Safety Equipment and Emergencies

Prerequisites

This lesson is part of the RYA Day Skipper course. Before starting it you should:

• Hold RYA Competent Crew or have equivalent experience. Competent Crew introduces the basic safety equipment on a yacht (lifejackets, harnesses, flares, fire extinguishers, liferaft) from a crew member's point of view. Here we look at the same kit as the skipper, who is responsible for providing it, maintaining it, briefing it and deciding when to use it.
• Have the pre-course experience the RYA recommends for the Day Skipper Practical course: at least 5 days, 100 miles and 4 night hours on board a sailing yacht.
• Have studied the Day Skipper lessons on man overboard recovery and VHF radio and distress procedures (Mayday, Pan-Pan, DSC alerts). This lesson refers to both and does not repeat them in full.
• Know the legal background. SOLAS Chapter V applies to all pleasure craft, including the duty to plan passages and to respond to distress. UK pleasure vessels under 13.7 m are not legally required to carry most safety equipment, but the RYA and MCA publish clear recommendations, and as skipper you will be judged against them.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson you will be able to (RYA Day Skipper shorebased Safety syllabus and practical Emergency situations):

• Deliver a full safety briefing to a new crew in a logical order, adjusted to their experience (RYA syllabus: preparation for sea, safety briefing).
• Select, fit and check lifejackets, harnesses, tethers and jackstays, and say when they must be worn.
• Describe the main types of pyrotechnic flare, say when to use each one, and fire them safely.
• Explain how EPIRBs, PLBs, SARTs and AIS MOB beacons work, including registration, testing and when to activate them.
• Describe how a liferaft is stowed, launched and boarded, and what to do once you are inside.
• Pack and maintain a grab bag.
• Respond to fire, flooding and a hull breach using the correct equipment and in the correct order.
• Maintain a first aid kit and know when to escalate a medical problem to the Coastguard.
• Name the regulations that govern yacht safety equipment and apply an inspection schedule (RYA: safety equipment, inventory, maintenance).
• Carry out an abandon-ship sequence with allocated roles.
• Prepare the yacht and crew for a helicopter rescue, secure a tow, and refloat a yacht that has run aground (RYA practical syllabus: emergency situations).

RYA Syllabus Map

What the examiner expects. In the shorebased exam and the practical you will be asked to name the equipment, say where it is stowed and how it works, describe how and when to fire a flare, explain EPIRB registration, and talk through fire and flooding. On the practical course the instructor will ask you to brief a crew and may ask you to show the liferaft, extinguishers, seacocks and gas valve on the boat you are using.

The Skipper's Responsibility

On a Competent Crew course you are shown where the safety kit is. As Day Skipper you are the person who must make sure it is present, in date, working and understood by everyone on board. In practice that means four things:

1. Provision. Make sure the boat carries suitable equipment for the passage you are planning. If you charter, check the inventory against your own standard before you sign for the boat.
2. Maintenance. Check service dates on lifejackets, liferaft, extinguishers and EPIRB, and expiry dates on flares and medicines.
3. Briefing. Every person aboard must know where the kit is and how to use it before you leave the berth.
4. Decision. Decide when kit is worn (lifejackets, harnesses) and when it is used (flares, EPIRB, liferaft). In a real emergency that decision has to be made quickly and correctly.

The RYA's general guidance for pleasure vessels covers lifejackets, flares, fire extinguishers, navigation lights, sound signals and distress alerting equipment. Treat it as your minimum. Many charter companies and sailing schools set higher standards.

Regulations and Inspection Schedule

What is required

Recreational yachts on UK voyages are not subject to a single equipment list, but several documents set the standard:

• SOLAS Chapter V, Regulations 29 to 34, apply to every vessel including yachts. They cover life-saving signals (29), danger messages (31), assistance to those in distress (33), safe navigation and passage planning (34) and misuse of distress signals (35).
• MGN 599 (which replaced MGN 280) and the Small Commercial Vessel Code of Practice set equipment levels for commercially used craft under 24 m. Charter yachts and sail-training boats must follow them. They are widely taken as a minimum for private yachts.
• RYA and MCA advice recommends lifejackets for everyone, a liferaft for voyages beyond a few miles from safe haven, flares, an EPIRB or PLB and a radar reflector.
• The Merchant Shipping (Distress Signals and Prevention of Collisions) Regulations make the misuse of distress signals an offence.
• COLREGs Annex IV lists the internationally recognised distress signals.

Inspection schedule

Key point: On a charter, add your own spot check to the handover: ask to see the liferaft label, the extinguisher gauges and the lifejacket cylinders. A charter company that argues over this is telling you something.

