Cold water safety, a good read

[kerlandsen]

Compliments of another well known sailboat racing website and a very well respected sailmaker/racer/AC guy for bringing it to our attention.

This should be read and understood by everyone that goes out on the water.

http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/cold_water?11198

Kyle E.

[Carl Thunberg]

This is an excellent read. The moral of the story seems odd to me, though. I know they're trying to make the point that everyone should wear a PFD, but dead by hypothermia or dead by drowning in the cold shock response is still dead. One just comes a lot later than the other. It seems to me the moral of the story should have been STAY ON THE BOAT AT ALL COST!

Part Two on drowning was really excellent. Again, thanks for posting this.

[Sea Hunt]

It seems to me the moral of the story should have been STAY ON THE BOAT AT ALL COST!

It is an excellent article and apparently written by a good Italian American Coast Guardsman. Sta bene

I would respectfully add the following observations.

I recall several months ago there was a discussion on this board about methods, procedures, etc. for getting back on board a sailboat after falling overboard. In a post I suggested that, from experience, it is very difficult for anyone (except possibly an active duty US Navy SEAL or Marine Recon) to climb back aboard without a great deal of onboard assistance. Even they have difficulty sometimes.

Someone posted, suggesting sarcastically that I was stating the obvious when I suggested "stay on the boat".

My point then, as it is today, is that boaters are lulled into a false sense of confidence that they can get back on board. They cannot, you cannot, I cannot. This inability is exponentially compounded when dealing with cold water, hypothermia, rapid muscle fatigue, an inflated PFD, a sailboat's generally high freeboard, all while being dragged through the water, etc.

As a diver with 40+ years of diving in all conditions, I still practice on a regular basis the basic skills of mask clearing, regulator recovery, out of air swimming ascents, etc. As a tadpole/rookie sailor I try to regularly practice heaving to, MOB recovery (I drop a float stick in the water and pretend it's a pretty female ), etc. It helps of course that I single hand a lot and have the time to do this. I was out sailing yesterday and practiced heaving to and reefing the main in 10-12 kts wind.

I would respectfully again urge anyone who thinks they can accidentally fall overboard and climb back aboard unassisted by onboard personnel to try to do it in their protected home waters (warm or cold). It should go without saying to be sure to have enough people onboard to make sure you can be brought back aboard should you not be able to do so by yourself.

Carl has it exactly right:
STAY ON THE BOAT AT ALL COST!

Lousy weather expected in South Florida for the entire weekend. Damn

[Neil Gordon]

I agree, "stay on the boat" is the moral of the story. But... if you for some reason need "plan B," think about this:

Most of us are not single handed, off shore sailors. We sail either with crew, around other boats or both. so in that context, once you're in the water...

Unless you have bright orange hair, you'll be hard to see. Once you're seen, you'll be hard to recover. A PFD with built in harness will do this for you:

It will get your seen.

It will keep you floating better than swimming/treading.

It provides a convenient attachment point for the jib halyard so you can be hauled back on board.

That seems sufficient to me.

[Sea Hunt]

A PFD with built in harness will do this for you:

It will get your seen.

It will keep you floating better than swimming/treading.

It provides a convenient attachment point for the jib halyard so you can be hauled back on board.

That seems sufficient to me.

Neil:

I absolutely agree. I wear a PFD whether I am single handed on S/V Tadpole or rookie crew (really just "rail meat") on a 40' sailboat with 4 experienced sailors. To the amusement of some, I even wear my PFD on the launch transport from the dock to my mooring.

As you may recall, when you were aboard S/V Tadpole in December 2008, I wore my PFD even though the winds were less than 2 kts (on behalf of the Miami Chamber of Commerce, I again want to express my apologies )

It's just a good habit and practice to acquire.

[Shannon Murphy]

An additional safety item. Anytime I am single handing my Ty, I keep my handheld radio clipped to my PFD or in a cargo pant pocket. I figure this way if I go overboard I can actually call for help instead of floating in the water watching my sailboat and my VHF radio sail away. With some weather helm, I assume she will stop... eventually, but who knows if I will have the strength to swim to her and then reboard on my own.

[Sea Hunt]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/10/1 ... -dead.html

Another unfortunate and sad example of why I always wear a PFD.

Assuming it is the Fort Pierce Inlet, this area can have some pretty strong currents running in and out.

[winthrop fisher]

wear long johns, you would be surprised how warm you stay...

[marv brinn]

I used to sail on the LI sound..frostbitting near Mamaroneck.on a dyher dhow 9'. season started nov and ended april,we had 9 races every Sunday each one lasting about 15 mins..
I capsized once after bailing out my boat which swamped 2x due to a oil tanker swell..I gave up bailing the third time..I was up to my neck in water<32 degrees for about two minutes,then rescued by our crash boat which alway tailed the racers..Keep your head out of the water if you go in.wear wet or dry suit or thermals..stay composed and try not to thrash about as it increases your cool down rate..pray

[jim ventrilio]

I've attached a small Mustang pouch (model MA 6000) to my inflatable harness. Inside are the following: a small, serrated edge knife with FIXED blade (serrated edges cut line better); a PWC air horn inside a plastic bag...a whistle is only so loud; a signal mirror and whistle (ACR); a second, small Revere floating knife with fixed blade; some chemical light sticks with waxed twine attached (they make a nice bright circle when swung in the dark).

On the vest's inflation tube I have a water-activated strobe and another light stick; light sticks burn for hours, they're cheap and no batteries required. I've also managed to attach a second strobe to the bladder behind my neck, so that after the PFD inflates there's a second strobe flashing away.

All this additional stuff probably adds less than two pounds to the vest, but my reason for doing it is this: I nearly fell out of my Typhoon (I was not thethered) moving down the Connecticut River late one evening in rain about a month ago. There were no other boats on the river, and with the tide ebbbing at about max I might have been flushed out into Long Island Sound.

Not much to do with cold weather survival, but I figure that if you go into the water you need to become your own first responder, and go on from there.

Jim Ventrilio