Safety at Sea

[lustyslogger]

There are a plethora of articles and books entertaining us with tales of blue water sailing exploits, of families sailing across the Atlantic, Pacific, The North Sea, around Cape Horn, etc etc. In almost all of these stories the author tells of at least one storm at sea and the unpleasantness that ensues. We are all happy that the sailor and his crew made it to safety.

A recent article in Practical Sailor concerning risk assessment when blue water sailing made me wonder just how many lives are lost each year at sea. Although I cannot get a completely accurate number it appears that somewhere upward of 1500 souls are lost each year at sea. This is both from commercial seaman to the pleasure boater, from the middle of the ocean to just off the coast.

I have been in the middle of more than one "heavy weather" incident. I have been on a 365 foot US Navy Destroyer taking green water over the bridge. I have been on a shipment heeling at almost a 45 degree angle in the waves (45 degrees was rumored to be the point of no return when the ship would turn turtle and sink). I have seen waves tear off a hatch cover and almost flood the after sleeping quarters of the crew. Being in that kind of sea means you cannot walk safely topsides, you are thrown from bulkhead to bulkhead in the interior and end up looking like a 5 foot 8 inch bruise!!!

I cannot imagine the fear that would exist on a small sailboat in such conditions for days.

So,while its exciting to read about the Pardey's coming through a storm in the South Atlantic perhaps there should be more articles of how to prepare for those events.

Just a thought

[Art Haberland]

While being at sea in a storm can be exciting, I am willing to bet more people die being coastal in a storm. The waves build higher due to more shallow water, you often have a lee shore to deal with, and there are obstructions.

A couple of years ago we had a captain from Boat US drown coming into Great Egg Harbor Inlet. It was winter, it was not too bad out there, but something sank his boat in the inlet and I am not sure his body was ever found.

While GEH is a treacherous inlet with constantly shifting shoals, it is not a commercial one, so we knew he was not run over by a larger boat. Generally it is a shallow inlet with a lot of bars that move around. Most boats just run aground