Crew Overboard – Steps for Rescue

  

If the worst happens and a crew member goes overboard, what are you going to do? 

Best to have practiced in advance to get them on board. That’s exactly what we did with Bernard Mitchell last week while we were training with him.

And practicing in advance gives two great learning outcomes – one is how to actually do it. The other is just how hard it is to get the boat back to the right place by the crew in the water, to hold the boat steady nearby and to get a wet and exhausted person back on board.

 

Here are the ‘Crew Overboard – Steps for Crew Rescue‘ notes that the Can Opener recorded – undiluted wisdom straight from the snout of the awesome teaching genius that is Bernard:

 Crew Overboard  

Steps for Crew Rescue –  

How to Get ‘Em Back on Board

1. notice
2. shout
3. point – one person continuously pointing at crew in water
4. stop – heave-to 
5. toss Dan buoy over
6. check for lines overboard
7. start engine
8. press MOB button on VHF/GPS to send distress signal
9. sailing/reaching backwards and forwards in front of  crew in water (no more than 75 yards away) while equipment to pick them is readied (on the side you are going pick them up on)
10. approach them at 40-60 degree angle – don’t gybe, always tack
11. lasso crew and attach them, squished up against side of boat
12. then use hoisting equipment to get them on board

‘TO DO’: When your boat is at its berth, practice using your hoisting equipment to lift various team members from a prone position on the dock… up into the boat.

The more we practice in advance, the better prepared we’ll be. We have a ‘skills & drills’ list for the team – this is top of the list.

Anything else we should add to the ‘Steps for Crew Rescue’ list? How often have you practiced Crew Overboard procedure this season? We know we haven’t practiced nearly enough.

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Safety Walk – Newcomers On The Boat

The ‘Safety Walk’ – introducing newcomers to your boat

I like keeping the Can Opener safe. And all our friends and visitors to the boat safe too.

We’ve always moved from the stern to the bow as we walked newcomers through the boat and introduced them to the safety and emergency items aboard in that order. It’s an okay method, but the Can Opener and I realised it still leaves room for some little thing to be forgotten. And that’s not okay.

So last night, I had the First Mate type up a formal and full list of things to show newcomers to the boat. Safety things. Those things you don’t really want to think about – but absolutely must. 

Best to think about them when everything is calm, organised and at the dock. And when everyone is fresh and focused.

In order to be super methodical, we ordered the Safety Walk topics under the following headings: fire, flood, famine, float and first aid.  

Here’s what we are going to show newcomers to the boat and in the following order:

 
Fire

• fire extinguisher locations 
• one by the galley
• one in each cabin and 
• an automatic one in the engine compartment (or if you do not have an automatic, then the extinguisher should be held nearby the engine compartment)
• fire blanket (near galley)
• smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
• bucket/s
• flares
• torch (flashlight) locations

 
Flood

• bilges
• bilge pumps
• auto 
• manual
• seacocks & bungs
• loo operation

  
Famine

• food location
• water location
• victual plan (when the food rations will be doled out)
• how to turn on the stove & propane safety

 
Float

• life jackets & tethers – how to put them on how to use them (hint: all the time. Research shows life jackets only work when they are worn!)
• jack lines
• life raft
• life ring
• danbuoy
• heaving lines
• paddles
• rescue sling
• Crew Overboard procedure

  
First Aid

• first aid kit – what’s in it, where to find it

Safety is our number one priority. All else follows from there. 

And having a list for the Safety Walk gives us something we can easily convert to a Safety Equipment Checklist. Something to refer to, to make sure on a regular basis that everything is up to date and in good order.

Any other suggestions for additions to our Safety Walk routine as we bring newcomers aboard the boat?  What else can we add? What has worked best for you?

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Life Jackets – Safety Gear Upgrades

Mustang Survival Deluxe Inflatable PFD with Harness

   
Safety is one thing you can’t cut corners on. You can never be too prepared. 

Knowing the Can Opener has strapped on his life jacket with safety harness gives both of us peace of mind. It’s better to focus on the task at hand rather than being distracted worrying about ‘what if’. And in a squall there’s no time to hesitate. 

So time to upgrade the First Mate’s safety equipment… 

What to look for in an offshore life jacket
A life jacket with safety harness might just be the most important piece of safety gear you own. 

