As we had a small leak in our dinghy and we needed our life raft recertified, we contacted Sea Safety Services when we arrived in Grenada. They appeared to be the experts on the island to address both these issues. They collected both the dinghy and the life raft from our boat at Port Louis Marina. It turned out that it was good thing we were having the life raft recertified because it would have been a bear to use in an emergency as the deployment ring had seized. That would have been a complete catastrophe!
One of the offerings of Sea Safety Services was to provide a “tour” of our life raft once it was inflated and a safety briefing. This informational session was invaluable because it alerted us to processes and equipment that we did not know or had never thought about.
Not only did we see how the life raft looked blown up, they also taught us important procedures to follow if an emergency arose where abandoning the boat was necessary, such as in the case of a fire.
The first important nugget they shared was that the lift raft would NOT save your life! It was the steps you take before and during the emergency that would keep you alive.
They emphasized that there were 4 important things to surviving an emergency at sea when you must abandon the boat. They were:
- An easily deployable life raft
- Enough drinking water (at least two 5-gallon jerry cans with carabiners attached)
- An Epirb—Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon
- A life vest for each person with a tether.
Other items that were important to have in your waterproof ditch bag (with a carabiner attached) were:
- First aid kit including
- Seasickness pills—all should take one immediately after everyone was aboard the raft
- Antidiarrheal pills
- Dehydrated food
- Purification pills for water
- Graduated drinking cup
- Parachute flares and smoking flares (handheld flares are harder to use when in the raft)
- Flashlights with spare batteries
- Glow sticks
- Ziplock bags
- Long sleeve shirts and lotion because skin would continually rub against the life raft
- Compass
- VHF—might not be functional at first, but good to have when rescue boat was in range
- Laminated photocopies of passports, cash, a credit card, ship documents and insurance information, medication names and dosages and important phone numbers.
This is not an all-inclusive list as different captains may want other items as well. There are numerous websites available for review by googling “ditch bags”.
It was also important to know what items were already packed in the life raft.
Some of the items required by standards for the life raft to be certified were:
- Strobe light on top
- Knife
- Bailers
- Repair kit
- Sponges
- Flashlight w batteries
- Whistle
- Leak stopper
- Flares
- Drogue
and a rescue line with quoit, but it’s better to never have to use this.
We learned that when the life raft was deployed, it would be about 30 feet behind the boat and unless conditions were extremely calm, you never would be able to pull it beside the boat. It would be too heavy. Thus, to be assured that everyone and all the supplies make it to the life raft, each person should connect the life vest tether to the line running between the raft and the boat. Also do the same thing with the carabiners attached to the two jerry cans of water and the ditch bag. The strongest person should travel to the life raft first so that this person can assist others aboard. The raft would NOT be a stable platform as it would be going up and down with the waves.
If you have a pet, be sure that a carabiner is fastened to the life vest so that it could be attached to the line as well.
We had no idea how important this process would be to saving our lives! Never try to swim to the life raft untethered unless you fall in accidentally, and even then, its best to try to attach to the line if you can rather than trying to free swim in offshore seas.
We learned that our life raft had two entry points. One side had a ladder for entry and the other had a knee “board.”
There was also a water catchment area which would feed into a plastic bag inside the life raft. I had never thought of this!
Having a proper life vest with a tether is paramount to survival, but you also need to understand how it works and the parts of the life vest. Since I had never experienced a life vest inflating, they had one I could try. Check out this video.
Overall, the safety briefing was extremely beneficial. We hoped that we would never need to use the information, but if an emergency were to happen, I believe we will be much better prepared. If you ever get the chance to participate in a safety briefing of this kind, we highly recommend it! Thanks Sea Safety Services!
Be safe out there Ya’ll!!
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