Sea Safety Survival Course - an awakening...

7:07 PM Sun 18 Oct 2009 GMT

'Sea Safety Survival - practising ’The Huddle’ heat preservation exercise' .

As a regular sailor, have YOU completed one of the excellent 'Safety Sea Survival' courses available in most sailing countries of the world? Here is the story of a very experienced sailor's conversion during a recent course:

I fall into the 'senior citizen' category being 68 years young. I have ocean raced around 25,000 miles including the 1979 Fastnet Race, some pretty nasty Sydney Hobart Races, and numerous other stormy races.

Until last weekend when I completed the Safety Sea Survival Course at Hillarys Yacht Club I had not involved myself in any safety training programs.

I am so grateful to have never had the misfortune to be in cold water with all my wet gear and layers of clothing on for a prolonged period and never the need to climb into a life raft with eight other people. I will never look at a life raft the same way again. That's the last place you ever want to be.

Sea Safety Survival - flare drill - .. .

The water temperature at Hillarys Yacht Club marina where the course was conducted was 16? C.

I thought I was adequately dressed. I wasn't.

I thought I would don my PFD easily enough. I couldn't.

I thought getting into a life raft couldn't be that difficult. It is.

I thought once you were inside the raft it wouldn't be that unpleasant. It's a very unpleasant place to be. And all this took place in the calm waters of the marina. In a storm in the middle of the night - I shudder to think.

Of the 18 other people attending the course, many of whom were young, everybody had their own 'awakening' experience and all vowed never wanting to get into a life raft again.

Sea Safety Survival Course - the survivors - .. .

We now understand the dangers of hyperthermia, and the importance of the right clothing and personal safety equipment. In the middle of an emergency is not the right time to become acquainted with your PDF!

Aside from the 'wet drill' segment the balance of the two day course was full of instruction on safety and things that can, and do all too often, go wrong. It was worth every cent of the course fee.

The 'wet drill' segment is the most confronting for us 'senior citizens' but with the right preparation and awareness it should not present too much of a problem.

I am very happy to share my experience having done the course as recently as last weekend. If you have completed the course I'm sure you will agree with all I have said.

If you have yet to complete the course I'm sure you will agree once you have completed it.

Bob Williams is the lead organiser of the Round Australia Yacht Race and Rally in 2011

by Bob Williams