Entering a liferaft

lustyd

lustyd

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 Jul 2010
Messages
15,128
Visit site
I’d never given much thought to this but seeing the recent loss in Biscay it got me thinking. He’d deployed the liferaft and used the EPIRB from the news I’ve read and both boat and raft were found floating but badly damaged.

What would be the procedure to enter the raft safely? You can’t sensibly remain clipped on to the main vessel, certainly not in big seas. I can’t imagine the painter of the raft would be much use to clip to.

Perhaps a mooring warp with a big knot in the end dragged from a stern cleat?
 
On sea survival courses I've done, there's always the old gag about stepping up into the liferaft from your sinking boat.

In practical terms, it's difficult however you do it. Liferafts always want to flip over and they are hard to right. They need your weight in them to stabilise whilst you sort the drogue or drogues out.

My top tip would to do a sea survival course, especially if you can find a centre with a wave maker. Puts it all in perspective.
 
lustyd said:
Up to a point, but if a large wave washes over you as you step off mobility wouldn’t help a lot.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of scenarios but if the waves are large enough to roll the boat, I wouldn't be clipped on anyway. Can't remember whether 2 or 3 guys drowned clipped on off Peniche a few years ago, one who wasn't clipped on made it ashore.
 
Some years ago, I did an STCW course which included "sea survival in a "swimming pool" It did include getting into a life raft that had to be righted.

Without a entry ladder / ramp it was not easy to get in from the water.

At the first life raft service I inspected my LR ta see how the entry arrangement worked.

I also have 2 survival suites that I purchased some time ago as if the boat is flooded it could help to survive in cold water tied together .

Our safety authorities were not interested just the LR and Life jackets must have their simple on then that increased the cost and an imported one with the correct ISO, CE or BSI number was not allowed
 
Modern IOS compliant life rafts for offshore use have good ballast pockets that should fill fast as the life raft inflates and stabilise and partially act as a drogue. The risk today of flipping is much less than it was. The whole point of the ballast pocket design is to stabilise the life raft when unladen. Of course it can still happen.

Of more concern is the launching and 15m of painter line which could result in the life raft being a distance from the vessel which will be difficult to close in any sort of weather. I have a procedure for launching my life raft that includes immediately pulling in the painter rapidly to trip the inflation mechanism with the life raft close to the boat. In my case the default launching position is leeward over the beam of the boat. The plan is to secure the painter to the centre cleat to hold the life raft along side. My own boat drifts down wind, slightly bow down, before the stern blows down, repeat for the bow, a sort of scalloping motion. This method assumes a controlled launch as it isolates my hydrostatic release. An uncontrolled laugh would be sinking and activation of my hydrostatic release, for example. I have safety knifes at the mast and steering pedestal, as well as in the life raft of course.

I think you have to understand how to launch, for your boat, to optimise boarding and think about different situations e.g. if on fire I will launch to windward, or just launch if rapid escalation. Basically have an emergency response procedure.

I asked Ocean Safety who made my life raft if there was any weak point at the tube end of the painter and they said the glue patch will fail. However, I was not confident in their answer and thought it was uninformed as they would not, or could not say that it was designed to do that. The instructions don't state a weak painter device at the tube, just the knife to cut away. The only life rafts that I know of with weak painters at the tube, are helicopter liferafts, which are coloured green at the weak point.

I don't agree with stepping up to the life raft, I think it is an uniformed statement that has become a false truism. I came to this conclusion after reading about the family in the South Atlantic, reported in the press and YBW. He stated that they stepped into the life raft when the gunwale was very close to the water. I think the boat sinking rate suddenly increased, the motion became very unpredictable and they all got wet, IIRC. If they had left sooner, which he recommended, the boarding would have been more controlled and drier. Of course many abandoned boats have been found afloat, so what to do, how to decide?

Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter.
 
A fairly well thought out plan but none of that addresses the question of how to safely get from boat to liferaft. Launching is fairly obvious and I think we all have plans there or have at least thought about it. The question here is how to unclip from jackstays and enter the raft without getting lost to the sea as per the recent news story.
 
