tcm
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I gotta have these various safety things for ARC. Last year we just sorta "had them" but they weren't practically and easily accessible/useable. Trouble, they can deteriorate in the sun, and there's other problems too. Here's some ideas i have had so far.
1. The danbuoy is not very UV resistant so i retract and store it when at anchor long term or in marina.
2. The danbuoy has to be tied to horseshoe float, so I wrap the line round and round the danbuoy so it's not a pile of string but just a danbuoy and (close to it, not via big hank of line) a horseshoe float. Once in the water the line will just unravel by spinning the danbuoy.
3. The danbuoy has to be carried fully-extended, really - else you can't dump it without taking eyes off target.
4. The light at the top of danbuoy is fragile - just a plastic moulding jammed into the top. I dropped it a bit on the deck (easily possible when using in anger i spose) and lightly cracked the stub that just jams into the top of the stick. Much stronger fix is to cut off the plastic stub, and make a hole so that an M12 countersunk capscrew can be screwed into the bottom of the light, nut to secure it underneath, and then there's a nice long screw end to sort-of screw into the top of the Danbuoy. I also put in a grubscrew to firmly locate it in the stick.
5. The whole caboodle is normally carried inside the guard rails, which means you wd have to release and then launch it by throwing over the rails. Again, bit of a mission, not great. I have re-rigged it so that the danbuoy holder is mounted externally, on the seaward side of the rails, and tied using tautline hitch on one end and the release is a pull release knot - something like a highwayman's hitch with an extra hitch allows just one line to be pulled (hard) to release and push the whole lot into the water - without looking at anything except that pull-line - in other words can still concentrate on looking at/for target.
6. Yeah, the danbuoy is really a "hmm, darnit, this is bad - better make it look good and chuck the danbuoy in anyway" item. By the time the shout has gone up, he's almost certain to be 200yards from the danbouy, minimum, unless you pushed him in i spose.
7. The horseshoe floats are a bit poxy and the plastic can split. But it's ok to glue them up - the float is a load of plastic/polystrene, nothing inflatable.
8. The other ARC requirement is another floating horseshoe and a floating light - like the big ones which light up when upright. The floating lights are again not very UV resistant (returning ARCies often find that the floating line has fallen apart after a year of sunshine) so again best these are stashed away when not sailing offshore.
9. With catamaran we don't have a big problem getting people back on the boat if they're nearby - the sterns are low so ulitmately we can just draggem on board as if they were a fish.
10 The boat (catamaran) is very susceptible to being blown off the wind - not like a mono which is easier to hold pointed into the wind, a cat needs to be driven into the wind to stand much chance of holding that position. Hence likely best option when/if we find a target is gonna be to circle them with floating line. I think i need a second (much longer) floating line specially for circling target. If the target is incapacitated, another crew clips to that line and goes to get MOB while boat circles around them both.
10. I have noticed that floating lines are pretty hopeless unless they already have a loops each end - can't get hold of them easily if in the water, and will slip if "figure of eight" around a cleat.
We gotta practice some of this, a bit, of course. Any other ideas? I have missed anything?
1. The danbuoy is not very UV resistant so i retract and store it when at anchor long term or in marina.
2. The danbuoy has to be tied to horseshoe float, so I wrap the line round and round the danbuoy so it's not a pile of string but just a danbuoy and (close to it, not via big hank of line) a horseshoe float. Once in the water the line will just unravel by spinning the danbuoy.
3. The danbuoy has to be carried fully-extended, really - else you can't dump it without taking eyes off target.
4. The light at the top of danbuoy is fragile - just a plastic moulding jammed into the top. I dropped it a bit on the deck (easily possible when using in anger i spose) and lightly cracked the stub that just jams into the top of the stick. Much stronger fix is to cut off the plastic stub, and make a hole so that an M12 countersunk capscrew can be screwed into the bottom of the light, nut to secure it underneath, and then there's a nice long screw end to sort-of screw into the top of the Danbuoy. I also put in a grubscrew to firmly locate it in the stick.
5. The whole caboodle is normally carried inside the guard rails, which means you wd have to release and then launch it by throwing over the rails. Again, bit of a mission, not great. I have re-rigged it so that the danbuoy holder is mounted externally, on the seaward side of the rails, and tied using tautline hitch on one end and the release is a pull release knot - something like a highwayman's hitch with an extra hitch allows just one line to be pulled (hard) to release and push the whole lot into the water - without looking at anything except that pull-line - in other words can still concentrate on looking at/for target.
6. Yeah, the danbuoy is really a "hmm, darnit, this is bad - better make it look good and chuck the danbuoy in anyway" item. By the time the shout has gone up, he's almost certain to be 200yards from the danbouy, minimum, unless you pushed him in i spose.
7. The horseshoe floats are a bit poxy and the plastic can split. But it's ok to glue them up - the float is a load of plastic/polystrene, nothing inflatable.
8. The other ARC requirement is another floating horseshoe and a floating light - like the big ones which light up when upright. The floating lights are again not very UV resistant (returning ARCies often find that the floating line has fallen apart after a year of sunshine) so again best these are stashed away when not sailing offshore.
9. With catamaran we don't have a big problem getting people back on the boat if they're nearby - the sterns are low so ulitmately we can just draggem on board as if they were a fish.
10 The boat (catamaran) is very susceptible to being blown off the wind - not like a mono which is easier to hold pointed into the wind, a cat needs to be driven into the wind to stand much chance of holding that position. Hence likely best option when/if we find a target is gonna be to circle them with floating line. I think i need a second (much longer) floating line specially for circling target. If the target is incapacitated, another crew clips to that line and goes to get MOB while boat circles around them both.
10. I have noticed that floating lines are pretty hopeless unless they already have a loops each end - can't get hold of them easily if in the water, and will slip if "figure of eight" around a cleat.
We gotta practice some of this, a bit, of course. Any other ideas? I have missed anything?
