard’

Mel Hide, director of external affairs for the RYA, the national governing body for sailing and boating that represents a community of over 100,000 members, 1,500 clubs and class associations and 2,000 recognised training centres, said: “We appreciate that the news that the tracking side of RYA SafeTrx will no longer be provided will be disappointing for active users of the app.

“However, we are pleased that ownership and vessel data held within RYA SafeTrx will be transferred to HM Coastguard and can continue to be referenced in an emergency.”

Assistant Chief Coastguard Matt Leat said: “While we are sorry to see RYA SafeTrx come to an end, we want to reassure all water users that this change will not affect HM Coastguard’s ability to respond to emergencies and rescue those in distress.

“Your safety remains our top priority. To ensure you can call for help when needed, please make sure you carry appropriate safety equipment, such as lifejackets, and have reliable means of communication, such as a VHF radio or mobile phone in a waterproof pouch.”

‘A great loss’

Westerly Konsort skipper Gary O’Grady. Credit: George Arnison from the Jester Helm

Westerly owner Gary O’Grady described the loss of the RYA SafeTrx app as ‘a great shame’.

Gary said: “I own two boats, a UK-registered Westerly Konsort for local sailing and a Tradewind 35 for offshore sailing (because I took my Konsort to the Caribbean and vowed never to do that again!)

“I use SafeTrx on the Konsort but the Irish Maritime Radio Licence System (IMRAD system on the Tradewind, because the Tradewind is Irish registered.

“The IMRAD system is much simpler without so many menu options, literally you say something about your trip and give a start and end date. To be honest that’s all you need. I like the SafeTrx system but it is a bit cumbersome.”

He added: “I do hope something is replacing it, otherwise there are serious safety concerns.

“I’ve had cause to use both services beyond the reporting function. I was four days at sea and coming in to Milford Haven a day later than planned. I made a Sat-phone call to the Milford Haven Coastguard to say that my arrival would be later than advised on SafeTrx and in very quick time, he pulled up my trip details from the app and made a note on the file. He was very grateful for the call.

“With IMRAD earlier this year, I was on a solo sail from Antigua to Horta and accidentally set off my PLB. Before I could call in to Dublin to say it was a false alarm they were on the phone to my wife, horrifying her with the news that they had an emergency alarm trigger on my vessel.

“The great thing with these apps is that the information of the vessel and crew at sea are in the hands of the MRCCs immediately with no phone calls and research calls to be made about anything. Time in an emergency is the critical factor.

“This is a very serious regressive step in safety.”

Losing RYA SafeTrx will ‘remove a layer of confidence’ says boat owner Gilbert Park

Seasoned boat owner and PBO contributor Gilbert Park said: “It will be a big loss.

“I use RYA SafeTrx, I recommend it, although I’ve never had to use it in anger.

“Losing it will remove a layer of confidence. It’s the lack of registration of the boat with the coastguard that concerns me.

“I’m not too fussed about the lack of passage planning type stuff, because I always have a shore contact and the boat is equipped with all sorts of communication equipment, even my lifejacket is now!

“Quite often our shore contact won’t know anything about the boat at all, except for the Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI), they won’t know what colour antifoul the boat has or what equipment we have on board.

“At the moment, if I’m going across to France or long distance, I usually file a passage plan with the Coastguard over the radio and I’ll say ‘see RYA SafeTrx for a photo of the boat and all its details.’

“If they’re planning to introduce an alternative, that could be good, but to just not bother would be dangerous, or a step backwards, I think.”

Ken Fowler, who has sailed more than 2,200 miles, raising over £70,000 for cancer charities, has been a ‘regular user of RYA SafeTrx’. Credit: Giles Fletcher Photography

RS Aero dinghy adventure sailor Ken Fowler told PBO he is a ‘regular user of RYA SafeTrx app’. He said: “Its checklists really make you think about your trip and your preparation.”

A blow for event organisers

Westerly Owners’ Association vice commodore Bob Walker told PBO: “It’s a bit of a shock. As an event organiser, we promote RYA SafeTrx quite a lot.

“We have a large summer cruise planned for 2026 with over 100 entries and in order to provide some level of safety we advise participants to register their details with SafeTrx.

“We’re now talking to the team behind the SailTies App, as they offer something very similar.

“The predecessor of SafeTrx was to call up on Channel 16 on VHF radio but so many people were doing that, it was clear the Coastguard prefered people to use SafeTrx and keep Ch. 16 clear.

“It fulfilled that gap and had potential in my opinion.”

Find detailed coastal safety advice on the HM Coastguard website or the RYA Water Safety Hub.

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