Winter Sailing - ARE WE PREPARED??

[Keen]

was browsing www.westmarine.com web site. lots of safety stuff there -- all geared for water of course.

[UnusuallyLargeRobin]

Bumping the topic to the top of our conscience. It's that time of year to start preparing for FALL / WINTER SAILING and all the GREAT HATE that goes with it! Think safe, do a quick pre-flight assessment of equipment. Check all your lines, u-joints, pins/clips, strap screws etc. Wear a helmet. It all goes bad and dark quickly in the winter. Let someone know where you're sailing and when you expect to be home.
I use a small fanny pack attached to the back of waist harness, it contains:
- tow rope (to save my butt or someone else's)
- whistle (to draw attention)
- strobe (to find me in the dark)
- large orange garbage bag (to find me in the day)
- space/foil blanket (to maybe keep me warm floating around on my board for an evening or two?)

..and above all once out there "rage rage against the dying of the light"

[KUS]

BUMP Check that gear

[Teabag]

I am thinking of bringing my Fin on every session, just need to decide if I carry them in a backpack or try to attach them on the harness. You can swim a lot faster with these.

[Teabag]

I brought a bagpack on Friday @ IV with me, had two fin in it. The wind died on me and the kite wouldnt relaunch. I wasn't that far from shore but decided to try the fins out just to see...

It is way harder to put a fin while in the water with a drysuit and harness on than it look... (nothing extreme though). The fin broke. When I tried to reach for my other fin it was gone.... (I should have closed the bag after taking one fin, I didn't close it because the water wasnt choppy at all).

Something I was afraid of is that the bag would fill of water and become heavy when I crash, but it never did. Its a MEC hiking bag that I wont use for hiking anymore, got enough used out of it anyway.

Lesson learn, take one fin from the bag and close it after, once this is done take the other one and close it after.

Good thing about having a bagpack is that if you need to walk back upwind you can always pack your kite in it. You dont feel the bag and you can bring lot of stuff in it for safety. Not good looking but who c#$@ anyway.

Just bought two new pair of feet fin (shorter ones) and hand fins, might try them tomorow after a session to see how much distance I could swim in how much time. Not sure if they are good yet, will let you know if they are worth or not.

[KUS]

hey, that's pretty great Ian....the safety message too....like the flipper idea, light and easily carried, good on ya for self reliance Where'd you pick up the hand flippers? Look a bit iffy, do they work? Maybe a yellow or orange spray paint job is a good plan. A PFD too for you guys esp with no bladder in that kite will be wearing mine today

[KUS]

Oh, a separate reminder: THOSE WITH DRY SUITS, PLS NOTE YOU CANNOT SWIM VERY WELL AT ALL WITH THESE LIKE TRYING TO FIGHT YOUR WAY OUT OF A PLASTIC BAG....TRY IT IN THE SHALLOWS FOR A SMALL DISTANCE BEFORE U GO OUT THERE, U MIGHT CHANGE YOUR MIND

[JL]

http://oceanrodeo.com/drysuits/surfdry

[Teabag]

Hi Kus I bought both pair of fin at HTO downtown. Never tried them so I am not sure if they are really worth. Will let you know more then likely this Thursday if the warmer SE is holding:)

[KUS]

It was pointed out to me that perhaps my recent exploits in the cold would cause some unfortunate soul to go out and kill themselves....well, apart from my list of safety points in this thread, one being evaluating your abilities and physical capabilities and also my immediate gut reaction to this statement being "it would only benefit the gene pool if you are a Darwin Award winner", I suppose I want to caution people again:

"Cold kills and help cannot be counted on. You are on your own and perhaps you should wait for summer months."
Should I fall victim it is with good preparation, gear, mitigating risk as possible, a healthy dose of life insurance and with full acknowledgement of the potential dire consequences that I could be sent to Davy Jones's Locker should my number be up That's not to say sailing in minus 4 is any different in my mind than sailing in the ocean in summer temps....it is a matter of comfort, the potential for survial after an incident is arguably quite similar

[Geoffy]

Hey Teabag - fins are very, very good! Great idea in fact for marginal condition kiting. Your type is not usually made for use with booties, you can also buy compact ones with adjustable straps and an ankle surf leash, (woosie boogie boarder types use them - mine are Aqualung Shredder Surf). Beware of overdoing it and sudden cramping, a common problem in pool with newbies using fins.

