abdondon ship practice

[theguerns]

Have you practice's your abdondon ship drill yet this year? We have and here is what we found. We are on a Colvic Watson 32 motor sailor. I am 67 and my wife is 53. I have had heart surgery and my wife is only 4'8" tall but in good health. As we had to buy a new liferaft this year we thought we would have a realistic drill. 4 friends came out with us and another boat with crew. The weather was f5 sea state 2 my swell and small breaking waves. Air temp 14c water temp 8c. Timing us we were given the go to get off the boat. I launched the liferaft which ended upside down we got it the right way up but it took my wife and me 25 mins we then got the grab bag water and food in and us another 6 mins and we were knackered. If the boat had been sinking at any speed we would have as to get into the water to right the raft. With my heart and the water temp I think my wife would have been on her own. We boarded our boat had a rest for an hour and gave this problem some real thought. As we sail on the coast mainly within 30 miles of land we thought of an easier and safer solution to this problem. Second go. We always tow our 4 man dinghy which has an air floor. We were given the order to go. My wife pulled the dinghy alongside threw in the water, food and grab bag and got in. I set off the e.p.I.r.b (not for real) and got in the dinghy after launching the liferaft. Total time 2 mins 25 secs. Once in the dinghy we sorted out the liferaft which we attached to the dinghy. I rowed slowly for an hour and made 2.1 miles towards land and tried a transfer into the raft as if to sleep for the night. We had no problems. These are OUR thoughts of how to deal with an abdondon ship from our boat and are not intended to make anyone ignore training they have had. I have put this to make you think. What if!!!!! Practice makes perfect so that when it happens for real you are ready with whatever system works for you. Please practice
I apologise for my spelling and hope this article may perhaps save someone's life because thy practice's.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Good post, thanks for sharing your experiences.

I have practised a few times on other yachts but not my own strangely. I always carry my PLB these days and the liferaft can be launched quite easily from the deck. However, my grab bag is non existent for the type of sailing I do and it consists of the handheld VHF and flares; thats it.

 

[PilotWolf]

The only thing I would suggest is that you don't expend energy attempting to row, unless you are close to landfall or wish to try to avoid something (such a as a reef), certainly not in the same or opposite direction of the tidal flow or you'll never get anywhere

W.

 

[pcatterall]

The biggest issue on this practice seems to be that the raft finished upside down and took 25 mins. to correct. Does this inversion happen a lot and is it fairly easy to right if you are in the water with it.
Always a comport to have the dinghy along side but not always possible and deploying to a dinghy and righting the raft from it in a bad sea state would have its own problems.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to do the drill and for sharing it with us.

 

[AndrewB]

Really good ideas, thanks Theguerns. An F5 would have been out of my comfort zone for a first test. Did you warn the local CG that it was a practice?

After you've finished, what do you do with your liferaft? Can you get it back on board to deflate, then do you repack it yourself or take it to a service agent?

It's this that has put me off experimenting. But splashing around in the local swimming pool with a raft on a sea-survival course is not likely to be half as useful as actually trying it out from the yacht at sea.

 

[l'escargot]

... splashing around in the local swimming pool with a raft on a sea-survival course is not likely to be half as useful as actually trying it out from the yacht at sea.

I think the sea survival course in a swimming pool actually can be at least half as useful and anyone who carries a liferaft should do one. Not only do you get to see the equipment, which can be a bit of a revelation in itself, but finding out how difficult using it in totally benign and controlled conditions can be, it makes you realise that in some real circumstances you may find it impossible to use. You also have the benefit of instruction to learn such things as how to right an inverted liferaft from the water.

 

[Mrnotming]

Thanks Theguerns for sharing that very useful information about your practice abandon ship!
Sounds like a good strategy to use the tender as an intermediate platform.Glad you did not harm yourself in the evolutions!
Hopefully, if its a fire evacuation the rubber dinghy will not have been melted or been out of reach,at the other end of the vessel.(Thinks,best to have liferaft at one end and rubber dinghy at t'other!)
BlowingoldBoots keeps a VHF in the grab bag like we do, which may be the bit of advice that makes everything turn out ok (if other vessels/coast radio are reachable).
I think our grab bag has ancient sticky sweets welded together, and no hammer to divide them up! Needs a refresh this year!Curious to know if it was possible in the conditions to use the sugar scoop stern platform, or does your vessel have a different layout?
Well done in any case, hope your missus does'nt quit sailing as a result!

