RESCUES

Coach Boat Safety

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OVERVIEW

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Rescue Situations

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Situational Awareness / Rescue Planning

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Level of Assistance

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Communication

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Rescuer’s Checklist

RESCUE SITUATIONS

Vessel Assistance

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Sinking vessel

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Capsized vessel

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Turtled vessel

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Vessel requiring tow (heavy weather, time sensitive, broken equipment, etc)

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Sailor Assistance

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Person Overboard Recovery

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Unconscious or injured person recovery

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Concussions

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Hypothermic person recovery

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Heat emergencies (heat stroke, heat exhaustion)

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Getting Tangled in the Rig/Sheets (entanglement)

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RESCUE PLANNING

Rushing into a rescue can lead to poor decision making and putting yourself in danger!

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Maintain your personal safety above all else

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Keep your emotional brain in check

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Create opportunities for practice or “rescue drills”

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS:

STOP

- This essential step is often bypassed, but it can be invaluable

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- Bring your vessel to a complete stop outside the event zone

ASSESS

• The most important step is assessment

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• In this step the rescuer observes the scene carefully. Avoid jumping into a planning mode.

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• Stick to the facts

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• Account for all of your sailors

PLAN

- What kind of assistance in needed?

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- Assigns jobs and get verification from the crew and/or other rescue boats

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• Don’t forget the remaining sailboats

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• Have a back-up plan

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• Re-assess if things aren’t working

COMMUNICATION

During a Rescue Situation

• Be clear and direct
• Avoid hand signals
• Call people by their name
• Confirmation of action

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Avoid screaming

LEVEL OF ASSISTANCE

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Guidance and Encouragement

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Basic Support

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Full Support

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DISTRESS CALLS

• Who you are
• Your location
• The nature of the emergency
• The number of victims
• What shore services need to be dispatched (police, fire, ambulance, etc)
• What water services need to be displaced (club boat, coast guard, etc)
• Where your vessel will meet any shore-based services being displaced (dock area)

DISTRESS CALLS

Call VHF Ch. 16 when . . .

• Suspect spinal or neck injury or cannot move the sailor
• You are far from the club
• Time is of the essence (breathing issues, profuse bleeding)
• An injury where removing the sailor from the water could cause more harm
• You need towing assistance in a foul weather situation where the is a serious risk of injury

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Call 911 when . . .

• The injury is on shore
• The on-water injury occurs near the club
• There is no risk of a spinal or head injury and you are on water
• There is no issue extracting the victim from the water or boat

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USING A VHF RADIO

1. Select proper channel (reference EAP)

• Coast Guard = Ch. 16

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2. Adjust volume and squelch (incoming strength, increase until clear)

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3. Hold radio transmitter a few inches from your face and shelter from wind.

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Do not use names, assign call signs or use boat names instead

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MAYDAY vs PANPAN

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*Using a VHF radio requires a ROC(M).

Sample VHF Distress Call

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY

This is Safety #1

I am in the Sunny Sky’s Yacht Club bronze sail training area.

Sailor #5 on my sail plan has suffered a severe blow to the head. He is unconscious, but breathing.

I am requesting immediate assistance.

There are 6 additional sailboats on the course.

We have left vessel 122 a 420 sailboat adrift. I have Sailor #5’s crew (Sailor #6) on board Safety #1

Over

Interested in VHF Course?

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Register by contacting Judy Robertson:

armdalecove@gamil.com or 902-802-7730

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Cost: $175 or $150 for students

RESCUER’S CHECKLIST

1. Recognize danger
2. S.A.P.
3. Determine the condition of the people
4. Recover the people/Promote the recovery of people
5. Prevent further injury (to rescuers and victims)
6. Recover the Equipment
7. Document / Report the accident

GENERAL ADVICE

• Adapt instructor:sailor ratio to suit conditions
• Never lose sight of a person in the water
• Talk to your victims in a calm and reassuring voice
• Keep your propeller away from anyone in the water and approach from the leeward side
• Always preserve life over equipment
• Don’t get in the water unless absolutely necessary
• Your victim’s physical limitations are as important as your own
• Write down the accident details as soon as possible following the accident

Questions?