The RYA recommends a good life jacket should include at least the following*:

• crotch straps to stop the lifejacket riding up over your head
• spray-hood to stop waves and spray entering your mouth
• lights, dye-markers and personal locator beacons to aid location
• harness D ring for harness attachment to stop you falling off in the first place 

and of course, you should also ensure: 

• there is freedom of movement
• the life jacket is appropriate for your weight
• it fits comfortably but snugly 

In the UK, there ‘are four main buoyancy levels: 50, 100, 150 and 275. In general terms, Level 50 is a buoyancy aid designed for when help is close at hand, whereas Level 150 is a general purpose lifejacket used for offshore cruising and motor boating’.*

When to wear it 
‘…wear a lifejacket or buoyancy aid unless you are sure you don’t need to.’* 

So what does that mean? 

Well if you can’t swim and/or are a child, it means you are wearing a life jacket from the moment before your feet touch the dock until they leave the dock after your return. 

If you can swim and you are coastal sailing and there’s no wind and the water looks like glass, maybe you could leave it off. But if the wind picks up, be safe, put it on. 

If you are offshore, put it on to leave the cockpit. If the wind picks up, wear it all the time. In other words, ‘wear a lifejacket or buoyancy aid unless you are sure you don’t need to’*. Better safe than sorry every time. 

Price Comparisons 
Upcoming post – Life Jackets: How Much Does Safety Cost? We’ll be price shopping on both sides of the pond – we’ll work out how to actually pick up the stuff later. 

What kind of life jacketdo you have? How’s it holding up? Would you buy this brand/model again? 

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener) 

* RYA.org.uk pages on ‘Safety Information, Buoyancy Aids and Life Jackets’

Safety Gear
Next: Life Jackets – How Much Does Safety Cost?
Previously: Foul Weather Gear – So How Much Does Safety Cost?

Wise Words from the Great Ones on Sailing Safety

Building Ocean Storm

‘We feel that yachtsmen have a deep moral responsibility to take care of themselves… There is no real reason for us to be at sea other than for pleasure or adventure. Unlike fishermen or merchant seamen, we are not providing food or supplies to other people…  So we have no right to put our faith in radios which call and ask commercial ship and aircraft to divert and search for us. We are asking them to risk their lives and waste their money so we can feel safer about pursuing our own pleasures.’

Cruising ‘is a sport and the object of that sport is self-sufficiency…your safety on a sailboat depends on you alone, using your skills and your training.’

–Lin and Larry Pardey, Self-Sufficient Sailor

Right. Okay. It doesn’t get clearer than that. Paws down, Pussycat Dolls video off, back to the studies…

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener) 

Quote of the Day
Next: De Re Non Disputandum Est
Previously: A Masterpiece

Why Get an RYA Yachtmaster Certification?

Naturally I, Captain Cat, have already got all the training I need to lounge behind our dodger, managing the Can Opener as he sails our yacht from England to infinity and beyond. But I am a cat. 

The Can Opener on the other hand, still needs to achieve his RYA Yachtmaster level and a few related certificates before I’ll let him loose on the high seas.

Why do I insist on so much training? Well, let’s see… Would anyone get in a car and drive it around the world saying, “We’ll just learn how to drive as we go…”? How about taking off in an airplane and figuring on “just picking up the details on flying on the way, how hard can it be…”? I thought not.

Boats may have steering wheels, but they are not cars. Buying a car does not automatically confer the knowledge of how drive it. Inconvenient but true – in the middle of the Atlantic there are no warm B&Bs to pull into to wait out storms with 60 knot winds and 20 foot high waves. 

You might make it through. You might not. You might endanger others who try to rescue you from a situation you could have been – but are not – prepared for.

Sailing is beautiful. It also comes with risks that rarely happen. Fortunately, there is much you can do to mitigate some very low frequency but extreme possible results.

  
Learn, train, provision, plan against the risks with as much knowledge and equipment as you can acquire. Then go sailing knowing that you have done everything you can in advance. The most painful and unfixable errors begin with “If only…”

 

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

How to Cruise
Next: Sailing Strength Training
Previously: Cruising Courses – Cost Survey for 3 Countries