come on spill the beans, I bet you just love squirting them with cold hoses and seeing peeps trying to get into a life raft. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I've recenlty completed the instructors course that I daresay Jon1M also used to teach...1.5 hours in Weymouth bay in a sea state 4 with 12 people in a 10 man raft was no laughing matter...and really brings home some of the reality of the situation.....I suppose thats why they do it. it'll certainly stay with me forever and be passed on to any courses that I teach... Iain
I have been told its one of the hardest instructor course, but it is peeps lives you are trying to teach them to save. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Did the RYA course a few yars ago - but did several Mil Aircrew Sea Survival courses over a decade and a half. Much more involved. Much more likely to be needed at the time....
Try being towed in a parachute harness behing a Rescue Launch at 15-20 knots; try blowing up your single-seat liferaft by mouth 'cos the airbottle had failed to fire ( this is common ); try being left - a dozen of you - bobbing around in your s/s liferafts overnight, on the track of a NorthSea ferry into/out of an eastern port.
Here's a little tip for the real situation, that the RYA course may not mention - always take your personal lifeline into the dinghy with you, so you can stay attached to each other, and the liferaft. And consider carrying your own TPA ( Thermal Protection Aid ) in your kitbag/grab bag. They cost under £10, are mandatory fit on all UK lifeboats/RNLI boats/ and rescue helicopters - for they save lives. Maybe yours....? Or some sailboarding/dinghying kiddie with hypothermia....?