Nightmare. Do life-rafts sink?

[Resolution]

. The real question is where do you fly your ensign and is there a recognised place to fly it from in the event your liferaft sinks. .

Now what do you do if your RYS member or RYC member succumbs to the deep first, do you swap the white for a blue and then the blue for a red?

In our (posh) club the warrant conditions require a) one to fly the club burgee from the masthead and b) the club initials to be displayed on the yacht transom. Your comment has made me realise that, before leaving the sinking yacht and stepping into the liferaft, I will now have to lower the burgee from its masthead position and transfer this somehow to the cover of the liferaft, then quickly stick a transfer with the club initials on the liferaft tube, and only then remove the bluey from the yacht and insert into the liferaft. Phew!
Another sound reason only to deploy the liferaft as a really final option.


Of course if your RYS or RTYC member has fallen overboard and gone finish, the remaining crew should replace the white or blue with a red. The white or blue should only be used when the warrantholder is in command and in the vicinity of the boat.

 

[pmagowan]

In our (posh) club the warrant conditions require a) one to fly the club burgee from the masthead and b) the club initials to be displayed on the yacht transom. Your comment has made me realise that, before leaving the sinking yacht and stepping into the liferaft, I will now have to lower the burgee from its masthead position and transfer this somehow to the cover of the liferaft, then quickly stick a transfer with the club initials on the liferaft tube, and only then remove the bluey from the yacht and insert into the liferaft. Phew!
Another sound reason only to deploy the liferaft as a really final option.

If you sharpen the end of your ensign pole it will make it a lot easier to stick it in the liferaft and will also answer the question about whether a liferaft has positive buoyancy even when there is no air in it.

 

[dunedin]

In our (posh) club the warrant conditions require a) one to fly the club burgee from the masthead and b) the club initials to be displayed on the yacht transom. Your comment has made me realise that, before leaving the sinking yacht and stepping into the liferaft, I will now have to lower the burgee from its masthead position and transfer this somehow to the cover of the liferaft, then quickly stick a transfer with the club initials on the liferaft tube, and only then remove the bluey from the yacht and insert into the liferaft. Phew!
Another sound reason only to deploy the liferaft as a really final option.


Of course if your RYS or RTYC member has fallen overboard and gone finish, the remaining crew should replace the white or blue with a red. The white or blue should only be used when the warrantholder is in command and in the vicinity of the boat.

BRILLIANT ! Love the extended MOB procedure. Best ensign posting yet seen ;-).

And it just reinforces what a load of old tosh this special ensign stuff is

 

[snowleopard]

I accept the calculations given prove that a liferaft will float, but it does assume that water will not leak into the canister. Mine has no seal and would over a period of time in a seaway flood and ultimately sink, much like me!

I doubt it. Even when deflated a raft will still contain a fair amount of air, sufficient to keep it afloat. Anyway, why worry about rafts - you sail one!

 

[snowleopard]

Who cares about this? The real issue is what Ensign do you wear in the Liferaft, and do you lower it if it takes longer than 12 hours to be rescued?!

I don't have a flag halyard on my dinghy but I was rather surprised when I went to watch it being serviced to discover the manufacturers had printed 'Snow Leopard' in large letters on the canopy.

 

[snowleopard]

Well if anyone wants to have nightmares about liferafts they should read the account of the 1979 Fastnet Race " Fastnet Force Ten "then follow that up with the 2014 story of how the three guys on Taos who deployed their liferaft, it inflated caught the wind [ it was blowing a hooley] the painter pulled off the raft and the raft blew away.

What about the circumnavigating crew who found their canister contained a load of old sails etc from when it had been serviced in the USA.

 

[Adonnante]

I doubt it. Even when deflated a raft will still contain a fair amount of air, sufficient to keep it afloat. Anyway, why worry about rafts - you sail one!

Your probably right Chris, its just I watched and after testing the air was sucked out and the contents vacuum packed. I know the Azuli will float which ever way up but the ISAF has some funny ideas.

Peter.

 

[J Neeves]

This is like an anchor thread without the rancour - lovely. Makes a pleasant change -

But I see no reason why it could not make a short article in PBO/YM

Jonathan

 

[fisherman]

Ever since I started here I've been banging on about sea survival training, certainly when we were first required to do it we expected the raft to save us but found we didn't quite know the detail.

 

[Storyline]

.....
Do people imagine they are to throw it overboard and watch it sink, or do they simply not know how to use it at all? Seriously?
.....

Exactly

 

[J Neeves]

Liferafts are like flares - we do not get much chance and certainly not regularly to do it ourselves. Watching someone is not quite the same. When was the last time people used flares?, smoke, hand held, parachutes? We used to fire flares regularly, it was a good use for old flares - and then bureaucracy got involved (have not done it for years now).

Jonathan