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#615967 - 09/08/04 10:39 AM **** Offshore Safety Tips ****
Mitch P. Offline



Registered: 05/04/01
Posts: 31730
I think it would be helpful to have one thread with offshore safety tips.

Things get buried within so many posts.

Can you please post your safety tips here.

There's some great tips in this thread that we should bring into this thread:
http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=37;t=000263;p=2#000030

Feel free to copy and paste some stuff from that thread or others, as well as add your tips here.

It would be nice to have some stand-alone safety threads to help people out -- it just might save a life.

Thanks in advance.
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#615968 - 09/08/04 12:41 PM Re: **** Offshore Safety Tips ****
Mitch P. Offline



Registered: 05/04/01
Posts: 31730
 Quote:
Originally posted by Cman:

This issue is discussed yearly on a bb I post on www.flyfishsaltwaters.com and that board has a host of offshore folks who take their safety seriously. Let's hope we don't hear of any mishaps this year. It may be overkill, but I've posted an article below on the "abandon bag" - take a minute to review this and think about what you carry on your boat when going offshore.

Most of these posts seem to dwell on whether the boat in question was big enough - that's not the point here. Any boat can go down. It's all about how prepared the captain and crew are to face a quick "sink!"

Preparing an Abandon-Ship Bag

If your boat sinks out from underneath you, making yourself known and visible to rescuers is crucial.

To some sailors, the act of abandoning ship is unthinkable. To others, it's a well thought out, prepared, and practiced maneuver ready to be enacted with only a moment's notice. Which kind of sailor are you?

You're likely to be far safer on your boat at sea than on any of our highways today. There are circumstances, however, that could force you to abandon your vessel. An uncontainable fire could break out. A collision with sunken debris could quickly flood your boat and overwhelm your bilge pumps. Plumbing can leak and seacocks have been known to fail. These are all rare events, but they are not out of the realm of possibility and should be prepared for.

In the midst of sinking far from land, you may have only a scant few minutes or less to assess the situation and then abandon your boat. It's very possible that this amount of time would prove insufficient to prepare properly for leaving. Moreover, you're likely not to be in the best frame of mind to rationally assess and assemble what you'll need. An abandon-ship bag, or "ditch bag," prepared in advance with the appropriate contents, provides the sailor with the tools and materials necessary to survive and signal for rescue. There's also a great deal of comfort and solace in knowing that you're ready.

There are common properties that every abandon-ship bag should have to be most effective. The bag should be brightly colored and clearly marked as "ABANDON SHIP." It should be stowed in a convenient location, known to all crew members, and preferably close to the cockpit. Specially designed floating bags are commercially available and have a definite advantage over just stuffing your valuable rescue and survival items in any old canvas bag that would sink to the bottom if it slipped out of your hand. Although these bags float, most are not waterproof. You should have an additional smaller dry bag within the big bag to store any items that can't get wet. Attached to the main bag should be a floating lanyard so that it can be safely secured and not lost in any confusion.

In assembling your own abandon-ship bag, you'll find there are many factors that will influence the individual items you choose to include. The type of sailing, how far from shore, where you travel, and how many people are on board shoud be taken into account. If you have a life raft you'll want to consider the equipment already packed inside the raft. Some of these items you may want to duplicate, others you may not. If you don't have a life raft, (or if the emergency equipment in the raft is on the meager side), and plan to rely on your dinghy to keep you afloat, your bag will need to be more comprehensive.

No piece of safety equipment is more effective in alerting rescue teams on shore than EPIRBs.

Cost is another determinant that may influence the depth of your bag's contents. There's a lot of great safety gear out there, but few of us can afford to have it all. In making your choice of which gear to include, you must weigh the cost of the items versus the peace of mind you receive by knowing you're prepared. Think of it as life insurance,only in this case, you're the beneficiary.