The Safety Briefing

The safety briefing turns passengers into crew who can help themselves and each other. It must happen before departure, alongside the berth, while everyone is calm and can see and handle the equipment. A briefing given after things have started going wrong is far too late.

A logical sequence

Work from the person outward: personal safety, then MOB, then vessel systems, then abandon ship. This order is easy to remember and builds naturally, from "how do I stay on board" to "what if the boat has to be left". The diagram below sets out a typical drill in that order.

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A full briefing covers:

Adjusting to the audience

With novices, demonstrate each item and get them to handle it. A novice should put on their own lifejacket and do up the crotch strap while you watch. Experienced crew still need the location of every item, because every boat is different. An experienced sailor who doesn't know where the gas valve is on this particular boat is no use in a galley fire.

Checking understanding

Finish by asking questions: "Tom, where's the fire blanket?" "Sarah, show me how you'd send a DSC distress alert." Silence after "Any questions?" usually means confusion, not understanding. A written summary at the chart table helps, but it supplements the verbal briefing and never replaces it.

Key point: Choose a second person who can take over. If the skipper goes overboard or is injured, someone else must be able to stop the boat, start the engine and send a Mayday.

Lifejackets

Buoyancy ratings

Lifejackets and buoyancy aids are rated in newtons (N) of buoyancy. Ten newtons is roughly 1 kg of flotation.

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For yacht sailing in UK coastal waters, the 150N automatic gas-inflating lifejacket with integral harness is the norm. A 100N jacket may not right someone wearing full waterproof clothing, which traps air.

Inflation types

• Automatic. A water-sensitive cap (a bobbin or a hydrostatic unit) fires the CO2 cylinder when immersed. This is essential for crew who may be knocked unconscious, for example by the boom.
• Manual. The wearer pulls the toggle. These are fine for dinghy instructors and people who want to avoid accidental inflation, but useless if the wearer is unconscious.
• Oral tube. Use it to top up or to inflate if the cylinder fails.

Checks and maintenance

Before each season, and after any inflation:

1. Unscrew the cylinder and check it is the right size, not corroded and not pierced (weigh it against the stamped weight if in doubt).
2. Check the auto-firing cap is in date and its indicators show green.
3. Inflate orally and leave overnight to check for leaks.
4. Inspect the webbing, buckles, crotch straps and harness D-ring.
5. Fit sprayhood, light and whistle where carried. A light is essential at night.

Get the manufacturer to service them at the recommended interval, typically every 1 to 2 years.

The crotch strap

A lifejacket without a crotch strap (or thigh straps) rides up over the wearer's head when it inflates. This can hold the face under water and turns the jacket from a life-saver into a hazard. Fit it every time. To test the fit, grab the shoulders of the jacket and pull up firmly. It should not rise above the wearer's ears.

When to wear them

As skipper you set the rule. A sound RYA-style policy is that lifejackets are worn:

• at all times by non-swimmers and children
• at night, in fog or poor visibility
• in Force 5 or above, or when reefed
• when working on the foredeck or outside the cockpit
• in the tender
• whenever the skipper says so, or whenever an individual chooses

Many skippers simply require lifejackets whenever the boat is underway. That is a perfectly sound policy.

Harnesses, Tethers and Jackstays

A lifejacket keeps you afloat once you are in the water. A harness keeps you from getting there in the first place, which is far better. Recovering someone from cold water, at night, in a seaway, is difficult and frequently fails.

The system

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• Harness. This is usually built into the lifejacket. Do it up snugly with the crotch strap fastened.
• Tether. Use a 2 m tether with a short (about 1 m) leg as well, or a dedicated short tether for deck work. Clips should be locking (double-action) hooks that cannot open by accident. A quick-release snap shackle at the harness end lets you release yourself if you are being dragged or trapped under a capsized boat.
• Strong points. In the cockpit, use a U-bolt or pad-eye that is through-bolted with a backing plate. Never use guardwires (lifelines) or stanchions, which are not designed for shock loads.
• Jackstays (jacklines). These run from bow to stern on each side deck so crew can move forward and aft without unclipping.

Rigging jackstays

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• Use flat webbing in preference to rope or wire, which roll underfoot like a log.
• Run them inside the guardwires and shrouds, so that a person at the full length of the tether fetches up on deck and not over the side.
• Attach to strong, through-bolted fittings at bow and stern and tension them tightly. A slack jackstay lets you slide a long way before it takes the load.
• Rig them before the weather or darkness arrives, ideally alongside before leaving.
• UV light degrades webbing. Take jackstays off when not in use, and replace them if they are faded or chafed.

