Why I wear a life jacket

Pemandia
Peter Fabricius
Thu 24 May 2018 09:04
47:00.0N 008:39.00W

Well the answer to that is obvious - or perhaps not. Like all relatively hazardous sports, the keys to safety and success in single handed sailing include anticipating and preparing for all likely (and less likely) upsets. Rather sadly, the two commonest causes of people falling overboard from yachts are getting back on board after a rather too liquid run ashore and men, P’ing over the side. Easy to avoid those two. I never p over the side. It is often tempting but I don’t. When the weather is really nasty and it is difficult to use the “heads” I sometimes use a bucket. As for alcohol, I enjoy a drink or two as much as anybody but at sea I take great care. If I have to go on deck in the dark it would be silly to be less coordinated or mentally alert. I am not necessarily tea total, but so far since leaving Plymouth I’ve drunk one tin of beer. It is such a lovely day today that I might have a glass of wine at lunchtime.

So what about the life jacket? There is a. Point of view that says if you fall overboard when single handed, you. Are going to die and even if you have a safety line attaching you to the boat you won’t be able to get back on board so perhaps it is best to have no life jacket and get it over with as soon as possible.

In my view a false argument. Three years ago,Emily and I with our friends Malcolm and Judy were coming back from theScillyIsles in very calm weather. On theVHF radiocame news that an abandoned yacht had been found quite close to our position. As the story. Unfolded,the yacht was boarded and a single passport found. Contact was made with the next of kin and a search operation launched. We saw two helicopters and two lifeboats and as we were so close and with 2 doctors on board, our offer to join the search was accepted. We were given an area to search and Malcolm spotted something close to the rocks that we thought might just be seaweed but we went in to look and sure enough it was the casualty. Almost certainly dead (he was but we could not assume that) we decided we could not get him out of the water without risking further injury. He was wearing dark coloured clothes and no life jacket. We called for help and the helicopter was over us in about90 seconds.

What difference did the lack of a life jacket make? Well, none to the casualty who turned out to have had a massive heart attack. However when we found the body, the search had already been going on for over 6 hours and could easily have taken many hours more. With a life jacket he would have been easily seen and with a life jacket we could (if alive) have recovered him more easily. So always wear a life Jacket!

What a morbid topic on a lovely sunny morning! I am making steady progress. I have my down wind rig of two headsails and all is well.time for some real coffee (one of my on board luxuries).

Peter

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