If you've abandoned ship, your primary concern is to summon help and be rescued. With this in mind, prioritize the items in your ditch bag accordingly. Flares, EPIRB, VHF radio, handheld GPS, signal mirror, whistle, etc. should be given preference over other contents. If your rescue is not immediately forthcoming, your second priority then becomes survival. Water, food, medicine, and clothing, anything that helps you to survive should be the next most important items in your bag.

On Serengeti, we carry a four-man, offshore life raft and have two packed abandon-ship bags ready to take with us. We keep our full first aid kit, in a bag by itself, stored beside the ditch bags, and have one other empty bag handy. The first packed bag is our primary abandon-ship bag. In this we store our 406 MHz EPIRB (the item we think will get us rescued first), a handheld GPS, a VHF radio, flares, extra batteries, a compass, mirror, a Swiss Army knife and a Leatherman tool, some water, canned food, a cutting board, and important papers such as passports and money. The second bag holds additional water and food, clothing, and numerous other survival items. The empty bag is designated strictly for our cats. It's our plan to stuff them in the bag and ensure that they can be safely transferred into the life raft with us.

"Make sure that nothing in the bag has a sharp point or edges that could puncture your raft. For instance, if you include a smallspear gun for fishing, cover the tip with a tennis ball."

It's important to make sure that your ditch bag is not too heavy and that each person in the crew can lift it. The strongest person on board can be injured, or even overboard, leaving the job of transferring the bag to a weaker crew member. This could be another reason for dividing your ditch bag items into two, easier-to-carry bags. Make sure that nothing in the bag has a sharp point or edges that could puncture your raft. For instance, if you include a small speargun for fishing, cover the tip with a tennis ball. Try to pack all items in zip-lock freezer bags.

If you've properly prepared in advance, there are many tools available to summon help once you've abandoned ship. Regardless of your location, if you have a 406 MHz EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon), you can summon help with the assistance of orbiting satellites. Your coded signal identifying you and your boat will be relayed via satellite to the nearest rescue station around the globe. A handheld VHF radio can help any sailor contact nearby boats or land-based stations. After contact has been established, your exact position can be relayed to the rescuers if you've also packed a GPS. Handheld and parachute flares, dye markers, and signaling mirrors will help you be seen. A whistle or horn can also draw attention to your location.

Some of the items making up the authors' contingency plan.

For long-term survival, water is your body's number-one need. Place water in plastic bottles, but only fill them up to 80 percent of their volume. This will ensure the container will float. If you have larger five-gallon jerry jugs of water that you keep on deck, make sure you remember to take these with you if possible. Tie a long floating line to them, and if not filled up all the way, they will float secured to your dinghy or raft. A portable watermaker or solar still is a valuable addition to any ditch bag.

When packing food in your bag, include high-energy items loaded with carbohydrates and sugar, but low in protein. Proteins require more body fluids for digestion, as do dehydrated foods. Hard candy, cereal, canned fruits, and evaporated milk are all good items. Multiple vitamins are also an excellent addition to help provide nutritional needs.

As you pack your bag, make a list of the contents and note the date they were placed there. Down the road this will make it easier to decide if you need to replace the batteries or refresh the food supplies and water.

Flares—both handheld and parachute should be included in an abandon ship bag—are an effective way to increase visibility and direct rescuers to your boat.

With all this talk about leaving your boat, let's not forget an important rule of thumb. You always want to stay with your boat until you are absolutely sure that your safety is in jeopardy. There have been many documented instances of sailors abandoning their boats, only to have the boat found days or even months later still floating just fine. But in the event that you do need to bail out, take the steps now to make sure that you are not ill-equipped and unprepared.

We should all evaluate our individual sailing situations and prepare a plan for abandoning ship should the need arise. The abandon-ship bag plays an important part of any such plan. Once you have your ditch bag assembled, run through a practice drill of abandoning ship that involves the entire crew. Hopefully you'll never need in a real life situation to go through the steps you've practiced. But if you do, at least you' ll know that you have the items necessary to facilitate a speedy rescue and ensure your survival.

The following is a list of the type of items you may want to include in your own abandon-ship bag. Remember some of these items may be duplicated in your life raft.

