RNLI
RNLI
The 'man over board' drill
If one of your crew falls overboard this weekend he could be dead within five minutes of hitting the cold water. Your planned and frequently rehearsed man over board drill (ha! ha!) may have him along side your boat in ten or fifteen minutes but getting him back over the side without further injury is an exercise that you will certainly have never practised.
Cold Shock is the killer in water below 15 degrees Celsius and the sea temperature is currently well below that and in many places will remain so until well into June. He may be dead before the lifeboat is launched, but at least they can recover the body for you.
Most keen sailors afloat this month will be blissfully unaware of the risks they are taking in the coldest sea water of the year. Some will have sea survival certificates stuffed in their log-book as a good luck charm but the best selling RYA sea survival manual devotes few words to Cold Shock.
Cold Shock is about gasping, panicking and hyperventilation, resulting in inhaling seawater, heart attack, stroke and rapid drowning. This is not Hypothermia which kills over a time scale of hours. Cold Shock kills in the first few minutes of immersion.
A fit young sailor wearing a life-jacket may survive the sudden immersion, but the average 85-kilo sub-prime athlete in his fifties, with an undiagnosed dickey ticker probably will not.
Skippers should set an example by wearing their own life-jackets all the time and by ensuring that the newest, and hence poorest equipped crew-members, are properly briefed, clothed and wearing life-jackets all the time. They should never let their macho image prevent them from wearing a life-jacket, even when walking down the pontoon to join the boat.
Yachties going afloat in Spring sailing conditions would be wise to dress in the best sailing kit they can afford; three layers is standard. No one wears denim jeans under their oilies these days do they? (shorts or synthetic sailing trousers are best) The outer layer should be a weatherproof top with neck and wrist seals. This will reduce the rate of inflow of cold seawater around the torso and may mitigate the severe pain of Cold Shock.
Crown the head with a fleece beanie hat that provides some insulation when wet and there may be half a chance of surviving the immediate immersion. An auto-inflating lifejacket with integral harness and spray hood is essential.
The annual free lifejacket check took place in the Dart Lifeboat Station on Saturday 17th April. One hundred and seventeen lifejackets were tested by the team from Ocean Safety, Plymouth and forty nine failed but were repaired. This usually was due to faulty firing mechanisms or corroded or outdated inflation cylinders. Nine jackets were condemned. Free Sea Checks for your boat by the Dart RNLI Sea Safety team can be arranged with John Yunnie. (Mobile 0776 800 7365)
First Published May 2010 By The Dart