[KayakDoc]

Kus, it’s not you and the cold we are worried about, it is your HIP and the COLD that has us freaked out.

[eastside]

After the big Typhoon Songda swim I thought I would resurrect this thread. I feel lucky I made it in with a 4.0 and a 75 l board in rapidly evaporating wind. Some were not so lucky. Who would have thought that would happen? But it does.

Upon reflection I think we need to be more proactive. We need to immediately figure out who is missing. That can be figured out by matching the vehicles up with the owners and passengers of the vehicles. That way we can give the Coast Guard the names of the missing, so they can make sure they find all them. Saying we lost 3 people seems a bit iffy as we might not have it right. The search should continue until we are sure everybody is accounted for.

Once we figure out who is missing we need to try and monitor the progress of the swimmers, matching the missing with the people we can locate. Today they were way out. One was closer to shore and should have been able to make it, but that may have been a younger person. I think we should have phoned Search and Rescue earlier today. All of us are responsible to make that call, sooner rather than later. When we do, we need to have some idea who is missing and where they are. Everybody should have a set of binoculars. We can help the searchers if we know where people are.

It all worked out OK today but I think we can do better. We don't want a tragedy. We need to look out for each other and be safe.

Lastly, thanks to Search and Rescue. They responded quickly. They are putting themselves at personal risk while we are out playing. We do need to be proactive by making sure they have actually found everybody. They do receive conflicting information from people on shore. We are the advocates of the swimmers.

[abetanzo]

everyone should have binocs... AND maybe a VHF radio??

could help to establish a 'beach comm centre' for S&R... just a thought

[juandesooka]

In places like CB, you probably don't need VHF ... *16 on cell phone [though I have to admit...I had to double the check that is correct, and I more than most should know this number! ]

It is a good question about when to call in help. Going out in marginal conditions or going out further than is an easy swim is our choice, so there's some merit to expecting to pay for your choice with a long swim. BUT not if it is actually unsafe or life threatening ... and it is difficult to know where that line is. We also risk crying wolf with numerous false alarms in a row leading to less responsiveness when there really is an emergency, or possibly negative attentions that shuts spots down. Tough call for sure.

A few observations from kiting in sketchy conditions in some of the more remote spots:

-- someone wrapped in their kite lines fighting for their life looks a lot like someone self rescuing. Don't assume they are fine until you make sure. Complacency may kill your buddy. [and for sailors, having a whistle in a pocket above chest level may be a life saver; even if you can't wave your arms you can put in that whistle and blow until someone hears you, leaving both hands free for life saving]

-- the universal "help me" symbol is waving arm, but if you are scared, swimming, dealing with gear, etc, unlikely you will just sit there waving an arm. So don't assume that if your buddy isn't waving for help, that they must be ok.

-- stay with your gear, especially if there is current. S&R pilots say that finding a swimmer is like searching the ocean for a floating coconut. Meaning you aren't going to found from the air. Especially with a black wetsuit and black hood. [a bright helmet and a non-black pfd or impact vest would sure increase your odds, but I get that they don't look cool in the photos, so probably a good trade off ]

-- for the kiters, if you don't have a working knife out there, you are basically an idiot. Sorry to be harsh, but there it is. Be careful about harness mounted knives, especially at back....doesn't do any good if you can't reach it when being dragged by kite with your harness upside down and twisted around.

-- having a stand up paddle board at the beach is a big help....if something is wrong, you can knee paddle out and give assistance. Even better, tow out a 2nd one so your buddy can paddle in too. If you want to be the guy/gal who saves the day, bring your sup even when you don't intend to ride it. [smilie=pimp.gif]

End of sermon.

Cap'n Safety, Out