Clipping-on discipline

1. Clip on from inside the companionway, before stepping into the cockpit.
2. Clip on in the cockpit before leaving it to go forward.
3. When passing an obstruction, use the second clip. Clip the new one on before unclipping the old one, so you are never unattached.
4. Work on the high (windward) side where possible. Then a fall is more likely to be inboard and you are clear of the boom.
5. Keep the tether short on the foredeck. Use the short leg or clip back on itself.

Harnesses should be worn and clipped on at night, in poor visibility, in Force 5+, in rough seas, when anyone is alone on deck, and on the foredeck in any lively conditions.

Man Overboard Equipment

The MOB recovery manoeuvres are covered in the MOB lesson. Here we look at the equipment itself.

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The order of deployment is: mark the casualty (shout, point, throw the horseshoe and dan buoy, press MOB), then support them, then recover.

Distress Flares (Pyrotechnics)

Flares are visual distress signals recognised under Annex IV of the COLREGs. Even with VHF DSC, EPIRB and mobile phones, a flare at the right moment shows a rescuer precisely where you are, often in the final mile.

The photograph below shows the three pyrotechnics found in a SOLAS pack: an orange smoke float, a rocket parachute flare and a hand flare. Note the long tube of the rocket, the cap and striker of the hand flare, and the markings and expiry date printed on each.

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Image: Christopher Doyle, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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A typical inshore pack (within 3 nm of land) is 2 red handheld and 2 orange smoke. A coastal pack (up to 7 nm) adds 2 parachute rockets. An offshore pack has 4 rockets, 4 handheld reds and 2 buoyant smokes.

How to fire them

1. Read the instructions printed on the flare now, in harbour. Types differ in how the cap comes off and how they are triggered.
2. Wear gloves if possible. Brace yourself.
3. Handheld: stand on the leeward side, hold the flare at arm's length downwind and over the side, angled slightly away from you, so that hot dross falls into the sea and not onto the deck, the liferaft canopy or your hand.
4. Parachute rocket: a long-range signal for use offshore, by night or in dull weather. Fire it vertically in calm conditions. In wind, angle it about 10 to 15 degrees downwind: the rocket turns into the wind as it climbs, so a downwind launch brings it up roughly overhead, and the parachute then drifts back over your position. In low cloud fire it at about 45 degrees downwind so that the flare ignites below the cloud base. Hold it firmly, at arm's length, and brace against the motion. Never fire one if a helicopter is nearby, because it could hit the aircraft.
5. Orange smoke: daylight only, within about three miles of a rescuer. A buoyant smoke float gives a cloud for three or four minutes; throw it downwind. A handheld smoke lasts about a minute and is the easiest signal for a helicopter crew to see; hold it by the handle only, because the casing gets very hot.
6. Red handheld: day or night, within about three miles of a rescuer who needs to pinpoint you. Hold it downwind and at arm's length so that the dross falls clear.
7. When to fire: a rocket when you believe someone may be within range but not yet aware of you. Fire two rockets about two minutes apart, so that a watcher who saw a light can confirm it and take a bearing. Handhelds and smoke only when you can see a rescuer, or hear an aircraft or lifeboat, and they need to find you. All brands operate differently: read the instructions before they are needed, and check the expiry dates.

Safety and disposal

• Never point a flare at anyone, or at an aircraft, sail or liferaft canopy.
• Store flares in a waterproof container, accessible from the cockpit and grab bag, away from heat.
• Flares expire after 3 to 4 years and become unreliable. Expired flares are classed as explosives. Never let them off for fun, which is a false distress alert and illegal, never throw them in household waste, and never dump them at sea. Take them to an approved disposal point. In the UK this is arranged through some chandlers, liferaft service stations and authorised disposal schemes. HM Coastguard stations no longer accept them routinely.
• Electronic (LED) distress lights are increasingly carried. They are safer and longer-lasting, but in the UK they do not yet fully replace pyrotechnics for international distress recognition. Carry both if in doubt.

EPIRB, PLB and AIS Beacons

How they work

An EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) transmits a 406 MHz distress signal to the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system. Most now include GPS, so the position is relayed to a Rescue Coordination Centre within minutes. A 121.5 MHz homing signal lets rescuers find you in the final stages. A PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) does the same job but is smaller, carried by an individual, and usually has a shorter battery life (24 hours minimum against 48 hours for an EPIRB).

