Charlotte McGlinchey and her husband Dean run the Thames RIB Experience, which offers visitors to London the chance to sail serenely up the Thames in a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat). Serenely, that is, until you get east of St. Saviours Dock, where the 12 knot speed limit goes out of the window for anyone who has been issued with a Certificate of Compliance, as the company has. With the River Thames widening considerably at this point, the company’s three RIBs – Ultimate, Adrenalin and Experience – are cranked up to around the 30 knot mark, which makes for a thrilling, if somewhat bumpy, ride. Experience, in fact, is exactly the right word.

This is all good and well and for Charlotte and Dean, and in fact, something of a dream come true. They launched the company in July 2008 after the idea came to them after taking a ride on a RIB during a visit to the Greek island of Paxos a year earlier.

But it’s not the most forgiving environment in which to use a mobile phone, and as Charlotte explained to Mobile Marketing, sometimes in her job, she needs to do just that.

“When were out on the river, our first point of contact with the other boats is the VHF radio, but if someone in the office on shore needs to get a message to one of the crew on the boat, which probably happens around five times a day, the only option is to call their mobile or send them a text.”

Up until recently, the Thames RIB drivers were using iPhones in waterproof cases. But, says Charlotte, “we only get these out when we really have to, because we’re not sure how much we trust the cases to be truly waterproof.”

A few weeks ago, the company took delivery of a number of Sony Xperia Z water-resistant handsets, running on one of O2’s small business tariffs. Sony claims the Xperia Z can be immersed in water for up to 30 minutes. It’s been toughened up in other ways too. The frame is made from glass fibre polyamide, which is used as a metal substitute in automobile parts, and the handset also boasts a tempered glass screen.

Sounds good on paper, how about in practice? Charlotte rigged up one of the phones on the helm of one of the boats for a full weekend towards the end of March, subjecting it to the worst that the British weather could throw at it. On the weekend in question, that included rain, snow, and of course, a good deal of spray being thrown up, as the boat fizzed through the choppy waters of the Thames. The verdict?

“It was absolutely fine,” says Charlotte. “Apart from the wet, it was very, very cold, but it was still working fine at the end of two full days of some of the worst weather weve had this winter. It’s a major boost to our business to know our crew have an excellent smartphone that will carry on working normally, whatever the weather might throw at it.”