Peppermint
New member
Following on from my Fatality Stat\'s. Should we spend...
less on our boat safety equipment and more on our home stuff?
As a man who blew his liferaft budget on a 37" flatscreen TV, for home you understand, that size of TV would be scarey on a 25ft boat, clearly I'm not that obsessed with orange goods. I think a little self assessment is required.
If your boats well designed & maintained, if you sail in UK coastal waters, if you know what your about, your safer on your boat, without the orange goods, than in your house or in your car.
If on the other hand your boat is a dangerous wreck, you cross oceans and you haven't a clue. It won't matter how much you spend on safety kit.
I often wonder how many houses have, a first aid kit, a smoke alarm, a selection of fire extinguishers, a fire blanket and handily placed torches. Not many have alternative temporary housing in case the main house becomes unuseable. Not many have procedures in place for common enough emegency situations or regular training in coping with domestic disaster for all occupants. How about equipment to facilitate escape from an upper floor in a fire? Yet we all know that most injury/fatal accidents happen at home. Get us away from home on our boats though and we're equiped to the eyeballs and trained to the nines.
I can't say from my experience that the equipment is keeping me safe afloat either. In thirty years sailing, if I fall in ( 4 times to date) I'm usually unencumbered by my lifejacket, and most of my safety equipment gets binned, unused, when it's tatty or out of date.
The bloody telly's marvelous.
less on our boat safety equipment and more on our home stuff?
As a man who blew his liferaft budget on a 37" flatscreen TV, for home you understand, that size of TV would be scarey on a 25ft boat, clearly I'm not that obsessed with orange goods. I think a little self assessment is required.
If your boats well designed & maintained, if you sail in UK coastal waters, if you know what your about, your safer on your boat, without the orange goods, than in your house or in your car.
If on the other hand your boat is a dangerous wreck, you cross oceans and you haven't a clue. It won't matter how much you spend on safety kit.
I often wonder how many houses have, a first aid kit, a smoke alarm, a selection of fire extinguishers, a fire blanket and handily placed torches. Not many have alternative temporary housing in case the main house becomes unuseable. Not many have procedures in place for common enough emegency situations or regular training in coping with domestic disaster for all occupants. How about equipment to facilitate escape from an upper floor in a fire? Yet we all know that most injury/fatal accidents happen at home. Get us away from home on our boats though and we're equiped to the eyeballs and trained to the nines.
I can't say from my experience that the equipment is keeping me safe afloat either. In thirty years sailing, if I fall in ( 4 times to date) I'm usually unencumbered by my lifejacket, and most of my safety equipment gets binned, unused, when it's tatty or out of date.
The bloody telly's marvelous.