The photograph below shows a typical float-free EPIRB in its bracket cover. The beacon is orange so it can be seen in the water, the label states 406 MHz and 121.5 MHz (the homing frequency), and it is mounted so that a hydrostatic release lets it float free if the vessel sinks. A Category I beacon like this one activates automatically as it floats free. On a yacht, bring a manually activated Category II unit or a PLB into the liferaft.

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Image: Marwan Mohamad.jpg), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.jpg)

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Registration and testing

In the UK, register EPIRBs and PLBs free of charge with the UK Beacon Registry (run by the MCA). The registration links the beacon's unique hex ID to your boat, contact details and emergency contacts. When a signal arrives, the Coastguard calls those contacts and can quickly confirm what boat is out, how many people are aboard and what the plan was. Update the registration if you change boat or contact details. Unregistered beacons delay the response.

Use the self-test button as the manufacturer recommends (often monthly). It checks the battery and circuitry without sending a distress alert. Note the battery expiry date and replace it on time.

When to activate

Activate an EPIRB or PLB only in grave and imminent danger where life is at risk and external rescue is needed. A failed engine in light winds is not a distress. If you set one off by accident, do not switch it off: tell the Coastguard immediately by VHF or telephone, giving your position and the beacon's identity, and switch it off only when they tell you to. A beacon that goes silent before the rescue centre knows it was a mistake can keep a search going for hours.

If you do need it:

1. Make your Mayday by DSC and voice first if possible. VHF is quicker and allows a conversation.
2. Remove the beacon from its bracket, extend the aerial and switch it on.
3. Keep it upright with a clear view of the sky. Float EPIRBs on a lanyard tied to the liferaft or the person.
4. Leave it switched on until you are rescued or the Coastguard tells you to stop. Turning it off and on confuses the satellite fix.

AIS MOB and AIS-SART devices

AIS beacons transmit your position directly to any AIS receiver within roughly 4 to 5 nm (further from aircraft): your own plotter, nearby ships and the Coastguard. A personal AIS MOB beacon on each lifejacket is one of the most effective upgrades available, because it lets your own boat find the casualty again. Some also send a DSC alert to your own VHF. AIS-SARTs are increasingly used instead of radar SARTs.

The Liferaft

Stowage and servicing

A liferaft should be stowed where it can be launched by one person within seconds: on deck or on the pushpit in a cradle, ideally with a hydrostatic release unit (HRU), or in a cockpit locker designed for it. A raft at the bottom of a locker under fenders and warps is useless. The HRU frees the raft automatically at a depth of 1.5 to 4 m if the boat sinks. The painter's weak link then inflates the raft and breaks free.

Have the raft serviced by an approved station at the interval the manufacturer specifies. That is often every 3 years for leisure rafts with vacuum-packed contents, and annually for older or SOLAS rafts. An unserviced raft may fail to inflate. On a charter, check the service label.

When to abandon

The golden rule: step up into the liferaft. Only abandon a yacht that is definitely sinking or on fire beyond control. Many people have died in liferafts after leaving yachts that were later found afloat. A swamped yacht is still a bigger, more visible target than a raft. Prepare the raft early, but don't board it until you have to.

Deployment

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1. Prepare. Send the Mayday, activate the EPIRB, put on warm clothing and lifejackets, and get the grab bag, extra water and the handheld VHF to the cockpit. The RYA list of extras to take if there is time: EPIRB, water, carbohydrate foods, first aid kit, warm clothes, sleeping bags, thermal protective aids (TPAs) and a handheld VHF. The raft may be supplied in a canister (stowed on deck) or a valise (kept in a locker that opens onto the deck); know which you have and where it is.
2. Secure the painter. Check the painter is tied to a strong point on the yacht. If it is not, the raft will inflate and blow away.
3. Launch to leeward. Release the lashings and throw the container over the leeward side. The yacht drifts downwind faster than the raft, and on the windward side it would bear down on and crush it.
4. Inflate. Pull out the painter hand over hand (it can be 6 to 10 m or more, depending on the raft) until you feel resistance, then give a sharp tug. This fires the CO2 cylinder, and the raft inflates within about 30 seconds.
5. Board dry if possible. Pull the raft alongside and get the heaviest, fittest crew member in first to stabilise it, then the others. Avoid jumping onto the canopy. Do not swim to the raft unless there is no alternative, because cold water shock and hypothermia set in fast.
6. Cut the painter last, using the safety knife stowed by the entrance, once everyone is aboard and staying with the yacht is more dangerous than leaving.