Rescue

406 EPIRB
Flares - packed in waterproof bags
Parachute flares
Handheld flares
Orange-smoke flares
Dye markers
Handheld VHF radio in waterproof bag
Handheld GPS in waterproof bag
Signal mirror
Strobe light
Whistle
Waterproof flashlight w/ spare batteries and bulb
Charts
Compass
Chemical light sticks
Paddle
Bailer
Survival

Water jugs or packets
Manual watermaker
Solar still
Graduated drinking cup
Canned food
First aid kit
Seasickness pills
Sunscreen
Vaseline
Sea anchor for raft
Hard candy
Swiss army knife
Cutting board
Needle and thread
Sponge
Space blankets
Rain catcher sheet
Fishing gear (line, leader, hooks, etc)
Small speargun
Gaff
Fleece blanket
Assorted clothing
Sunglasses and hats
Bucket
Life raft survival guide
Gloves
Zip-lock bags
Spare raft pump
100-foot line
Raft patch kit
Waterproof pen and paper
Duct tape
Leatherman tool
Mask and snorkel

Personal

Eyeglasses
Prescription medications
Toothbrush
Feminine sanitation items
Money
Passports
Boat registration / documents
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#615969 - 09/08/04 02:20 PM Re: **** Offshore Safety Tips ****
swwind Offline

Member

Registered: 06/10/03
Posts: 15005
Prior to leaving the dock break the fishing team into two groups. 1. Damage - Assessment & repair & 2. Communications / Raft prep & ditch bag. That way you don't waste anytime deciding who is doing what in case of a problem.

Most people have never deployed a raft or made an acutal "Mayday" hail. Brief them on the process and equipment.

""Happy Talk" . . . . . Because it has worked so well thus far"

"It is not necessary to change; survival is not mandatory" - Edward Deming

"Unless we start to focus everything on this, our targets will soon be out of reach" - Greta Thunberg January 2020

"I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted" - Elmore Leonard.

Team Man Made Climate Change is Real.

"Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them" - Pope Francis September 2015
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#615970 - 09/08/04 11:04 PM Re: **** Offshore Safety Tips ****
gerg Offline

Member

Registered: 01/04/03
Posts: 8789
Well, while your at it, most people not only don't how to make a distress call, most don't know how to read your gps position off the chartplotter (or worse, off a chart), or where you are relative to other locations.

Consider who can tell the cg where you are if you can't make a call. Also don't forget to show someone the little red DSC button on your radio.

One other thing I carry in the ditch bag is a retractable VHF antenna. It pulls out to about 4 feet and can be lashed to an oar or fishing pole. It can add a lot of distance to the handheld's range. They are only about $20, not an expensive addition.

*********************************

Well behaved boats rarely make history.....
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#615971 - 09/08/04 11:22 PM Re: **** Offshore Safety Tips ****
Scarritt Offline
Member

Registered: 01/12/04
Posts: 104
Mitch P., that's a nice thread, thank you.

Just two weeks ago, a gentleman from our dock happened across a 25-30ft. center console dead in the water. The catch is; they were 10 miles beyond the continental shelf! They had been adrift for 1 full day. No radio, no flares, no epirb.
He towed him back!

For the inexperienced, any body of water deserves respect.

If you don't know your limits, ask another's advice. If you're going to head out with an iffy weather, poke your nose out around the point (montauk), don't think you're a wuss if you make the call to use that flat of butterfish to chunk up some bass or blues inshore. It beats getting the s__t kicked out of you, the crew, the boat. Unfortuneately, most people need to get a good a_s kicking offshore to gain a healthy respect for the water.

For those looking to pal up with someone to go offshore on another's boat, listen to the NOAA report yourself. Make your own decision on whether to step onto the boat. It may not be your decision to turn the boat around.

Common sense and gut instincts, use 'um.

