Saving Lives at Sea

[Graham_Wright]

A new series.

One rescue was for a gentleman who lost the end of his little finger.

Would you believe it - AN ELECTRIC WINCH.

 

[rotrax]

A new series.

One rescue was for a gentleman who lost the end of his little finger.

Would you believe it - AN ELECTRIC WINCH.

Nothing at all wrong with electric winches - apart from the two small mast mounted halyard winches on our boat all other work is done by a powered Lewmar 40.

I have to press the button with one finger, well out of the way of the winch, and put a slight tension on the furling lines as they are wound in as the outhauls are pulled.

Mainsheet and self tacking jib sheet are on the self tailer, I ensure my hands are clear and the sheets are free to run.

Simples.

I saw that programme, thought he was a bit of a plonker.

I have had injuries like that and been at the tapes for the nexr heat in Speedway..........................................

 

[cpedw]

Each time I see the programme, I am surprised that RNLI doesn't seem to have a technique to get a large MOB into an ILB. It appears to involve a lot of effort on the part of at least 2 hefty lifeboat crew and an uncomfortable ride for the casualty. With them all leannng over one side of the boat, it looks precarious.

I'm always left musing"There must be a better way" but I don't know what it might be.

 

[MoodySabre]

In Bradwell a few years ago I had my VHF on and heard someone calling the Coastguard to say that he had lost his finger in the anchor winch. The CG called back to check on the location which he hadn't understood but no reply. I interrupted and told CG he was in the Ray Channel at West Mersea and a couple of minutes later the maroons went off for the lifeboat. This was in the days when the CG would have known where West Mersea was!

 

[MoodySabre]

Each time I see the programme, I am surprised that RNLI doesn't seem to have a technique to get a large MOB into an ILB. It appears to involve a lot of effort on the part of at least 2 hefty lifeboat crew and an uncomfortable ride for the casualty. With them all leannng over one side of the boat, it looks precarious.

I'm always left musing"There must be a better way" but I don't know what it might be.

On the last occassion that I organised a MOB recovery practice session for a number of boats I contacted the local lifeboat to see if they could send someone along. They declined saying that they didn't know anything about doing that! As you say, their technique seems limited to grabbing hold of the casualty's trousers and heaving him over the side. I suppose it's quicker than deploying kit.

 

[duncan99210]

I'm always left musing"There must be a better way" but I don't know what it might be.

When learning how to deal with getting an unconscious casualty back on board a diving rib, we were taught to turn the casualty so the back was to the tube, two people grip under the arms whilst one or more people in the water grab the legs and push up. That’d see the casualty slither into the boat on their back, ready to receive CPR or O2 as required. Never an easy job, which could be made much more difficult by forgetting to remove the casualty’s weight belt.....
As to kit to assist, there precious little room available in either a dive boat or an ILB for kit to make the job easier. Brute strength is required, although practice does make it easier. My least favourite is doing MOB drill in a pilot gig: no nice round tube to slide over, just a hard, thin gunwale.

 

[LadyInBed]

A tethered mesh sheet hung over the side that the MOB lays on and is rolled inboard could work, but brute force is probably quicker.

 

[Skylark]

A new series.

One rescue was for a gentleman who lost the end of his little finger.

Would you believe it - AN ELECTRIC WINCH.

When the RNLI crew arrived and boarded his yacht, we were struct by the lack of his crew to help. The narrator said that there were 3 or 4, can't remember, aboard yet there was no one else to be seen. He was very evidently in a lot of pain yet remained in control of the boat while his wife, presumably, had better things to do down below. Seemed a bit odd

 

[Rappey]

One rescue was for a gentleman who lost the end of his little finger.

Would you believe it - AN ELECTRIC WINCH.

A Venezuelen woman was winching her husband up the mast of their Amel 54 in Jolly Harbour, Antigua when a riding turn developed on the foot-operated self-tailing winch.

Trying to free the jam, one of the woman’s hands was severed and the other was crushed and John Ahlgren, a 63-year-old Norwegian sailor, who rushed to help her, also lost seven fingers. One onlooker said the scene resembled ‘an abattoir with body parts all over the cockpit’.


Lewmar‘s safety notice said: ‘Under no circumstances should any self-tailing winch be used in self-tailing mode for any lifting operation.

 

[penberth3]

When the RNLI crew arrived and boarded his yacht, we were struct by the lack of his crew to help. The narrator said that there were 3 or 4, can't remember, aboard yet there was no one else to be seen. He was very evidently in a lot of pain yet remained in control of the boat while his wife, presumably, had better things to do down below. Seemed a bit odd

Yes, I think it was 4, all below. I thought that was odd. And wasn't the yacht still motoring towards terra firma? ISTR the LB crew knocked it out of gear.

