As with ‘Safety first: Man Overboard’, abandoning ship is something we would hope to never have to do. However, it is very important to be prepared, just in case!
Liferaft
As a sailor, your best liferaft is actually your boat. It is much bigger and better built for sea conditions, so the guidance is to stay with your boat as long and possible. You would only want to get into the liferaft if your boat was on fire or sinking. They say that you should never step down into a life raft, only step up ie the boat is actually sinking and is lower than the raft!
On Escapade, we have an Ocean Safety ISO 9650 liferaft suitable for four people. It is situated in a hard canister in a purpose built cradle in the pushpit rails towards the back of the boat. We can launch it manually, but it also has a special hydrostatic release which will launch the raft if the boat is sinking.
When inflated, the liferaft is like a large padding pool with a tent on top and water pockets below to aid stability. It also has a short webbing ladder hanging down from the entrance to help you get into it. However, having tried this fully clothed with an inflated life jacket, it is still not easy… and that was in swimming pool with no waves or swell!!
The liferaft also has other safety equipment inside including flares, a torch, sponge, signal mirror, knife and of course a repair kit and seasickness tablets!
Grab bag
Whilst there are some emergency kit items in the raft, we need to prepare for being in the liferaft for some time, so we would need other things too. We have set up a grab bag. Exactly what it says on the name…a bag (or in our case box) that you grab on the way off the boat. This has emergency food rations, water, first aid kit, fishing kit, thermal blankets and more seasick tablets!!
Emergency Position Indicating Rescue Beacon
An EPIRB is a type of emergency locator beacon. It is a portable radio transmitter that, when activated, transmits a continuous radio signal. This signal is detected by satellites operated by an international consortium of rescue services (Cospas Sarsat) which can detect emergency beacons anywhere on earth. The consortium calculates the position of the beacon and passes this information to the appropriate local first responder organisation who use the information to locate airplanes, vessels and persons in distress and in need of immediate rescue.
These are all things we hope we never have to use, but if we do, we will be very glad that we have them.
Yet another very informative blog. Keep them coming
Hi Olle,
Thank you for your kind words!
Good luck on your round the UK fundraiser for MacMillan. It was great to see the support you have at your launch.
Fair winds
Caron
Very interesting. I would imagine that if you had to use the raft then adrenaline would help you pop up the ladder to get inside. I bet you are both getting excited for your first big trip across the pond. X
Hi,
Hope things are good with you and your family.
We continue to learn new things here…and spend more money!
I hope we never have to find out about the ladder and the effect of adrenaline.
I have mixed feelings about leaving – excited but also a little nervous. We have had our departure from Fox’s delayed until the end of June, as we are waiting for some new parts for our furler. They are coming from Sweden and need to be made! Fingers crossed we will still be on track to leave the UK in July.
Stay safe
x
Let’s hope you never have to use it Caron xxx
Hi,
Great to hear from you. hope you are all safe and well.
That’s what we are hoping. It is a lot of money to be sitting on the side of the boat, but if we ever did need to abandon ship, we would be glad that we spent the extra!
Say hi to everyone from me.
x
You will be so well prepared!
Hi,
We should be – we have been planning and preparing for nearly 5 years now! Also done lots of research, so hopefully have what we need.
I see from your posts that you are managing to explore – that’s a huge plus for retirement. Keep enjoying your travels.
X