Life Rafts for Coastal Sailing - Are they ever used?

Tempus

Tempus

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 Aug 2009
Messages
176
Location
Boat Solent, Home Surrey
Visit site
Struck by the post about replacing 10yr old kit and the view of some that a life-raft is vital, even for coastal sailing.

This raises an interesting question:

How many lives have actually been saved in coastal waters by a liferaft?

My feeling is very few (since Fastnet '79 in particular). But does anybody have any data?


FWIW we now carry a liferaft but always used to rent one just for our North Sea / Channel Crossing. - Were we right?
 
I don't bother with a liferaft, the weight and space taken simply aren't worth it on my 22' boat, same applied when I had a 30' boat - when going across the Channel I have the inflatable dinghy half inflated on deck.

Seeing as I usually sail in coastal areas, have a lot of in date flares, built in and hand held VHF + a mobile phone, I reckon I'm already covered more than people could have dreamed of no long ago.

Judging by some people on here one would think it suicidal to set off without a RIB and helicopter escort for every trip !

I don't rate the 1979 Fastnet as coastal sailing though...
 
Seajet said:
I don't rate the 1979 Fastnet as coastal sailing though...
Click to expand...

Agreed - it wasn't. But a number of crews took to the liferaft only to perish, and their boats were found safe and well after the storm. I think this fundamentally changed most sailor's view of a liferaft's utility (We were taught you should only ever "step up" into one).

Be interested in some hard facts though....
 
For years we considered an inflatable dinghy part inflated on deck and ready to go as sufficient, however these days for the sake of £650 we do have a liferaft, then again sailing around here one may not see another boat for days and it gives some small peace of mind. I think a lot depends on where you sail, the distances offshore and the lengths of the trips. Obviously on a very small boat where space is at a premium and the sailing is inshore fair enough, you have to be realistic.Incidentally one dosent need Fastnet race conditions to take to a liferaft, it may happen in a flat calm too!!
 
Last edited:
Eyore said:
Incidentally one dosent need Fastnet race conditions to take to a liferaft, it may happen in a flat calm too!!
Click to expand...

This is the key use for them I think. In storm conditions the main boat may get waterlogged and damaged but is more likely to save your life than a liferaft which can capsize very easily especially if spec.d for full crew but used by just two people.

Fire, hitting an object, catastrophic leak and so on seem a more likely use. The question then is whether a dinghy is just as good. We inherited a liferaft with the boat and recently got it serviced but wouldn't buy one. As it is made for 10 and there are just two of us mostly its main job is to completely fill a cockpit locker. We have a fully inflated 3m rib in the foredeck so there would have to be some very unlikely situations for the liferaft to help.
 
It took a long time to gestate but the ISO9650 standard for liferafts addressed the shortcomings of the 1979 era rafts. The cost differential between the ISO rafts and the coastal versions is presumably justified? As always, you pays your money......
 
Apart from the six fishing crews I can recall offhand my bro jumped into one with his erse on fire from the yacht 'Midnight' in the 80s (once owned by E Heath?). The wreck of the Maria Asumpta off Padstow was pictured with several liferafts alongside after she had sunk, three crew perished, none got in the rafts, but jumped onto rocks and into the sea. Perhaps the rafts inflated too late, had they manually deployed the rafts they might have survived. Even so close to shore the liferaft would have been the answer.
 
We have carried a raft for years. More things to bump into in coastal waters and survival time in cold water isn't very long without a survival suit. Doing the sea survival course left me with one particular thought - the life raft is most definitely a last resort.
 
In case of uncontrollable fire, or sudden hull breach, you're likely dead in cold UK waters, especially in the winter time, without a life raft. Your dinghy might do if you are able to launch it (??) and if the weather is not too rough (??), but those are big if's.

Fires and sudden hull breaches do not occur all that frequently, but they do occur. So I would not be without a liferaft, personally. They are not all that expensive to have to think all that hard about it, in my opinion.
 
The best source of data is the reports from the MAIB (and the Irish equivalent). Not all leisure incidents are fully reported, but they give a good guide to the number of incidents where a liferaft was actually used, or in some cases where the vessel foundered but a liferaft was not used. The number of incidents is indeed very small - less than 2 a year over the last 20 years or so, with some years where there were none. There is little identifiable pattern except in the underlying causes of the foundering. These are severe weather, collision or structural failure. Fire does not feature in reported cases, although there have to my knowledge been at least 3 cases in that period, all involving motor boats. Most of the MAIB cases involve sailing yachts. Some collisions were unsurvivable - or rather no survivors were ever found. None involved "family" crews, therefore no children involved. Very few were the classic "step into the liferaft as the ship slowly sinks" variety and most the situation or conditions were extreme. Performance of rafts was generally poor - not inflating properly and launching/boarding difficulties.