Inside the raft

1. Cut, stream, close, maintain. Cut the painter. Stream the drogue (sea anchor) to reduce drift and stop capsize. Close the entrances. Maintain the raft (bail, inflate the floor, check for leaks, top up the tubes with the pump).
2. Take seasickness tablets immediately. Vomiting causes dehydration and despair.
3. Keep a lookout and keep the beacon running. Use flares only when a rescuer is likely to see them.
4. Ration water. Give none in the first 24 hours unless someone is injured, because the body conserves water at first. Then about half a litre per person per day.
5. Huddle for warmth and keep morale up with routines and duties. Keep as dry as you can, and ventilate the raft every 30 minutes or so, because a closed canopy full of people soon becomes stale and makes seasickness worse.

The Grab Bag

The grab bag holds what you need in the liferaft that the raft's own survival pack lacks. It must be waterproof, buoyant, brightly coloured, have a lanyard to clip it on, and be stowed by the companionway so that a single person can grab it in one move.

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Aim for no more than 5 to 8 kg so one person can lift it and it still floats. Check the contents every season: battery dates, water, medication, flare expiry.

Abandoning Ship: the Sequence

When the skipper decides to abandon ship, the time available can be a few minutes. A rehearsed sequence prevents panic. Brief it as part of the safety briefing.

1. Send the Mayday on VHF channel 16 and press the DSC distress button. Give the vessel name, position, nature of distress (sinking or fire), the number of persons on board and whether a liferaft is being launched. Repeat once if there is time.
2. Activate the EPIRB and take it with you, plus the PLB if carried. Switch on the SART if fitted.
3. Put on lifejackets, warm clothes and hats. Hypothermia kills more survivors than drowning.
4. Launch the liferaft as described in the liferaft section, to leeward and with the painter secured.
5. Collect the grab bag, water and handheld VHF. Take no heavy items.
6. Board the raft dry if at all possible, stepping up and in.
7. Cut the painter last, stream the drogue and close the entrances.

Roles on a four-person crew (agree these in the briefing):

A decision example. Your yacht has struck a rock 5 nm offshore and is flooding faster than the pumps cope. Water is at the cabin sole. You send a Mayday (1 minute), activate the EPIRB (30 seconds), and prepare the raft on deck. You continue pumping and plugging. When the water reaches the saloon seats and the stern is sinking, you launch the raft and step up into it. Because you prepared early, everyone is in the raft within about four minutes. Had you waited until the water was at deck level, the raft's painter might have been caught on rigging and the boat gone before it inflated.

Fire

Fire at sea is extremely dangerous. A GRP yacht burns fast and gives off toxic smoke, and there is nowhere to go. Prevention is everything: keep the engine compartment clean of oil, keep fuel lines and electrics in good condition, look after the gas system, and never leave the galley unattended while cooking.

The fire triangle and extinguisher types

Fire needs fuel, heat and oxygen. Remove any one and it goes out.

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Recommended for a typical 10 to 12 m yacht: at least two multi-purpose extinguishers (one near the galley and one by the companionway), each at least 2 kg dry powder or equivalent, plus a fire blanket mounted by the cooker and a means of tackling an engine fire. Check the pressure gauge regularly and invert and shake powder units periodically to stop the powder caking.

Fire response sequence

1. Raise the alarm. Shout "FIRE!" and get everyone on deck and aware.
2. Remove fuel and electricity. Turn off the gas at the bottle or solenoid, stop the engine (and fuel if possible), switch off the battery master switch if it is an electrical fire.
3. Attack it early with the right extinguisher, from low down with your back to an escape route. Aim at the base of the flames. A fire that is not controlled in the first minute or so may not be controllable at all.
4. Reduce oxygen. Close hatches and doors. Turn the boat so smoke and flames blow away from the crew and the liferaft, usually by putting the fire downwind.
5. Call for help early. A Pan-Pan for a small fire that is under control, a Mayday as soon as it is not. Don't wait until you can't reach the VHF.
6. Prepare to abandon. Get the liferaft and grab bag ready on the windward side, away from the fire.

Gas safety

Butane and propane are heavier than air. A leak collects in the bilge and needs only a spark to explode. Fit a gas alarm, keep the bottle in a self-draining locker, and turn off at the solenoid or bottle after every use. If you smell gas: no naked flames, no switches (including the battery master, which can spark), turn off at the bottle, open all hatches and pump the bilge with the manual pump.

Flooding and Hull Breach

Water can get in through a failed seacock or hose, a damaged stern gland, a loose skin fitting, a cockpit drain, a broken rudder bearing or a collision.

