R.N.L.I Sea Check

dualin

dualin

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Whilst at the Shotley fitted up supper last the other week end which was fantastic!! signed up to the sea check scheme which is an informal visit from a man with a clip board and a pen , which i found to be an informative experiance which i hope many of you will be taking up , its all about what equpment you have and knowing how you would use it if it all went nipples up so to speak!!! he only pulled me up on no bolt croppers , epurb ,sea anchor /drogue and no emergency steering so only a small worth while list to start saving for !!!
BUT this did not prepare me for a compleat cockrell up on the colne saturday afternoon after a bit of a session at Rowhedge so now swedish lass can proberly remember a load of happy people waving as we went through wivenhoe then only to cockrell up a tack and stoping somewhere near the No28 port hand bouy for 10 hours !! still we drank some more and had a sleep and returned to pyfleet for about 1.30am sunday . never mind the company was good !!! Now i did have a good think during this ,would it not have happened if i had the missing items aboard .
 
10 hours for someone who floats on a damp cloth anyway sure is a close shave....... also nearly at the top of springs. You could have been stuck there for a month. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I know, it must have been that last pint but as i said i was parked by the bouy and not by the edge of the river but as my first time i am glad the following tide was bigger .
swimbo was not impressed by the internal waterfall as the putty went up the keel box and pshed the water out of the i top, i can still hear the shreaking of displeasure /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
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I know, it must have been that last pint but as i said i was parked by the bouy and not by the edge of the river but as my first time i am glad the following tide was bigger .
swimbo was not impressed by the internal waterfall as the putty went up the keel box and pshed the water out of the i top, i can still hear the shreaking of displeasure /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

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You can mitigate that a bit by leaving the keel down by 2 or 3 turns, which allows the keel box to have a slightly enlarged capacity for water, and, with a bit of luck, the keel will create a drainaway in the mud.
I have a 19mm fitting in the side of the keel box which drains away to on overboard fitting just above the waterline at the side of the boat.
 
I signed up too but as I was 'out of area' I am still waiting for my check. Expect to get done before Ostend trip. I do have a spare tiller and a bucket so emergency steering sorted!

I shall remember not to follow you.
 
Must admit I've thought about booking a sea check, but if they're just going to give me a list of stuff to get that I can't afford it would be a bit of a waste of time for them
 
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no bolt croppers , epurb ,sea anchor /drogue and no emergency steering

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I cannot imagine trying to use bolt croppers on a heaving deck - one hand for the ship, one for yourself - open the jaws up and the handles are 18 inches apart. I do carry a hacksaw and loads of blades! Surely the risk is of being holed by the rig if dismasted - if the rig ends up as a drogue with boat floating in its lee then what is the risk? If the rig is against the hull and the rigging slack can't you undo the turnbuckle thingies?

EPIRB - bit excessive for coastal cruising in my view. Expect you have VHF and flares.

Sea Anchor - from reading various heavy weather books there is a strong argument not to use one. As for drogue, you have those onboard, just tie every spare bit of string you have together and use that attached to each quarter if running downwind, add the anchor inthe middle if you like too.

Emergency steering - spinnaker pole stuck out the back will have some effect, bucket on a string (strong handle!), maybe even dinghy oars - I'm sure you could come up with something if you had to.

The Sea Check is a good idea (not done it though!) but I know what I am like, if there was the slightest 'attitude' in the assistance offered I would be off on one spitting dummies everywhere! One of my brothers came sailing with me and made a comparison with the sleek things he races at Cowes and I nearly threw him off at Cocum! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
A drogue of any length would turn in the ground tackle pretty soon after being deployed anywhere round here:

wallet.jpg


Seriously though, if the man turns up with a clip board then clearly he has a list. Why don't the RNLI just publish the list? Wouldn't that be more efficient than having someone round?
 
I hope it's going to more than a check list ticking exercise. When I bought my boat it had previously been coded. There were seperate harnesses with lifelines attached but the hooks on them were too big to go through the rings in the cockpit! Now that's list ticking for you /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Needless to say shackles were added to the rings pdq.
 
I hope so too, but I imagine it must start with a list and I trust if its put together by the RNLI it will be comprehensive and based on their front line experience.

I am not arguing against a visit; its more that I would like to see the visit as a high grade knowledge transfer exercise, my having squared away all the obvious stuff from the list beforehand.
 
I used to be a sea check volunteer and I mostly always had good feedback from the skippers' who's boat I visited. Yes there is a check list of which you get a copy on completion for reference, but the whole idea of the service is to discuss issues of safety equipment, the SEA in sea check stands for Safety equipment Advisory check. Yes I am sure there are volunteers out there that go through the check list and thats it, but the whole point of the service is to promote discussion on various topics. I didnt advise coastal sailors that they needed and EPIRB, I dont think they are even neccessary on a trip to the near continent, I would disscuss the different methods of MOB recovery for example.
If you are thinking about a sea check, which is generally a usefull service for all levels of experience, ask the advisor questions about different aspects of safety equipment, dont sit and let him tell you what you need or dont need, I would always encourage disscussion with the client and always be late home for my tea!!

I would certainly recommend a sea check, they are free when all is said and done.
 
Yes spot on. The man was very helpful in his attitude and was no way looking down his nose he wanted purely to assess you and your boat for being prepared for most nasty experiences!! As he said this is not a survey and purely for the RNLI to asses the needs of the fellow boaters . Now for the cost of a cup of tea and biscuits and talking boats for an hour perhaps in the discussion there may be something that we had not thought about that does come to light and may well save yours or someone you care abouts life !!! But it still did not stop me making a cockerel of saturday afternoon and have learnt not to tack between the red and green bouys!!!!!
 
I had one about 3 years ago....

I found it useful..... and a few good points came out.... ..... as an example.... here's one i'd never thought of..... where is the gas cylinder in your life raft cannister?..... have you mounted the liferaft so that the weight of the cylinder isn't spending its life sitting on top of everything else?...... something that had never crossed my mind..... it was also the prompt to stick a welding glove in the flare box..... so if nothing else, its useful to have a fresh pair of eyes to discuss your safety prep

So... no matter how long you've sailed or owned a boat, IMHO, its well worth the hour of your time....
 
I had one a few years ago as well and I too picked up one or two useful pointers from it.
His visit was late one afternoon. That morning we had left Brightlingsea in pitch darkness at 0400, found our way out, dodged fishing boats on the way, crossed the Thames Estuary and arrived home at Faversham after a drama-free trip. So I had to bite my tongue when he finished the check by saying that "he'd be happy to go to sea with me"!
 
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