 

[penberth3]

Each time I see the programme, I am surprised that RNLI doesn't seem to have a technique to get a large MOB into an ILB. It appears to involve a lot of effort on the part of at least 2 hefty lifeboat crew and an uncomfortable ride for the casualty. With them all leannng over one side of the boat, it looks precarious.

I'm always left musing"There must be a better way" but I don't know what it might be.

They seem to manage OK, although I've been told they could deflate a tube if that's what it needs. I guess there's a bottle or pump to re-inflate, I can 't remember all the details!

(ETA this was Re: the Atlantic)

 

[Juan Twothree]

A tethered mesh sheet hung over the side that the MOB lays on and is rolled inboard could work, but brute force is probably quicker.

Standard procedure is to turn their back to the boat, grab them under the arms, then slide them in. If need be, for instance if we have someone with a spinal injury, we can deflate a section of sponson to get them in.

What struck me about that programme was that if the ILB hadn't already been afloat on another call, then at least two of those people would probably have drowned. I don't know the local area, but it would take at least five minutes for a crew to be paged and get the boat launched. And it didn't look like they'd have lasted that long.

EDIT: Sorry Penberth, hadn't seen your response when I posted mine.

 

[Kurrawong_Kid]

Yes, I think it was 4, all below. I thought that was odd. And wasn't the yacht still motoring towards terra firma? ISTR the LB crew knocked it out of gear.

I believe sometimes they “stage” bits of the rescue to enhance continuity. Perhaps the crew were below to allow a better shot. The sea state seemed calmer than described in the motoring shot. The earlier Weston rescues were impressive though.

 

[penberth3]

Standard procedure is to turn their back to the boat, grab them under the arms, then slide them in. If need be, for instance if we have someone with a spinal injury, we can deflate a section of sponson to get them in........

EDIT: Sorry Penberth, hadn't seen your response when I posted mine.

No problem , it's good to know I can remember things!

 

[penberth3]

I believe sometimes they “stage” bits of the rescue to enhance continuity. Perhaps the crew were below to allow a better shot. The sea state seemed calmer than described in the motoring shot. The earlier Weston rescues were impressive though.

That's a good point, the media do manipulate things for the sake of a better shot or story.

 

[Graham_Wright]

I think the offshore lifeboats have a winch. But, after being dragged over a hard transom on my back during a sea cadet MOB exercise, I wouldn't do it again.

When diving, I've always found that one arm from the casualty on the sponson, body horizontal and then one leg. It's always worked for me.

 

[Iliade]

With our Newmatic (tub/jaffa etc) we switch the engine off. The booted & conscious casualty then stands on the anti-cavitation plate and clambers in over the slightly dropped transom. We used to use a boarding ladder but it proved more hassle than it was worth.

Unconscious ones have only ever had to be dealt with from the semi-rib and that was grab by the harness and haul over the tubes at the stern quarter. Big motor, big crew and big casualty all contrived to bring the freeboard right down on the corner. The same would be true of the Newmatic, but I guess it may be necessary to remove the bung in the case of a very heavy casualty. We always have to do so once they are aboard anyway as inevitably they bring a lot of water with them and their kit.

I''d love a Pioneer with its landing craft door, but the price is exorbitant. I do keep coming back to the idea of a derrick, but...

 

[cherod]

prob the crew were told to go below out of the way .

 

[bitbaltic]

I felt the bloke (who lost the finger) was typical of a lot of sailors with (he said) 25 years experience. Experienced but overconfident and forgetting that the sea teaches you something new every day.

I was also surprised that the crew below, which included his wife who clearly routinely sailed with him, could not take command of the boat in benign conditions.

he also delayed the mayday (not calling it when he took his finger off but calling it when he felt he could no longer keep off the rocks). Certainly with crew who could not take command of the boat that was a poor decision.

the Weston rescue was amazing persistence and hats off to that RNLI crew.

 

[Juan Twothree]

I believe sometimes they “stage” bits of the rescue to enhance continuity. Perhaps the crew were below to allow a better shot. The sea state seemed calmer than described in the motoring shot. The earlier Weston rescues were impressive though.

The only parts that are sometimes "staged" are shots of the boat launching, or the crew turning up to the call. Anything on the yacht would have been from the GoPro camera.

My station featured on the programme a few years ago. My TV career has been rather quiet since though.