T_S
New member
When you about to go ashore from your moored or anchored boat.
What basic safety rules do you use to prevent any accidents?
What basic safety rules do you use to prevent any accidents?
Tender Precautions
- Thread starter T_S
- Start date
powerskipper
Well-known member
all must wear life jackets,
load it carefully, for weight distribution, and when climbing into it.
if any engine make sure you have enough fuel and that it is running OK, and Always take a pair of oars.
take a spare rope or one long enough to tie her up to something at low water.
do not carry anything sharp unless it is well wrapped so it can't puncher the sides.
check tide to know which way to row to get to your destination.
load it carefully, for weight distribution, and when climbing into it.
if any engine make sure you have enough fuel and that it is running OK, and Always take a pair of oars.
take a spare rope or one long enough to tie her up to something at low water.
do not carry anything sharp unless it is well wrapped so it can't puncher the sides.
check tide to know which way to row to get to your destination.
WayneS
Active member
Make sure that your trusy old Seagull starts before casting off from the mother ship.
Been there, done that, ended up with a long row...
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
W
Been there, done that, ended up with a long row...
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
W
Lakesailor
New member
I have a rowlock on the transom to scull with in case I lose an oar. I also have a painter permanantly attached at both the bow and stern.
To my chagrin I must admit I rarely wear a lifejacket going out to my swinging mooring.
Just this morning a (young, fit) guy on our moorings flipped his tender whilst leaving his boat. Luckily this sailor did have a lifejacket on. In the strong North Westerley with a heavy chop he was having great difficulty in getting back aboard. It was quicker to call the Lake Warden than get my oars and launch my tender. I was just getting the cover off my tender as the Warden arrived.
Thinking about it afterwards I realised I was about to put myself in peril to rescue him. I am introducing a lifejacket rule.
To my chagrin I must admit I rarely wear a lifejacket going out to my swinging mooring.
Just this morning a (young, fit) guy on our moorings flipped his tender whilst leaving his boat. Luckily this sailor did have a lifejacket on. In the strong North Westerley with a heavy chop he was having great difficulty in getting back aboard. It was quicker to call the Lake Warden than get my oars and launch my tender. I was just getting the cover off my tender as the Warden arrived.
Thinking about it afterwards I realised I was about to put myself in peril to rescue him. I am introducing a lifejacket rule.
T_S
New member
I think it was around two years ago when two people were going out to a moored boat on the Crouch, was capsized when one of them reached for the boat, not wearing bouancy aids one was swept by the tide and drowned, he could not swim either!
FullCircle
Well-known member
as well as the others, I also carry a 2kg folding grappling anchor on 30ft of rope. I also have a sculling rowlock on the transom.
Ashamed to say I dont always wear a lifejacket (depends on conditions), but I do put the kill cord around my wrist.
My mooring is about 50 yards from shore, but a fair way down from the launching pontoon.
Lynn painted the tender Bright Yellow. Not really for safety, more of a fashion thing. It did not stop it being nicked, but did jog the mind of the local Rozzers when I reported it, and was told exactly where to find it again!
Ashamed to say I dont always wear a lifejacket (depends on conditions), but I do put the kill cord around my wrist.
My mooring is about 50 yards from shore, but a fair way down from the launching pontoon.
Lynn painted the tender Bright Yellow. Not really for safety, more of a fashion thing. It did not stop it being nicked, but did jog the mind of the local Rozzers when I reported it, and was told exactly where to find it again!
Stemar
Well-known member
Spare fuel, spark plug, shear pins, tools to fit them. Oars, bailer, grapnel anchor and line, pump, torch, mobile phone or hh vhf. Most of it lives in a bag that I attach to the tender as soon as it's blown up.
Life jacket for me if solo, windy or dark. Compulsory other than in VERY benign conditions for non-swimmers or inexperienced.
Different kind of security, but fine wire cable with an eye at each end and a padlock to attach OB to Zodiac and Zodiac to pontoon or boat
Life jacket for me if solo, windy or dark. Compulsory other than in VERY benign conditions for non-swimmers or inexperienced.