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Response

1. Find the source. Water in the bilge is not always a hole. Taste it: fresh water may be the tank. Check every seacock and hose, the stern gland, the heads and the cockpit drains. Lift the floorboards.
2. Stop or slow the inflow. Close the seacock. Hammer a softwood bung into a failed fitting. (A bung of the right size should be tied to each seacock.) Stuff a hole with cushions, sails, clothing or a collision mat on the outside, which water pressure holds in place.
3. Reduce pressure on the breach. Heel the boat (tack, or move weight) so the hole is above the waterline. Slow down.
4. Pump. Use the electric pumps and manual pumps together, plus buckets. A frightened person with a bucket shifts a surprising amount of water.
5. Call for help. A Pan-Pan if you are winning, a Mayday as soon as water is gaining. The Coastguard and RNLI can bring salvage pumps.
6. Prepare to abandon in parallel. Don't wait until the batteries are flooded and the VHF is dead.

Prevention

Exercise every seacock at least once a season, and ideally regularly through the season, so they don't seize. Check that hoses have double jubilee clips. Know where every through-hull fitting is: draw a plan and post it in the chart table.

Helicopter Rescue

The Day Skipper practical syllabus includes the procedure for a helicopter rescue, and the RYA course notes set out what to expect:

1. The helicopter pilot or winch operator will contact you by VHF and give a brief. It may include a course and speed for you to steer, usually with the wind about 30 degrees on the port bow so that the aircraft can hover on your port quarter with the pilot in view of the boat. Listen carefully and take notes.
2. Drop or furl sails if told to, and remove anything that could foul the winch wire: ensign staff, aerials, the danbuoy.
3. It is vital to steer a constant course and speed without deviating. The helicopter will match your movement; a sudden turn makes the winchman's job dangerous.
4. A weighted line (the hi-line) is lowered first. Let it earth in the water to discharge static electricity before you touch it, and never attach it to the boat. Gloves are useful.
5. Use the line to guide the winchman down to the deck, taking in the slack as he descends and paying out as he swings. He will land on deck, unhook and assess the situation.
6. The winchman takes the casualty off the boat; the weighted line is used to control his swing as he goes up. Do not try to help in ways you have not been asked for.
7. Do not fire a rocket flare when a helicopter is nearby. Orange smoke is the signal a helicopter crew finds easiest to see.

Towing and Being Towed

A tow is the usual outcome of an engine failure or a fouled propeller, and the practical syllabus expects you to be able to secure one.

• Tow astern in open water. Use a very long, shock-absorbent towline: a combination of anchor chain and heavy nylon is ideal, so consider using the kedge warp and chain. Form a bridle on both the tug and the towed boat so that the load is spread across cleats and winches rather than taken on one fitting. The towline should be long enough for both boats to be in step on the waves.
• Tow alongside when entering harbour or manoeuvring, because it gives far more control. Rig the tug alongside and slightly astern of the towed boat, angled slightly in towards her, so that the tug's rudder is in clear water aft of the tow and the tug can steer in a straight line with minimum rudder. Use springs to control fore-and-aft movement, plenty of fenders, and check that the masts and spreaders will not touch.
• Agree the signals and the VHF channel before you start, keep everyone clear of the towline in case it parts, and protect the line from chafe at fairleads.

Running Aground

Most groundings are avoidable, and most are not serious if the skipper acts quickly. The shallowest water in a river or channel is usually on the inside of the bend, so do not cut the corner. If you do touch:

1. If the tide is rising, you may be able to free the boat at once by going hard astern on the engine, before she settles. Check first that no lines are over the side.
2. Reduce the draught by heeling the boat: move crew weight to one side, swing the boom out with a crew member on it, or sheet the sails in on one side. A fin-keel yacht heeled 20 degrees draws noticeably less.
3. If you are unsure where deeper water lies, use a lead line (or the boathook) around the boat, or send the dinghy out with the echo sounder.
4. If the above fail, try going ahead with full rudder to pivot the boat on her keel and drive her round into deeper water.
5. If the tide is falling, lay out the kedge anchor towards deep water with the dinghy at once, so that you can haul off as soon as she floats, and prepare the boat to dry out safely (lean her towards the bank or shallows, close seacocks that will be above water, and protect the hull).
6. Check the bilge afterwards for leaks, and the rudder and keel for damage.

First Aid

At sea, help is a long way off. Carry a first aid kit suited to the area and duration of your passages, and at least one person on board should hold a first aid certificate (the RYA First Aid course is the usual standard).