Reservoir dog
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#615972 - 09/10/04 09:39 PM Re: **** Offshore Safety Tips ****
Predator Offline
Member

Registered: 11/10/02
Posts: 410
Great stuff Mitch! This is one of those things that many people don't think about untill it's too late. Approximatly 10 years ago while I lived in Erie, PA, my house was burglerized. The next week when I had the security system company over the house specking out a new system, I laughed when he said that 90% of the systems he sold were to people that had recently been burglerized. Guys you don't get that second chance to invest in this stuff after you boat goes down 40 miles offshore! Listen to Mitch!!!

Fear No Fish!
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#615973 - 09/17/04 07:35 PM Re: **** Offshore Safety Tips ****
hoog23 Offline
Member

Registered: 05/05/02
Posts: 328
Here's a good review of bilge pumps from a very informative site.

Yacht Survey

We currently have three electric pumps + two high water float switches (one midships and one aft) that are wired into the horn. We still mean to replace our rear pump with a larger one.

Two years ago we did install larger thru hull intakes/strainers that have built in diverter valves that could suck water from inside the hull if necessary.

Also 'Small boat safety at sea' looks like a good read.
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#615974 - 11/04/04 03:34 PM Re: **** Offshore Safety Tips ****
MermaidCT Offline

Member

Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 8761
Loc: SE CT Shoreline
Here is a distress call script I ran across - good to print out and laminate to keep on boat - it's easy to get flustered when things are happening fast around you. Anyone have revisions/additions/improvements?

_____________________________________

EMERGENCY DISTRESS CALL INSTRUCTIONS

Here's the procedure to follow. Transmit in this order:

1. Tune your VHF to channel 16.

2. Say: "MAYDAY" , "MAYDAY" , "MAYDAY"

3. Say:
"this is (name the boat)."
"this is (name the boat)."
"this is (name the boat)."


4. Give position by latitude and longitude or by bearing and distance to a well-known landmark or navigational aid, or in any terms that will assist a responding station in locating the vessel in distress.

Include any pertinent information, such as vessel course, speed and destination.

5. Indicate the nature of distress (sinking, fire, etc.).

6. Indicate the kind of assistance desired.

7. Describe your:
boat size
rig type
color
# of persons aboard

8. End with "over."
____________________________

To contact local Coast Guard Station from a cell phone, press: *CG (tip from Nils C)
_____________________________

Wear a pfd in any even remotely questionable situations, and also always at night. Too easy for things to happen quickly.

If yours is uncomfortable or awkward to wear, look into the newer, more low-profile, comfortable vest-type pfds. They are also good for warmth and to break the wind.

Be really safe and attach a whistle and a strobe to it (thank you Riptide for that tip).

"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." Jacques Yves Cousteau



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#615975 - 11/04/04 04:18 PM Re: **** Offshore Safety Tips ****
fuzzy2u Offline

Member

Registered: 05/09/02
Posts: 6248
 Quote:
Originally posted by MermaidCT:
- good to print out and laminate to keep on boat -
Laminate? Where's the Laminator King when you need him? Probably still looking for his flag.

Fuzzy
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#615976 - 11/04/04 04:47 PM Re: **** Offshore Safety Tips ****
Anonymous
Unregistered


just a couple random thoughts

at time of abandon ship 1st thing is identify person in charge.a muster list is what it is called, the list of duties and positions in case of emergency. also do not drink or eat anything for the first 24 hours....in the first 24 hours your body will not absorb it, water etc will just get passed throught the body with little or no absorbtion. if abandoning ship should be wearing alot of clothes, clothes will help preserve body heat in and out of the water. .keep the life raft tied to the boat, on approved life rafts there is a rope, and i think it 100' not sure on that, unless it's sinking.make sure in the life raft is a knife(actually on approved life rafts there is an emergency distress bag!!!and in a pocket near the entrance is a knife stored)any floating debris should be gathered (after the survivors) and tied together....bigger brighter louder the better chances are of being spotted. the epirb should be tied to boat and floated, unless the seas or weather isnt practical for that, the signal will bounce off the water and travel further.thats all for now, just random thoughts nothing official, just felt like putting in a few cents.
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