Last edited:
lustyd said:
I’d never given much thought to this but seeing the recent loss in Biscay it got me thinking. He’d deployed the liferaft and used the EPIRB from the news I’ve read and both boat and raft were found floating but badly damaged.

What would be the procedure to enter the raft safely? You can’t sensibly remain clipped on to the main vessel, certainly not in big seas. I can’t imagine the painter of the raft would be much use to clip to.

Perhaps a mooring warp with a big knot in the end dragged from a stern cleat?
Click to expand...
It is close to impossible to get in a raft from the water if you're on your own and not a very strong and fit person.

This is why the sea survival course is such a good one to do.
 
Suggestions

Launch your life raft, secure to vessel, attach a stopper like a 6" pick up buoy to the life raft painter at the boat end, then clip on to the painter and board liferaft. If the life raft moves away, anyone clipped onto painter will stay between boat and life raft. Or something like that. There is no reason why the painter can't be used as a safety line and prepared on launching to stop safety lines from slipping off the end.

All my lifejackets are fitted with Duncan Huges Lifesavers. Just before boarding, inflate lifejacket, clip on, get to the boarding point, pass the Lifesaver to the person in the life raft, hook it to the grab handle, unclip safety line from jackstay and board.
 
maybe yours is different but the painter on mine looks just about strong enough to activate the liferaft but I don’t think it would stop me in heavy seas
 
lustyd said:
maybe yours is different but the painter on mine looks just about strong enough to activate the liferaft but I don’t think it would stop me in heavy seas
Click to expand...
I would hope that the painter is strong enough to restrain the life raft in a gale, fully laden. Otherwise I would deem it not fit for purpose. To my mind a painter has to hold a life raft in place for the last person to board. Whether that is reflected by the ISO/EN/SOLAS/…… (take your pick) I don’t know.

Clearly your painter must be very small diameter to cause you this concern?,
 
capnsensible said:
Is it worth an email to the manufacturer? I've found that the makers of all yacht safety equipment are very approachable.
Click to expand...
The current one has no markings and hasn’t been serviced for a long time so I doubt I’d get much response 🤣
We’re buying a new one before we set off properly, just doing some research into best option, lowest cost servicing etc. at the moment.

Now that’s been mentioned though the snatching of a liferaft must be horrific once a couple of people get in so I guess the plan is fast as possible and cut the line quickly
 
lustyd said:
The current one has no markings and hasn’t been serviced for a long time so I doubt I’d get much response 🤣
We’re buying a new one before we set off properly, just doing some research into best option, lowest cost servicing etc. at the moment.

Now that’s been mentioned though the snatching of a liferaft must be horrific once a couple of people get in so I guess the plan is fast as possible and cut the line quickly
Click to expand...
Been trying to remember a manufacturers name unsuccessfully. They made the liferaft on our liveaboard yacht. The tubes had a 'gate' and an entry kind of plastic steps. You could, if necessary, enter from the wather, fold the 2 sides of the gate closed and stay wave tight.

Google?
 
lustyd said:
... Now that’s been mentioned though the snatching of a liferaft must be horrific once a couple of people get in so I guess the plan is fast as possible and cut the line quickly
Click to expand...

I think a lot of sinking are in benign conditions where such fears are not founded. I remember that one of the reasons why the environmental pool that replicated waves et cetera was stopped on survival courses for industry, was that most incidents were not due to bad weather and as such, procedure was more important than freaking out everyone in big waves, cold water and darkness. The book Total Loss collaborates this IIRC. Also thinking about yachts that have been lost in the last few years the majority have not been in rough weather.

Having launched life rafts along side vessels, they drift down stream of the main vessel, which is itself drifting. Hence a painter made off at a mid ship cleat, would be long enough to damp out or lessen snatching if the liferaft was at the aft cockpit of a typical yacht.

Thinking about it and planning it for your type of vessel is a good thing and likely will increase the survival chances, but don't over think it either, as on the day, who knows what will be relevant.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top