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Key points for the skipper:

• Ask about medical conditions and medications at the briefing, discreetly.
• Seasickness is the commonest problem. It causes dehydration, cold and apathy, and is a real safety risk. Tablets work best taken before departure.
• Hypothermia, burns from the galley, crush injuries to fingers (winches, anchor chain), head injuries from the boom and cuts are the typical injuries.
• Check expiry dates each season and replace anything used.
• Radio medical advice is available. Call the Coastguard on VHF Channel 16 (Pan-Pan medico for urgent cases, Mayday for a life-threatening one). They will connect you to a doctor and organise evacuation if needed.

Worked Example

Scenario. You are skipper of a 10 m sloop with four crew: two experienced friends and two novices who have never sailed. You plan a 25 nm daylight passage from Lymington to Poole, Force 4 gusting 5 forecast, sea state moderate.

Before departure (alongside):

1. You check the inventory: four 150N auto lifejackets with harnesses, all in date. Six-person liferaft on the pushpit, serviced last year. Coastal flare pack expiring next spring. Two 2 kg dry powder extinguishers and a fire blanket. EPIRB self-test passed. Grab bag by the companionway.
2. You brief all four together, then give the novices extra hands-on time. Each fits their own lifejacket and you check crotch straps and fit with a firm upward pull.
3. You rig the jackstays inside the guardwires before leaving, because the forecast gusts to Force 5 and the novices will need to go forward to tend the jib.
4. You show the experienced crew member Jane how to send a DSC distress alert and voice Mayday, and nominate her as second-in-command.

Mid-passage, 1400: The novice below shouts that there is water over the cabin sole. You:

1. Send Jane to the helm and ask her to slow down and ease sheets.
2. Go below. The water is salty. You lift the floor and trace the inflow to the engine raw-water inlet hose, which has split by its jubilee clip.
3. You close the engine seacock. The flow stops.
4. You pump the bilge dry with the electric pump and check every other seacock while you're there.
5. Without the engine, you cannot motor into the harbour, so you consider a Pan-Pan. It isn't needed: nobody is in danger, the wind is fair and Poole has room to sail in. Instead you inform Solent Coastguard of the situation by routine call on a working channel so they know, log it, and plan to sail onto a mooring buoy. You brief the crew on the new plan.

Why this is good practice: the crew knew where everything was, the skipper stayed calm, stopped the inflow first, then investigated, and matched the level of call to the level of danger.

Common Mistakes

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• Skipping the briefing for experienced crew. They still don't know where things are on this boat.
• Crotch straps not fastened. A lifejacket without one can drown the wearer.
• Clipping on to guardwires, or unclipping both tether hooks at once to pass a shroud.
• Jackstays outside the shrouds or slack, which lets a person reach the water while still clipped on.
• Leaving the boat for the raft too early. Step up, don't step down.
• Throwing the raft to windward, or not tying the painter on first.
• Delaying the Mayday during a fire or flooding until the VHF is unusable.
• Firing a rocket vertically in a strong wind, or near a helicopter, or holding handheld flares upwind so molten dross drips on hands and deck.
• Out-of-date kit: flares expired, lifejacket cylinders loose or rusted, extinguishers never checked, EPIRB not registered.
• Using water on a fat fire, which causes an explosive fireball.
• Opening the engine compartment on an engine fire.

Summary

• The skipper provides, maintains, briefs and decides on all safety equipment. The briefing comes before departure, in the order person, MOB, vessel, abandon ship, and is checked by questioning.
• 150N automatic lifejackets with crotch straps, worn according to a clear policy. Harness on and clipped to webbing jackstays inside the guardwires at night, in poor visibility, in rough weather and on the foredeck.
• Flares: parachute rockets for long range (two, two minutes apart), red handhelds and orange smoke to pinpoint position when a rescuer is in sight. White flares are not distress signals. Expired flares go to an approved disposal point.
• EPIRB and PLB go to the Cospas-Sarsat system on 406 MHz. Register with the UK Beacon Registry, test with the self-test button, activate only in grave and imminent danger, and leave on. AIS MOB beacons help your own boat find a casualty.
• The liferaft: tie the painter, launch to leeward, pull to inflate, board dry, cut the painter last. Only step up into it.
• Fire: alarm, isolate gas, fuel and electricity, attack early with the right extinguisher, Mayday early.
• Flooding: find, stop, heel, pump, call. Softwood bungs at every seacock.

Check Your Understanding

1. In what order should a safety briefing be delivered, and why?

Answer: From personal safety (lifejackets, harnesses), to MOB, to vessel systems (fire, gas, flooding, VHF), to abandon ship (liferaft, grab bag, EPIRB). It moves logically outward from the individual and is easy to follow and remember. It is given before departure, alongside, with hands-on demonstration for novices.