Different kind of security, but fine wire cable with an eye at each end and a padlock to attach OB to Zodiac and Zodiac to pontoon or boat
graham
Well-known member
Dont overload the tender ,why is it that 5 sober men make two trips in the tender to get ashore but sometime later think it hillarious to all cram in on the return still eating kebabs??
Kids and non swimmers allways wear lifejackets, bucket or bailer in hard dinghys.Returning to our home mooring if its at all choppy I land everyone on the pontoon then put the boat away on my own.
Kids and non swimmers allways wear lifejackets, bucket or bailer in hard dinghys.Returning to our home mooring if its at all choppy I land everyone on the pontoon then put the boat away on my own.
Cornishman
New member
I am surpised that only one person has mentioned "an electric torch or lighted lantern" ready at hand as required by Colregs (25 (d) ) when in the tender after dark. IMO this is essential, especially when other craft are about. See and be seen.
When I had MN cadets on a cruise it was compulsory by the School's Rules to wear a lifejacket when in the tender, no matter how smooth the water.
When I had MN cadets on a cruise it was compulsory by the School's Rules to wear a lifejacket when in the tender, no matter how smooth the water.
ShipsWoofy
New member
After what happened in Barmouth last year, we always wear lifejackets in the tender now, it put the scare of God up me....
oldharry
Well-known member
[ QUOTE ]
Make sure that your trusy old Seagull starts before casting off from the mother ship.
Been there, done that, ended up with a long row...
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
W
[/ QUOTE ]
... every time? Must be with a Seagull.....
The best keep fit engine for the world! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Make sure that your trusy old Seagull starts before casting off from the mother ship.
Been there, done that, ended up with a long row...
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
W
[/ QUOTE ]
... every time? Must be with a Seagull.....
The best keep fit engine for the world! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
kds
New member
And ..... don't borrow a tender from a well-meaning but incompetent acquantance.
Or - forget your basic safety rules, just because the Sun is out and your friend is excited at getting to his new (old) boat.
I have just survived the closest call after 40 years sailing, instructing, racing, etc. etc.
We Borrowed a battered old twin-hulled 8' dory and unreliable outboard to reach a boat we were to have a look at across a few hundred yards of benign water in Greece last week. Bailed the dinghy out - undid drain plug and emptied water from between the hulls; got outboard going - sort of - and made it safely to boat.
Spent day working on boat in beautiful sunshine and then came the trip back. Dinghy felt a bit sluggish - but got to within 150 yards of shore - engine packed up finally. I noticed boat surging a bit while I was struggling with engine. A bit worrying. Water had obviously got in between the hulls over the intervening hours. Then we tried to row ashore. Rowlocks useless.
Paddled - boat now quite unstable as we moved in it - freeboard down to a couple of inches - there was obviously a lot of water in the space between the hulls, but no way to bale it out.
I started to get REALLY worried.
We made little progress paddling with the oars (yes I do know how to do it) and we were now out of the shelter of the headland. Nobody around (nobody sensible sails off Levkas when the snow is down !)
We did make it to the shore - but we didn't deserve to. I couldn't help thinking that was this the height of stupidity, I think only the indignity of a man of my experience drowning in such a manner was what kept me going.
The ONLY thing I did right was to have my lifejacket on.
I still have difficulty believing that I was so foolhardy.
Learn from my mistakes.
Tha beers tasted good that night.
Ken
Or - forget your basic safety rules, just because the Sun is out and your friend is excited at getting to his new (old) boat.
I have just survived the closest call after 40 years sailing, instructing, racing, etc. etc.
We Borrowed a battered old twin-hulled 8' dory and unreliable outboard to reach a boat we were to have a look at across a few hundred yards of benign water in Greece last week. Bailed the dinghy out - undid drain plug and emptied water from between the hulls; got outboard going - sort of - and made it safely to boat.
