heard something a bit scarey.

powerskipper

powerskipper

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I heard about a boat in trouble that tried to deployed its life raft, by throwing its canister life raft overboard and they did not see it again.

I am a great believer in all boaters doing a sea survival course. . Now the above could have happened by the gas bottle failing to fire or being defective {old or lack of regular servicing possibly} or not knowing the correct way to trigger the raft. whatever the cause I found it scary.
So fellow boaters please, take a little time to refresh how to trigger life rafts and your other safety equipment.

PS, Who has practised there MOB this year.
 
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With Parachuting one tends to carry a reserve , incase the main malfunctions
Even with the best training 'packing ,drill -they don,t open correctly .

With a life raft - we ( small leisure boater s) seem to only carry a main .
Can't see Life raft being immune of law of sod !
 
Portofino said:
With Parachuting one tends to carry a reserve , incase the main malfunctions
Even with the best training 'packing ,drill -they don,t open correctly .

With a life raft - we ( small leisure boater s) seem to only carry a main .
Can't see Life raft being immune of law of sod !
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There was a thread a while ago which suggested you shouldn't carry one at all. One of the reasons was that yachts are often found empty of crew, and the liferaft and crew perish.

Personally, I would want one and I'm happy that I would only be entering it if the flames were licking my ass, or if the gunnels were about to disappear under the surface.
 
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When a customer asked what sort of lifejacket he should keep on the boat, I showed him my old one I happened to have in the office at the time. I'd taken it off the old RIB I'd just sold.

On showing him how easy it was to wear and how the gas bulb was fitted to the auto-inflate, the bloody thing fell apart in my hands!!!

Yep, out of date by a year but to have such a failure was a real eye-opener for sure.

Get your gear checked.
 
Portofino said:
With Parachuting one tends to carry a reserve , incase the main malfunctions
Even with the best training 'packing ,drill -they don,t open correctly .

With a life raft - we ( small leisure boater s) seem to only carry a main .
Can't see Life raft being immune of law of sod !
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Surely the liferaft IS the reserve?
 
Richard10002 said:
There was a thread a while ago which suggested you shouldn't carry one at all. One of the reasons was that yachts are often found empty of crew, and the liferaft and crew perish.

Personally, I would want one and I'm happy that I would only be entering it if the flames were licking my ass, or if the gunnels were about to disappear under the surface.
Click to expand...

On my last STCW Personal Survival Techniques there was a father and son who had a major issue in a fishing boat taking in loads of water, about 100nm NE of Aberdeen, they'd deployed the liferaft, got into it, decided it was bloody awful and climbed back onto what was left of their boat till they were rescued. :D
 
Good reminder Julie, cause either these folk didn't know about the painter, panicked, or the raft was defective and probably not serviced within expiry date.

Old Chinese proverb for sinking leisure boater:

" Never climb down into a life raft, only climb up or over onto it"

I think the idea is to stay on board a sinking vessel as long as possible and only get in the life raft when you have no other option. Don't abandon ship too soon.
 
oceanfroggie said:
Good reminder Julie, cause either these folk didn't know about the painter, panicked, or the raft was defective and probably not serviced within expiry date.

Old Chinese proverb for sinking leisure boater:

" Never climb down into a life raft, only climb up or over onto it"

I think the idea is to stay on board a sinking vessel as long as possible and only get in the life raft when you have no other option. Don't abandon ship too soon.
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Good logic Noel, recently a couple of inexperienced yachties on a Bavaria 44, while crossing a notoriously rough waterway over here on a bad forecast (yes, needed to get back for work commitments), panicked because of the deteriorating sea state, sea-sickness etc and called a mayday for a helicopter lift-off.
They were asked to deploy the raft and get in because the pitching, rolling, rising of the rig made it dangerous to lift off the deck, so jumped in, swam to raft after sealing up the boat and turned on Nav lights and were retrieved to the chopper.
Meanwhile the boat is drifting eastwards for nearly a week towards New Zealand, a professional crew, arranged by the insurance company is choppered out to bring the boat, in perfect condition, back to port.
 
AndieMac said:
Good logic Noel, recently a couple of inexperienced yachties on a Bavaria 44, while crossing a notoriously rough waterway over here on a bad forecast (yes, needed to get back for work commitments), panicked because of the deteriorating sea state, sea-sickness etc and called a mayday for a helicopter lift-off.
They were asked to deploy the raft and get in because the pitching, rolling, rising of the rig made it dangerous to lift off the deck, so jumped in, swam to raft after sealing up the boat and turned on Nav lights and were retrieved to the chopper.
Meanwhile the boat is drifting eastwards for nearly a week towards New Zealand, a professional crew, arranged by the insurance company is choppered out to bring the boat, in perfect condition, back to port.
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How many times do we read about this happening? The worse place in the world to be in a rough sea is a life raft, especially if you have left a perfectly good sea worthy boat that might be jumping about a bit.
 
chrishelen said:
How many times do we read about this happening? The worse place in the world to be in a rough sea is a life raft, especially if you have left a perfectly good sea worthy boat that might be jumping about a bit.
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Indeed, they're awful things, you're trained to immediately take seasickness tablets if you enter them, regardless of how you feel, as you'll soon be seasick if not.
 
A basic sea survival course will give you an insight on how to launch and enter the raft, but usually held in a swimming pool. But even that will give you an idea of how difficult it is to get in the thing in a flat calm environment. Then how small and claustrophobic even a 12 man raft is once you zip it up. The course may also make you realise that you get what you pay for if you buy a life raft. A bucket of water thrown at the door is sometimes enough to wreck the zipper on the cheaper equipment.
 
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mm42 said:
Indeed, they're awful things, you're trained to immediately take seasickness tablets if you enter them, regardless of how you feel, as you'll soon be seasick if not.
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And probably still will anyway :)

Mind you, two friends of mine took the MCA-issue pills once, same as in most liferafts, when we ran out of Stugeron. Both of them were promptly anaesthetised for an entire Channel crossing, falling asleep just after we put the sails up outside St Vaast and coming-to somewhere off Bembridge Ledge.

Not sure whether the same effect would be a help or a hindrance in a raft :)

Pete
 
Richard10002 said:
There was a thread a while ago which suggested you shouldn't carry one at all. One of the reasons was that yachts are often found empty of crew, and the liferaft and crew perish.

Personally, I would want one and I'm happy that I would only be entering it if the flames were licking my ass, or if the gunnels were about to disappear under the surface.
Click to expand...

Only get in one when you have to step up into it
 
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