Ship carrying boats listing and abandoned in the Norwegian Sea

[Kukri]

Those videos were made when the various European manufacturers were competing with each other for the biggest drop heights.

The helmsman’s seat faces aft during boarding and during the drop, but can be rotated to face forward by the occupant after the boat has entered the water and come to a stop, in all the free fall boats I have been in, but the GoPro video that AThompson links to above shows the helmswoman facing forward, which I have never seen.

I have been a fan of these since I first saw one which was in 1985, and I cannot say that the deceleration has ever felt uncomfortable, but I have only been dropped in ship type free fall boats, not the oil platform types that drop from bigger heights. It actually feels quite gentle.

The uncomfortable bit is getting to your seat, because the floor slopes so much. Once you have done that you feel fine.

I find that a conventional boat can be really terrifying!

 

[Bajansailor]

I am just imagining now a monster cruise ship with 15 free fall lifeboats on each side.... the mind boggles!
I have never been launched in a free fall lifeboat (although I have been inside a few on survey assignments), but I can see why Kukri says that being launched in a 'conventional' lifeboat would be rather terrifying in comparison.
It would be free fall any day for me if I had a choice.
Cruise ship pax do not have a choice though - woe betide if any of the big 220,000+ GRT cruise ships ever have to 'do a Titanic'.

 

[Stemar]

Cruise ship pax do not have a choice though - woe betide if any of the big 220,000+ GRT cruise ships ever have to 'do a Titanic'.

The same applies to cross channel ferries. I can't believe there are enough places for everyone on the boats - even if, judging by the comments above, they don't dump everyone out from a great height. Deploying into a liferaft in a F9 mid-channel strikes me as a potentially very "exciting" experience, but one I think I'd pass on at my age.

 

[Solent Sailor]

Looks like the AQR Tor has been recovered to Floero and the mothership is heading towards Alesund.

 

[DJE]

The same applies to cross channel ferries. I can't believe there are enough places for everyone on the boats - even if, judging by the comments above, they don't dump everyone out from a great height. Deploying into a liferaft in a F9 mid-channel strikes me as a potentially very "exciting" experience, but one I think I'd pass on at my age.

The ferries seem to have a mixture of conventional boats and inflatable life rafts. I wonder what the plan is for deploying the rafts and getting the passengers into them.

 

[awol]

The ferries seem to have a mixture of conventional boats and inflatable life rafts. I wonder what the plan is for deploying the rafts and getting the passengers into them.

Inflatable tube slides

 

[nicho]

Brilliant !

Better than some of the rides at Alton Towers .

Ffffff...........k?

 

[Kukri]

“AQS Tor” now alongside at Floero, has beaten her carrying vessel into port

 

[Bilgediver]

A very well known and much quoted statistic, which comes in several forms, but it applies to conventional lifeboats, not to free fall lifeboats.

At one point about ten years ago our fleet was steaming around the oceans with notices on the conventional lifeboats which read: “DO NOT USE” - that was a particular problem, now fixed, with the “release on load” hooks, which were rather too keen on doing what it said on the label.

Thought it was more than 10 years..... I was still working

 

[Kukri]

Thought it was more than 10 years..... I was still working

Could well be. I think it was a long running saga. I’m sure that in our case we fixed it after we had reflagged to the UK which was in 2011.

 

[westhinder]

I’d be interested to have a closer look at the cradle that the sailing yacht was (is?) sitting in. if it has withstood such violent movement, it must be tremendously strong. The cradle my boat sits in in the yard looks pretty well made, but I do worry when I see how the boat sometimes is shaking in a blow.
If the yacht has survived, I imagine a thorough survey would be the least they can offer. A compensation for moral distress would be a nice gesture.

 

[Bilgediver]

Could well be. I think it was a long running saga. I’m sure that in our case we fixed it after we had reflagged to the UK which was in 2011.

Oh well some thing is the marine industry can drag on somewhat.

 

[Bilgediver]

Inflatable tube slides

Some arn't even inflatable. Alton Towers has nothing on this.

 

[Stemar]

Inflatable tube slides

Again, rather more "exciting" in F9 than most passengers would really want.

Some arn't even inflatable. Alton Towers has nothing on this.

Yikes! I would have thought that was great fun at 12, maybe even at 30, but now? No thanks, though if the choice is that or jump...

 

[wully1]

Some arn't even inflatable. Alton Towers has nothing on this.

They are great fun!

 

[JumbleDuck]

They are great fun!

They look lethal. First bloke got stuck at least three times.

 

[Bajansailor]

They look lethal. First bloke got stuck at least three times.

And this is with a flat calm sea - is the liferaft going to sit there quietly waiting for them to untangle themselves when they want to escape in a Force 10 with 30' high waves?

 

[Adios]

Some arn't even inflatable. Alton Towers has nothing on this.

Strange that it got to this stage in development without realising they need to tell people to take their boots off. But overall far less safe looking than a freefall boat made of somewhat fireproof tough material which will moving away from the platform. I expect the oil companies want something cheaper and this is what will be declared safe.

 

[Kukri]

The Eemslift Hendrika is now safely berthed in Alesund.

 

[wully1]

They look lethal. First bloke got stuck at least three times.

If you do as instructed you just rattle down gently.....