 

[Spirit of Glenans]

Really good ideas, thanks Theguerns. An F5 would have been out of my comfort zone for a first test. Did you warn the local CG that it was a practice?

After you've finished, what do you do with your liferaft? Can you get it back on board to deflate, then do you repack it yourself or take it to a service agent?

It's this that has put me off experimenting. But splashing around in the local swimming pool with a raft on a sea-survival course is not likely to be half as useful as actually trying it out from the yacht at sea.

AFAIK Sea Survival courses are held in specially constructed pools where waves, wind and darkness can be created.

 

[Spirit of Glenans]

I think the sea survival course in a swimming pool actually can be at least half as useful and anyone who carries a liferaft should do one. Not only do you get to see the equipment, which can be a bit of a revelation in itself, but finding out how difficult using it in totally benign and controlled conditions can be, it makes you realise that in some real circumstances you may find it impossible to use. You also have the benefit of instruction to learn such things as how to right an inverted liferaft from the water.

+1. A course is invaluable.

 

[prv]

After you've finished, what do you do with your liferaft? Can you get it back on board to deflate, then do you repack it yourself or take it to a service agent?

I read it to mean that he was about to buy a new one anyway and dispose of the old. So just stabbing it to reduce the volume and then bundling it on board to avoid littering would be sufficient.

Pete

 

[prv]

AFAIK Sea Survival courses are held in specially constructed pools where waves, wind and darkness can be created.

Better ones are, but obviously the number of such pools around the country is limited and so some courses are just in a privately-hired session at the local swimming baths.

Pete

 

[prv]

BlowingoldBoots keeps a VHF in the grab bag like we do, which may be the bit of advice that makes everything turn out ok (if other vessels/coast radio are reachable).

I'd have thought a basic GPS would be a good idea too, so that you can tell them where you are!

I have a PLB (poor man's EPIRB) as my first-line means of signalling, followed by VHF & GPS, closely followed by flares (a rocket may be visible from outside the range of an AA-battery handheld at sea level), followed in distant last place by a shiny (and possibly radar-reflective?) space blanket and an old CD for sun signalling!

Assuming we carry flares anyway, the most expensive bit was the radio at £45 or thereabouts. The GPS was £12, though it needed another couple of quid for an adaptor to use AA batteries.

Pete

 

[neil1967]

Our yacht had an out-of-date avon liferaft with it when we bought it 2 years ago - about 4 years out of date if I recall. We replaced it at the time but didn't dispose of the old one. Last weekend I thought it would be a good idea to inflate it to see what happened (now 6 years out of date and hence 10 years since the last service) - and the result was absolutely nothing! The line came free of the cylinder and the indicator on the cylinder showed it had fired, but nothing happened. From the weight of the cylinder I think it was empty. I manually pumped up the liferaft to see what it looked like, and whilst it generally seemed OK, over 24 hours the top tube lost pressure and the canopy collapsed. Whilst I hope never to use the liferaft, and this may have been a one-off, for me it showed the importance of checking these items - either professionally or yourself, if you feel capable.

 

[penfold]

The biggest issue on this practice seems to be that the raft finished upside down and took 25 mins. to correct. Does this inversion happen a lot and is it fairly easy to right if you are in the water with it.
Always a comport to have the dinghy along side but not always possible and deploying to a dinghy and righting the raft from it in a bad sea state would have its own problems.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to do the drill and for sharing it with us.

Righting a raft is straightforward enough if you are vaguely ablebodied, even this flabby seafarer managed it alright, but there's nothing to replace actually having a go at it so I concur that concerned sailors should do a survival course and learn first hand.

Our yacht had an out-of-date avon liferaft with it when we bought it 2 years ago - about 4 years out of date if I recall. We replaced it at the time but didn't dispose of the old one. Last weekend I thought it would be a good idea to inflate it to see what happened (now 6 years out of date and hence 10 years since the last service) - and the result was absolutely nothing! The line came free of the cylinder and the indicator on the cylinder showed it had fired, but nothing happened. From the weight of the cylinder I think it was empty. I manually pumped up the liferaft to see what it looked like, and whilst it generally seemed OK, over 24 hours the top tube lost pressure and the canopy collapsed. Whilst I hope never to use the liferaft, and this may have been a one-off, for me it showed the importance of checking these items - either professionally or yourself, if you feel capable.

+ 1; no point in carrying an out-of-test liferaft as it's just deadweight.

