SEA SURVIVAL SPECIALIST SHORT COURSE
This one-day practical course is a real eye-opener, says Practical Boat Owner editor, Sarah Norbury
Are you one of those people who thinks they ought to do a Sea Survival course but hasn’t got round to it yet? I was, till I realised I’d been sailing on our family boat for
years and years with all the right safety equipment, all properly serviced, but with only a hazy idea of how to survive if I fell overboard or had to abandon ship. So I finally found a spare Saturday and
got myself booked onto a course, and am now a born-again Sea Survival evangelist. Some of my fellow pupils were very experienced sailors yet every one of them learnt something new. The course really is a one-day bonanza of information and practical experience.
AN INTERESTING MIX The six other students were an interesting mixture. Sea Survival is one of the RYA’s most popular courses because as well as cruising sailors who want to improve their ability to keep themselves and their crew safe, many people take it because they need it for the Fastnet and other RORC races. For three people on the course with
me the Sea Survival certificate was the final piece of paper needed to get their Yachtmaster commercial endorsement, the essential qualification for sailing instructing and charter skippering.
THE SHORE SESSION I thought the whole day would be spent splashing about in a swimming pool so I wasn’t expecting the morning session to be entirely in the classroom. The syllabus focuses on preparation – minimising chances of getting into trouble, but being prepared for any eventuality. Our Instructor, Ron, led us through too many topics to mention here, but my notes include passage-planning, updating charts, how to raise the alarm, info on liferafts and lifejackets, what to put in the grab bag, and dealing with hyper- and hypothermia. Ron illustrated the theory with real-life stories, and plenty of questions and anecdotes from the students added more depth. Just one example of something I should
have known but didn’t – I’d been treating my lifejacket with too much reverence. Apart from peeping inside the flap to check the firing mechanism and gas bottle, I leave well alone, not wanting to interfere with the carefully folded fabric. Ron is on more equal terms with his, which he kindly brought along to show us. He advised that lifejackets require regular inspection, following the manufacturer’s guidelines on what checks to do and how often.
IN AT THE DEEP END In the afternoon you all get togged up in oilskins and lifejackets and, one by one, jump into a swimming pool. Not just anyhow though – you have to cover your nose and mouth and if your lifejacket’s the manual-inflation type, have your hand on the string ready to pull. It’s quite an amazing feeling when the jacket inflates and holds you in the water with your head out. You feel safe. Till the others start chucking water everywhere and you realise how easily you could drown from inhaling a wave. Quickly you grab your sprayhood and pull it over your face. Relative calm is restored. How long would you survive being
Several people locked in a circle are more stable, and warmer and make a bigger target than a lone swimmer.
buffeted and deluged by a cold sea? Ron showed us ways of increasing our chances of staying alive till rescue arrives. Several people locked in a circle (you’ll find out how when you do the course) are more stable, and warmer and make a bigger target than a lone swimmer for rescuers to spot. Then, sopping wet, we got out of the pool and learnt how to deploy a liferaft. It’s easy, isn’t it? You just make sure the painter’s tied on and chuck it overboard. Actually, no. You need to board it from the best place, which is not often over the stern. The theory we’d learnt in the morning put us one step ahead of the game in the afternoon, gaining us valuable seconds in not having to think though problems. Imagine the scenario on a boat if no one had used a liferaft before. There’s a fire!
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Navigation and Specialist Short Courses 2011/2012
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