1. Why is the crotch strap on a lifejacket essential, and how do you check the fit?

Answer: Without it, the inflated lifejacket rides up over the wearer's head, which can hold the face under water. To check the fit, pull firmly upward on the shoulders of the jacket. It should not rise above the ears.

1. Where should jackstays be rigged, and why are flat webbing jackstays preferred over rope?

Answer: Inside the guardwires and shrouds, tight, from strong through-bolted points at bow and stern, so that a person at the end of their tether stays on deck. Webbing lies flat and does not roll underfoot like rope or wire.

1. You are 12 nm offshore, the engine room is on fire and you cannot control it. List your priorities.

Answer: Alarm (all crew on deck, lifejackets on). Isolate gas and fuel, stop the engine and switch off the battery master. Keep the compartment closed and use the discharge port or automatic extinguisher if fitted. Send a DSC distress alert and voice Mayday early. Turn the boat so the smoke blows away from crew and raft. Prepare the liferaft and grab bag on the windward side. Activate the EPIRB if abandoning becomes likely.

1. When should you fire a red parachute rocket, and how?

Answer: When in distress and someone may be in range but has not yet seen you. Fire two, about two minutes apart, so an observer can confirm and take a bearing. Hold it vertically in calm conditions, angled about 10 to 15 degrees downwind in a breeze (the rocket turns into the wind as it climbs) and about 45 degrees downwind under low cloud, never near a helicopter. Hold it firmly and follow the printed instructions.

1. Your crew accidentally activates the EPIRB while tidying the cockpit. What do you do?

Answer: Do not switch it off. Tell the Coastguard immediately by VHF or telephone that it was a false alert, giving the vessel name, position and beacon identity, and switch it off only when they tell you to, so the search is stood down cleanly. There is no penalty for honestly reporting an accidental activation.

1. Why do you throw a liferaft over the leeward side, and what must you do before throwing it?

Answer: The yacht drifts downwind faster than the raft. Thrown to windward, the raft would be crushed against the hull or the yacht would drift over it. Before throwing it, make sure the painter is secured to a strong point, or the raft will blow away when it inflates.

1. Water is rising over the cabin sole. Describe your first actions.

Answer: Find the source quickly (taste it, check seacocks, hoses, stern gland, cockpit drains), stop or slow it (close the seacock, drive in a softwood bung, stuff the hole), heel the boat to raise the breach if possible, pump with everything available, and call the Coastguard (Pan-Pan, or Mayday as soon as the water is gaining). Prepare to abandon in parallel.

1. Which extinguisher should you not use in a small enclosed engine compartment while people are inside, and why?

Answer: CO2, because it displaces oxygen and can suffocate the people in the space. Use the discharge port with the compartment closed, and ventilate before anyone enters afterwards.

1. What should a grab bag contain, and where should it be kept?

Answer: Means of alerting and communicating (PLB or EPIRB, handheld VHF, phone, flares, whistle, mirror), water, food, seasickness tablets, first aid kit, torch, knife, sunscreen, warm layers and space blankets, copies of documents, and personal medication. It should be waterproof, buoyant, bright and fitted with a lanyard, weigh about 5 to 8 kg, and be stowed by the companionway.

1. State three items in the inspection schedule you would check on a chartered yacht before sailing, and what you would look for.

Answer: Examples: the liferaft servicing label (in date), the lifejacket gas cylinders (green indicator, tight, in date) and the fire extinguisher gauges (in the green). Others: flare expiry dates, EPIRB battery and registration, harness stitching.

1. Why do you launch a liferaft over the leeward side with the painter secured?

Answer: The yacht drifts downwind faster than the raft, so launching to leeward keeps the raft clear of the hull. The painter secured to the yacht stops the raft blowing away before it is boarded. It is cut last.

1. A helicopter is coming to lift off an injured crew member. What must you do with the weighted line it lowers, and what must you not do?

Answer: Let it touch the water first to discharge static, then use it to guide the winchman down and to control his swing, taking in and paying out as needed. Never attach it to the boat, keep a constant course and speed as briefed, and do not fire rocket flares while the helicopter is near.

1. You run aground on a falling tide on the inside of a river bend. What are your first actions?

Answer: Try hard astern immediately (checking for lines over the side), heel the boat with crew weight or the boom to reduce draught, sound round with a lead line to find deeper water, and try going ahead with full rudder to pivot off. If she will not move, lay out the kedge towards deep water with the dinghy before she dries, and prepare to dry out safely.