I took my wife to do a boat safety course today. She already has her skippers ticket, which allows her to navigate a vessel of less than 100gross ton, up to 40nm offshore, day and night. The safety course was brought out primarily for all commercial vessels here. With-in the next few years it will probably become mandatory for all recreational guys.
So, you've been a skipper or crew member for more than 20 years, what the hell can some safety instructor teach you?? WELL, PLENTY actually.
The first thing we discussed was safety equipment. Your boat is equiped with life jackets, flares, radio's, epribs, etc, etc. BUT, how many of us actually KNOW how to use them??
Life jackets. They're designed to keep a person floating face up, out of the water. Thats one reason why a wetsuit can't be substituted for a life jacket. If you fall overboard and bang your head, your life jacket will float you FACE UP allowing you to breathe. How do you put it on?? Most people will tie a neat little bow on the straps!! We were shown how to properly KNOT it!! Should your boat capsize, and you manage to get a life jacket on, any other person who doesn't have a life jacket will swim to you. Will people grabbing at you, its very easy for your knots on the life jacket to come undone. The end result was that the next time i go to sea, or when their is no fish, i'll get all my crew to properly tie up their life jackets and do a boat sinking/capsizing drill.
Flares. HOW do you use them?? Sure, there is directions on them, but what happens if your boat is sinking or has capsized or you're out at night??TRY reading the directions on them!! They're small and imagine yourself trying to do it in an emergency!! VERY easy to lose your cool and shoot the flare THROUGH the boats floor in an emergency!! LEARN to use them properly AND teach your crew how to use them properly!! You're stuck in fog, what flare would you use? How high does a pencil flare go up compared to a rocket flare? Why bother using a flare in fog? (becuase most of the time, fog lays very low and shooting off a rocket flare will push it through the fog, where it may be visible to others outside the fog or on land)
Fire-extinguishers. Where are they on your boat? Does ALL the crew members know where they are?? Are they mounted in a easily accesable location? Many boaters, myself included, would mount the fire extinguishers well away from salt water, due to corrosion. Some even pack theirs away under the seats. What will happen if a fire breaks out?? What if YOU are diving and a fire breaks out on the boat? Will your crew know WHERE the fiire extinguishers are AND how to use them!! Don't forget to service them annually!!
Radios. Does ALL your crew members KNOW how to use it? Do they know what channels to use and how to put out a MAYDAY call?
Navigation. Is all your crew capable of handling your boat? What happens if YOU are incapacitated? Will your crew be able to take you safely to land? We spearfish up to 40nm offshore. Add a bit of fog or rain and its very difficult for even us EXPERIENCED boaters to say which way land is!! TEACH EVERYONE that crews with you basic navigational skills, such as: this is a compass, this is how it works, this is the reciprical course to get us back home. Honestly know, in todays age of GPS and plotters, how many of us can navigate by compass? When last did you take out a chart and take bearings? TEACH YOUR CREW!!! Small story: when Fernando was here, we were spearing about 30nm from land. We had just fisnished, when Tommy smelt smoke. I jumped into the cabin with a fire-extinguisher. Luckily it was just a short bewteen two wire. How-ever, our plotter was dead as well as the radio and all navigational lights. We were 30nm from land, in heavy rain, with no other boats around, with no navigational equipment. Hey, i still do have a compass, but with all your stainless steel and electronic equipment close by, how accuarate IS the compass?? Luckily, we knew what wind was blowing and by keeping the 25knt nw'er 10degrees off our bow, we got home easily. Had we not kept our wits about it could've been a NIGHTMARE!!
Hyperthermia. What is it? Basic laymans terms, its when your core body temperature drops. We've all heard of it, but what happens to the body and how do you treat it? Basically, the body's temperature drops. You start to shiver. This is blood being sent to your muscles. After a while you brain realises that its not working and the core temperature is still dropping. Your brain now tells the body to with-draw the blood from your extemities (hands and feet) and concerntrate the warm blood around your upper body. So, when a person becomes hyperthermic, the last thing you want to do is to rub his hands or arms to try and keep him warm!!! As this will cuase the blood to rush to the area being rubbed, causing a loss of blood pressure and most likely rendering the person uncontious if not DEAD!!!! FIND OUT WHAT TO DO!!!! Similarly, what to do when a spearo gets the BENDS??
This is a very small part of what we did on the course. What it did do was to make us skippers realise how complacent we've become. Small things, like notify some-one reliable of where you're going and when you expect to return (i said REALIABLE, so no ex-wives or mother-in-laws!!) Also leave the local coast guards number with that person. We all know that is what we SHOULD do, but do we do it?? Teach you crew where all the safety things are on the boat. TRY and get a medical history on each crew members. WHY?? Well, you normally have a first aid kit on baord. If said crew member is suffering from a hang-over and takes a aspirin from the first aid kit, is he allergic to it? If anything happens to a crew member, is he diabetic, suffering from any heart conditions, etc. Knowing these small, but vital info. could save his life.
Things happen very quickly. It pays to be prepared. We all LOVE the sea, but nature often needs to show us how puny we are!! We have maritime accidents happening regularly. HUGE oil tankers running aground, cargo vessles capsizing, passenger ferry's sinking, etc. Soooo, just how safe are WE in our 14-40' vessels?? Made ME think!!
