ISAF Offshore Safety

[bilbobaggins]

ISAF Offshore Safety

[ QUOTE ]
".....The aim of the ISAF Offshore Safety course is to provide skippers and crews of yachts wishing to take part in offshore races with the necessary skills and knowledge to deal with an emergency whilst offshore. After the course you will have a good knowledge of the safety equipment carried on small boats, the seamanship techniques needed to survive at sea in heavy weather.

The ISAF Offshore Safety module includes
• Care & Maintenance of Safety Equipment
• Storm Sails
• Damage Control
• Crew Routines
• Man Overboard Prevention and Recovery
• Giving Assistance to other craft
• SAR Organisation and Methods
• Practical Fire Precautions and Fire Fighting
• Distress Alerting and Survivor Location Aids....."

[/ QUOTE ]

So who on here doesn't need that sort of stuff....?

/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[damo]

Re: ISAF Offshore Safety

Hopefully nobody NEEDS it, but I bet very few on here have a good working knowledge of all of it. How many have a storm sail, never mind have actually used it? How much do you know about SAR methods? etc etc.

It's a filter to ensure that noddies don't take part in official offshore races. Long live the Jester!!

 

[capnsensible]

Re: ISAF Offshore Safety

Excellent idea, particularly for all those,who, for whatever reason, refuse to take an RYA examination. Where these things are routinely taught to all those thousands who do.

 

[Talulah]

Re: ISAF Offshore Safety

I think the course would be far more useful if it was run on the boat that the crew were racing in. Teaching this course in the classroom is just not the same. Especially as most of ths gear is better learnt hands on.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Re: ISAF Offshore Safety

That would not be so easy. Most of the boats that do the international offshore racing circuit have professional crews. 'Boat-hopping' is quite common. I myself have met many, while doing safety scrutineering, whom I had met on different boats in previous years.

It is now a requirement that a certain percentage of the crew on a boat has to be officially certified to have followed a course of training (that also includes hands-on experience) if that boat is taking part in an offshore race that is being run under ISAF Special Regulations. That applies to practically all of the well-known international races.

Personally, I find that the checklist that I use is as relevant to cruisers as it is to racers. It will not prevent accidents from happening, nor will it prevent equipment failures; however, its purpose is to draw attention to items that could cause problems to safety. In rare cases boats have been prevented from taking part even though the decision of whether to start or continue racing rests solely with the skipper and not with the organisers.

I agree that some of the requirements are boat-specific and, in such cases, need to be performed on the actual boat by the crew that is taking part in a particular race. A case in point is MOB drill. How many of us go through it when we have new crew on board? To state the obvious, the routine that works on my boat would be next to no use on Skywalker, a huge racing trimaran that, although oldish, is still capable of phenomenal speeds. Their MOB drill occupied three pages of a notebook and described step by step the sequence of actions that needed to be taken; all the crew were familiar with the plan and had ALL participated in in putting it to practice. The principle applies to all boats.

At the end of the day, the aim is to prevent loss of life - that of the crews, who are there out of choice, and that of the people who are deployed to save them when things go wrong.

I'm sorry if this was boring but it is a subject in which I am deeply involves. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[PhilipH]

Re: ISAF Offshore Safety

We all need to do this training - says he from the moral high ground. I did the sea survival course about 10 years ago, and SWMBO and I have signed up for the full ISAF course at the end of February - in the swimming pool in your own oilies and lifejacket. Best to get the training so if it happens it's not all new, and maybe helps to avoid needing to put the training into practice.
Not really being smug - it just seems common sense to me.