Spent day working on boat in beautiful sunshine and then came the trip back. Dinghy felt a bit sluggish - but got to within 150 yards of shore - engine packed up finally. I noticed boat surging a bit while I was struggling with engine. A bit worrying. Water had obviously got in between the hulls over the intervening hours. Then we tried to row ashore. Rowlocks useless.
Paddled - boat now quite unstable as we moved in it - freeboard down to a couple of inches - there was obviously a lot of water in the space between the hulls, but no way to bale it out.
I started to get REALLY worried.
We made little progress paddling with the oars (yes I do know how to do it) and we were now out of the shelter of the headland. Nobody around (nobody sensible sails off Levkas when the snow is down !)
We did make it to the shore - but we didn't deserve to. I couldn't help thinking that was this the height of stupidity, I think only the indignity of a man of my experience drowning in such a manner was what kept me going.
The ONLY thing I did right was to have my lifejacket on.
I still have difficulty believing that I was so foolhardy.
Learn from my mistakes.
Tha beers tasted good that night.
Ken
Superstrath
New member
No one has mentioned a repair kit. We have one permanently attached to the inflatable dinghy along with the pump. Learned the hard way when we ripped a hole last year on some barnacles. Luckily it was a nice day and we were at a pub on Bute, so no prob to scrounge a lift to the boat for repair materials, but if we were on a lonely island somewhere....
Also, even with motor, always steer to windward and take a big curve back round to your boat. That way, if the OB fails, you will be rowing downwind!
That one I learned in the Gulf Of Kutch, in a lifeboat with no engine, rotten sails, knackered rowlocks, surrounded by weeping Yugoslavs, with a three knot current and nothing downtide but the Arabian Sea. Still applies in Lamlash though.
Also, even with motor, always steer to windward and take a big curve back round to your boat. That way, if the OB fails, you will be rowing downwind!
That one I learned in the Gulf Of Kutch, in a lifeboat with no engine, rotten sails, knackered rowlocks, surrounded by weeping Yugoslavs, with a three knot current and nothing downtide but the Arabian Sea. Still applies in Lamlash though.
Mirelle
N/A
More people drown from tenders than from yachts!
That was said by the late JDS in a YM editorial donkeys years ago and it stuck with me.
I don't use an outboard, so here are a slightly different set of rules:
1. Nobody in tender without lifejacket. Ever.
2. If passing heavy items (water breaker, non-sailing person, dog, whatever) between tender and yacht, make a stern painter fast as well as the bow painter.
3. Rigid tenders. If possible, use captive rowlocks. If these are not used, be sure that there are lanyards on the rowlocks. If you break a rowlock, a short length of line will substitute.
4. Go nowhere without a dinghy anchor and a light line. If you lose an oar it may save your life.
5. When laying out a kedge, NEVER, EVER carry the kedge in the tender and throw it over - ALWAYS suspend the kedge over the transom with a light line and a slip knot.
6. Never use a rigid tender without buoyancy, and TRY IT (swamp the dinghy on a warm summer's day, off a beach. This can be very educational!
7. Try reboarding a capsized tender, at the same time.
8. As Superstrath has rightly said, KEEP TO WINDWARD!!!
That was said by the late JDS in a YM editorial donkeys years ago and it stuck with me.
I don't use an outboard, so here are a slightly different set of rules:
1. Nobody in tender without lifejacket. Ever.
2. If passing heavy items (water breaker, non-sailing person, dog, whatever) between tender and yacht, make a stern painter fast as well as the bow painter.
3. Rigid tenders. If possible, use captive rowlocks. If these are not used, be sure that there are lanyards on the rowlocks. If you break a rowlock, a short length of line will substitute.
4. Go nowhere without a dinghy anchor and a light line. If you lose an oar it may save your life.
5. When laying out a kedge, NEVER, EVER carry the kedge in the tender and throw it over - ALWAYS suspend the kedge over the transom with a light line and a slip knot.
6. Never use a rigid tender without buoyancy, and TRY IT (swamp the dinghy on a warm summer's day, off a beach. This can be very educational!
7. Try reboarding a capsized tender, at the same time.
8. As Superstrath has rightly said, KEEP TO WINDWARD!!!
