Thanks for reply, Marc, I waited patiently for a response, and had given up a while ago.
Our government is getting quite strict on any pleasure craft from a licensing aspect, as well as skipper competency for ANY boat over 3metres going offshore, we have to have so much safety gear the boat would sink. Unless we are in an organised event, but then the onus is on the organiser to provide rescue boats & be responsible for the safety of the competitors. Quite ironic that an Optimist sailor is exempt from all this stupid legislation becuase his boat is too SMALL !! We have to carry an anchor, 30m of line, and a whole lot of other crap that you would never be able to use in an emergency situation. I`m all for safety gear like life-jackets, flares, etc, but feel that having a VHF radio, cell-phone and liferaft are a bit extreme on a 16ft cat. The radio & cell-phone are sensible to have, I`d have to agree, but should be optional for day-sailing in a fairly protected bay with an on-shore wind, where the worst that can happen is being blown ashore. Your boat would get wrecked in the surf, but you`d survive the ordeal (If the great whites don`t get`ya, but then, what use is a cell-phone in that situation? )

Cheers
Steve