Lifesaving: Just Cruising by Keith Fleming

Safety gear is notorious for just being strapped on and ignored thereafter by cruising sailors, but salt water and sunlight takes its toll even if the damage is not easily evident. While we hope that we never have to use our safety gear, some of the more recent accidents at sea should bring it home to us that we must keep our gear in top order. For instance, how far out of date is your liferaft? Safety gear extends much further than liferafts and life jackets. It includes items such as Dan buoys, life rings, EPIRBS, fire extinguishers, life lines and safety harnesses. Then there are lesser items like spotlights, radios, deck lights and flares. It might be a good idea to ponder about the last time you checked any of these items.

What about checking out the Dan buoy. It has been sitting up attached to the stern of the boat for some years and we know we can deploy it quickly if needed. Perhaps that should read we knew at the time of fitting this item that it was in excellent order and easily deployed.

In the years that have passed it has been out in the sun and weather slowly deteriorating. Will it smoothly deploy now’ Best to take it off and deploy it at the mooring just to see that it is working and not virtually welded on to the stern of the boat.

A good idea is to imagine deploying it at night time. Do you have a light on it’ It is a long time since I saw one with a light fitted. It would be a waste of time looking for one in the dark. If you fit a light, which you should, will it still float upright with the added weight of the light’ When choosing a light, you need to have a good bright one that can be seen from some distance. It does not need to operate for more than a few hours in practice so fit the brightest globe you can or even better consider an LED light. Of course, the light will need some sort of switch and the batteries changed every 12 months. Another reason to have a yearly check of all safety gear.

Liferafts

Liferafts are another item that sit out on deck or in a locker and slowly deteriorate. They require regular servicing. I bought one boat with liferaft included and after a couple of years had it serviced only to find that it was all perished and would have been useless in an emergency. When considering the liferaft have a look at where you have it mounted. Most of us sail short-handed and if you as the skipper were knocked overboard by the boom, would the crew be able to launch it off the hull’ We go to the trouble of fitting auto-inflation devices to open the raft if the boat should sink, but as a rule boats don’t sink quickly. Deployment of the raft is another consideration. In bad weather, in the dark, will the crew be able to get it over the side’ In fact, will they be able to reach it at all’ The weight of the raft is its biggest drawback. It is not much point in having it stowed in valance under a bunk down below if the crew cannot lift it out of the hole or lift it up the companionway into the cockpit and then over the side. While all this is going on how far has the boat travelled from the spot where the skipper went overboard’ We all assume that it will be us deploying the raft and we are big and strong and know what we are doing.

Would the crew even know to attach the opening rope to the yacht before they pushed it over the side’ You might like to rethink where you stow the liferaft. It should not have to be lifted and should be easily pushed over the side. I saw one yacht recently with the raft strapped onto the cabin top and there was no way it would have fitted under the safety fence. I know it is never going to happen, but it just might.

The lifeline and safety harness are another two items that require regular servicing. The safety harness should be kept in a cockpit locker and an extra one down below. In serious weather conditions, you need to fit it down below before you go on deck, particularly at night time. Damp lockers tend to rot the rope and freeze up the snap hook. These items should be checked every 12 months.

The life lines are often on deck all year around. We walk on them, trip over them, but never bother to check them for wear and deterioration.

Let me put a scenario to you.

It is the middle of the night and blowing 30 knots and the boat is obviously labouring so you decide you need to reef. The boat is healing well over. You fit your safety harness, clip on to the fitting in the cockpit, enter the cockpit, detach the harness from the fixed point and attach it to the life line. You then crawl up to the mast to start the reefing procedure. A big wave comes over the deck and you get washed over the side. You go over between two stanchions and are hanging in the water. What do you do now’ This would be a good question for a Yacht Masters Certificate. A crew member is not necessarily going to be strong enough to pull you back on board and you may not be strong enough to pull yourself back on board because if, as on most yachts, the life lines run around the edge of the deck and your safety harness has a 2m connecting rope, then you will be well over the side and in the water. Of course, if you were single-handed you may never get back over the side.

Let’s look at why you were able to go over the side. If the life line was up the centre line of the boat where it should have been and you had a shorter tether on the safety harness, you would never have been able to go over the side. You should have a second, shorter tether on the safety harness. When you leave the confines of the cockpit you snap the shorter tether to the safety line up the middle of the boat until you reach the mast and then you attach the longer tether to the fixed fitting on the mast. This way reduces the chances of going over the side. You may like to consider reducing the length of the original tether that comes with the harness. Give this some thought as a couple of years ago a lone skipper drowned hanging over the side of his yacht in his harness.

Life jackets
With the advent of cheaper inflatable life jackets, more and more skippers are fitting them because of the space-saving and more agility when working on deck, especially at night. With the new laws about wearing life jackets when crossing bars, these new jackets are becoming increasingly popular. These new jackets should be stored in an easily accessible place and inspected monthly. The have a habit of self-inflating if stored in damp lockers. If you buy one, always buy a spare inflation bottle just to be on the safe side. Life rings are another item that can be neglected. There is no point in fitting a life ring if it does not have a light attached. Once again you cannot see it at night or the person overboard cannot see it. Regularly check the light to see that it will work when thrown overboard.

Finally, make sure the EPIRB is in date and working properly and ensure you instruct the crew how and when to use it. Stow it in an obvious place where it is not likely to be accidentally switch on.