 

[widgeon]

Took my liferaft in for service this morning. Staff had a customer deliver a raft for service that had previously been done in Turkey. They thought that it felt very light; when they opened the cannister there was no cylinder! Customer blanched looking back at several years of cruising around Europe *knowing* that the liferaft was there as a backup.

In addition to out-of-date liferafts being deadweight, in-date ones may be lightweight and deadly!

 

[l'escargot]

AFAIK Sea Survival courses are held in specially constructed pools where waves, wind and darkness can be created.

Generally not the RYA ones, the can take place in ordinary pools.

 

[pagoda]

+1. A course is invaluable.

Righting a raft in dark with wind and waves is not easy. The courses I have done were with mainly RFD aviation (helicopter) liferafts - big enough for 19 pax. With HUGE fan blowers wave machines and simulated darkness it is a big challenge turning one back over. Some are designed so you can pull the canopy across the raft upper side from either side if need be.
Adrenaline may help you, provided the cold has not taken away your sense of touch and agility. I think a 6 or 8 person raft would be less difficult, but not easy.

It is also a bit challenging to rig up a towing bridle which prevents a dinghy being flipped over behind your yacht. In anything over about 20-25Kts that can happen in seconds when wind gets underneath due to waves. The idea of a dinghy being instantly available is attractive mind you.
I think there is a case for making these kind of courses more affordable, since the experience is worth having. Not necessarily compulsory, but more widely available..

 

[AntarcticPilot]

One thing that perhaps needs to be said, which hasn't appeared so far. Abandoning ship is a last ditch option. You DON'T abandon ship unless the boat is in immediate danger of sinking - even a water-logged hull is a better survival option than a liferaft. Except in the event of uncontrollable fire, it is safer to remain with the vessel than to abandon ship. The usual mantra is that you should only ever step UP into a liferaft. Until it is evident that sinking is inevitable and imminent, the crew's efforts should be directed to staving off sinking rather than abandoning ship.

Of course, this has the side-effect that entering a life-raft will always be a last-minute (literally!) thing. The sea-survival course already mentioned does give practical training in ways of entering a life-raft; from a boat, a rather undignified leap into the entrance is recommended, with the canopy of the liferaft breaking the fall. The strongest person should go first, to assist weaker persons. Again, ideally you should NOT enter the water unless it is inevitable; wet clothes are a) incredibly heavy and b) in a real situation, could lead to hypothermia.The sea survival course will give you experience of how heavy wet clothes are - but I had difficulty climbing steps out of a warm(ish) swimming pool in wet oilskins and cold weather clothing. I'd never manage it in cold seawater.

Righting a liferaft is not too bad; again a sea survival course will give you experience, albeit in a rather unrealistic setting (pools with waves etc are not usually available, so it's usually done in a swimming pool). It's a matter of technique rather than strength. My wife, who is not strong and very small managed to turn a large liferaft (6 or 8 man, not sure which) over without too much difficulty. Indeed, because of her size she was made a bit of an object lesson for the course.

 

[JumbleDuck]

One thing that perhaps needs to be said, which hasn't appeared so far. Abandoning ship is a last ditch option. You DON'T abandon ship unless the boat is in immediate danger of sinking - even a water-logged hull is a better survival option than a liferaft. Except in the event of uncontrollable fire, it is safer to remain with the vessel than to abandon ship. The usual mantra is that you should only ever step UP into a liferaft. Until it is evident that sinking is inevitable and imminent, the crew's efforts should be directed to staving off sinking rather than abandoning ship.

Thanks. My assumption has always been that the only circumstances in which I would abandon ship would be circumstances in which taking even two minutes about it, let alone twenty five, would not be an option.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

The stepping up into the liferaft philosophy is not always the best option. I have read two articles now where those who abandoned the yacht wished they had abandoned sooner. The stepping up philosophy actually reduced their post abandonment survival probability.

In the first article the family became soaked and near hypothermic in their water logged boat, they family also found the stress of waiting to be significant. In the second case a man was injured (down below) as the boat wallowed about with an uncertain movement and the huge momentum of water sloshing about down below carried him along, I think he also stepped into the bilge as the sole was lifting. In both cases, the boats were slowly sinking, there was no point staying onboard any longer as the situation was not recoverable and abandonment could have been more controlled.

Given the choice I would rather abandon my vessel in a controlled manner at a time of my choosing (in a slowly sinking situation) and get on with the business of survival. Staying with a sinking boat is a stupid idea, especially if one has an EPIRB, VHF and in a coastal area. When a boat does go, during a slow sinking, it can go quite quickly, which may lead to panic and increase risks.