NoLL
After the keynote speech, the best attended seminars at the gam had to do with survival. The first was about life rafts, and the second was entitled "Offshore Survival Techniques." Somebody might say that the cruisers at the gam were all technogeeks judging by the interest. I think that a better interpretation was that they were all truly interested in safety, and that they were thirsty for hard information.
I went first to the life raft seminar. What did I learn? Wow. There is so much I don't know about my life raft. There is so much to think about before using it; things that I never gave much thought to before.
Before using the raft we need to learn to deploy it safely, how to get in and out, and what to put in the raft with us. We keep a ditch kit (a bag of important things to grab if we had to abandon ship). To show how inadequate that is, I learned at the seminar that the number one life threat in the raft if hypothermia; yet I had not thought to include any clothing in our ditch kit plans. Boy oh boy are we mentally unprepared for ditching.
Perhaps most important, I learned that my existing 6 person life raft might be useless. It sat in a canister on Tarwathie's deck since we bought the boat. There is a placard on the canister that says it was last inspected in 2001. It is a Switlick brand raft, and Switlick requires that the raft be inspected yearly at one of their inspection stations. Without inspection, and sitting in the canister, the raft deteriorates rapidly. It could fall to pieces if we ever tried to use it in an emergency.
That's a very big deal. The last time I checked in 2005, the inspection fee was $850. It's probably over $1000 today. To inspect it yearly for 10 years, costs as much as buying a new one.
We can't justify so much money and trouble to inspect the raft every year. I'd rather remove it from the boat, perhaps sell it on EBAY if it is worth anything.
When do you need a life raft? Anytime you're beyond swimming distance from land is one answer. In my book though, it is when you are doing an ocean crossing.
The big thing to remember is that a Westsail 32 is hard to sink. I know her so well now that I'm confident that I could locate any major leak within 15 minutes. It is also likely that I could slow or stop water coming in once I found the problem. We also have the dinghy as a kind of poor man's life raft in case we really need it.
Suppose we did sink in the Gulf Stream 200 miles from land. We have an EPIRB with GPS. Activating the EPRIB should bring a rescue within hours (unless something goes wrong and rescue never comes). We should be able to survive in the dinghy or just with our type 1 life jackets for two hours. The additional safety that a life raft brings would be to allow us to survive for days or weeks until rescued. Unless we were 5000 miles from the nearest land, I think the likelihood of us benefiting from that increment of safety is very small.
In the second survival seminar, the most memorable thing I learned was that most people who abandon ship do so needlessly -- their boats don't really sink after all. That's a very very very important thing to keep in mind.
If you think I'm nuts, feel free to comment or to email me.
I don't think you're nuts. Have you ever seen "The Perfect Storm"? The sailboat Satori was abandoned when its crew were "rescued" from her due to an inexperienced crew member sending a mayday to the Coast Guard against the skippers wishes. Once the coasties arrive they take offense if everyone on board doesn't want to join in so they took the skipper too. Satori was found the next day, I think, with only minor damage. BTW, she was a Westsail 32.
ReplyDeleteOne option is to outfit your dinghy as a liferaft as Lin and Larry Pardy do. They have an inflatable flotation collar that attaches to the gunwhales, a nylon shell that provides shelter to the front half of the boat and a lateen sailing rig so they can do more than just drift. Seems sensible to me.
Best,
Bob
Dick,
ReplyDeleteTo the second part of your blog, yes, many if not most abandoned sailboats probably survive.
To the first part, however, I've come to believe that a dinghy in big -- and I mean 30 feet or more -- seas is useless. At the same time, deploying a liferaft when you can't practice the maneuver in rough conditions is an act of faith -- blind faith.
So what are the options? The prior owner of our boat expressed a sentiment similar to yours. He said: "My boat is my liferaft."
There are things out there that can breach even a Westsail, however. And if they do, what is the fallback if you don't have a raft?
We carry two immersion suits (survival suits, Gumby suits)in addition to our raft. The survival suits, kept as close as possible to the companionway in mesh hammocks, deal with hypothremia if the need arises.
We also keep the raft (in a valise) in the cockpit under the dodger where it can be launched with the least amount of effort.
I happen to believe that a well-maintained life raft (Ours has to be reinspected every three years)is essential offshore.
I know of three men who, when their boat was capsized and dismasted, found their raft already inflated and tangled in the downed rigging. In cutting it free, they lost both the canopy and the ballast bags. They finally made it aboard and minutes later, their boat sank. An old EPIRB that had been attached to a hard dodger went with the dodger when a wave ripped it from the boat. But it activated and, miraculously, the Coast Guard arrived and the three men survived. There is much more to their story, but the point of it for me is this. Had they not had the life raft, they would never have been able to stay together and almost certainly would not have been found in the 70-FOOT SEAS. Just think about that.
Doug Campbell
True, one hears many stories of people abandoning a boat that is later found afloat. Another adage is 'don't abandon ship untill you have to step up to get into the life boat'. Maybe a slight exageration, but the point being, the "mother ship" is your first "lifeboat" and offers the best chance of survival while still afloat.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the Pardeys. A good sailing/rowing dinghy makes a better lifeboat than some rubber contraption in a box that may, or may not work.
I'ld feel much better having some control over my destiny in a sailing/rowing dinghy than to drift helplessly in a rubber boat hoping to be saved.
Maybe test your life raft before tossing it away though and let us know how it held up!
ReplyDeleteIs there a different kind that can be inspected every 2 years?
Nope, not nuts at all. At first I refused to get one. I figured if I got myself into a mess I did not want some young kids to risk their lives to save mine. But after talking to a para rescue guy I had a change of mind. He lives for this kind of stuff and they are all volenteers. He told me his life's choice was to save lives. He accepted the risk and I should change my mind. So I did. Ken (formerly of Satori #223, yes that Satori)
ReplyDelete