Avoiding situations that might cause a foundering is the best strategy, and the need is reinforced by doing, as Graham says above, the survival course. For most coastal sailing in summer months it is difficult to justify having a liferaft. The further you move away from this type of sailing, either further offshore, in potentially more extreme weather, or racing the greater the potential need.
 
Interesting, thanks Tranona

We bought a life-raft when we started sailing with kids, a decision not supported by the data - as kids have never used one.

So in truth a good handheld, PLB/ EPIRB would be more use for coastal sailing, but the "you can never be too careful" impulse, which exists in all of of us, and certainly all marital discussions will prevail and we'll keep buying a liferaft, and servicing it religiously.
 
We coastal sail mainly and carry a Liferaft for peace of mind and as someone has said, for the sake of what they cost, its a nice to have. I think for us, its most likely to be used in an MOB situation as yet another potential aid for the casualty. Ours is easily and instantly launchable from the pushpit.
 
Tempus said:
Interesting, thanks Tranona

We bought a life-raft when we started sailing with kids, a decision not supported by the data - as kids have never used one.

So in truth a good handheld, PLB/ EPIRB would be more use for coastal sailing, but the "you can never be too careful" impulse, which exists in all of of us, and certainly all marital discussions will prevail and we'll keep buying a liferaft, and servicing it religiously.
Click to expand...

DSC radio is the first line of defence. The rare use of liferafts in coastal waters is partly down to our excellent rescue services which prevent incidents from escalating. If you read the RNLI and Coastguard reports it is clear that there are many potential founderings that are prevented by swift action from the various services. Unfortunately such incidents do not get systematically recorded in much detail - at least in public. Unless of course they make good TV fodder!
 
I've never been saved by a seat belt either, but still wear one, just in case.

If we lost someone over the side in any sort of a chop, getting them back on the boat directly may prove impossible, whereas deploying the liferaft (3 seconds) and then getting them on the boat from there may be feasible.

Having said that, like the PLB, it's a mystery box that can't be tested, and for that reason, I don't really trust it 100%.
 
Liferafts have also been used to recover crew from the sea. A 31' yacht in the Royal Escape race was knocked down by a breaking wave, 3 of the 4 crew in the cockpit were lost over the side. The skipper successfully returned to his crew who were all wearing lifejackets and clipped together. However attempts to recover them directly from the sea were a failure resulting in one of the crew being injured by the rolling of the boat. The solution was to launch the liferaft into which the those in the sea were able to enter and then climb safely back on board. Things could have been very different without that liferaft.

Peter.
 
Adonnante said:
The solution was to launch the liferaft into which the those in the sea were able to enter and then climb safely back on board. Things could have been very different without that liferaft.
Click to expand...

An inflatable dingy as a platform would have achieved the same result, but generally, if you can afford a LR and have the space to store it where it is quickly 'get attable', then it is worth having for peace of mind.
Personally I sailed x channel for more than twenty years without one, only recently when I extended my range to x biscay did I get one, and I only regard it as a peace of mind item.
Where expense is always an issue, I put my money to AIS, Radar, gas detector and PLB before a LR.
 
>We have carried a raft for years. More things to bump into in coastal waters and survival time in cold water isn't very long without a survival suit. Doing the sea survival course left me with one particular thought - the life raft is most definitely a last resort.

Having done the sea survival course I agree. I'll never forget the video of Duncan Goodhew and Sharon Davies swimming in a cold swimming pool. They were fine for four or five minutes but they then completely lost their coordination as hypothermia set in, it was seriously scary. Hence I would always recommend a life raft is carried in cold water.
 
A life raft came with our boat. It's in a canister, mounted on brackets on the top of the aft cabin. However, we always sail with our Avon Redcrest, fully inflated, resting on its side on the sidedeck. In order to deploy the LR, we would have to throw the dinghy over first. I know and trust the dinghy, and so would need a lot of persuasion to use the LR. Was it the Pardeys who used both?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top