Orange smoke flare being set off in the SFYC harbour.

After seeing the difference between SOLAS and non SOLAS flares at the Sea Survival course I helped run at SFYC many of my clients asked that I put together a OSR Cat 2 pack of SOLAS flares. I put them together in a way I have been doing for a number of years. The Cat 2 requirement is for 4 red parachute flares, 4 red handheld flares and 2 orange smoke flares.

As you can see I put a small square of adhesive reflective tape on the firing ends of the flares so if it is dark it is easy to figure out which end is the important end! Also in each box is a set of gloves to wear to decrease the likliehood of getting burnt. I splice on a lanyard with a clip to allow the box to be attached so it doesn’t float away.

I fill the box with foam to ensure that the box is inherently bouyant and doesn’t sink if it fills with water.

Several people have asked me recently about STIX numbers and vessel stability. The MCA has a great booklet which can be seen at http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/197-070_mca_stability_sv_web.pdf

Continuous education is a good thing. Those who came to our sea survival course keep it up please.

Last night was potluck with my good friends and we got to talking about what we had been up to over the past few weeks since last potluck. I had Paul with me (sea survival instructor) and everyone wanted to know what we were teaching. As I had the 150N foam lifejacket in the back of my truck I brought it in along with my spinlock deck vest. So it became a teaching session on lifejackets and radio calls.

The lifejacket in the picture is the 150N jacket which you would have to wear racing in Cat 0, 1 and 2 races if you didn’t where an inflatable. San Francisco is the only place I race where people haven’t educated themselves as to why kayak vests are not the acceptable form of flotation for racing offshore. We are changing that! A kayak type vest has about 50N of bouyancy, no yoke collar (so it won’t turn you upright) and no crotch straps (so it will come over your head).

I obviously don’t wear the foam so my offshore lifejacket of choice is the Spinlock 150N pro sensor modified with a manual inflate I have been wearing one since they first came out. Why… well it has crotch straps (a lifejacket is useless without them), it has a splash hood so I don’t die of secondary drowning and it will roll me face up.

So the courses were a great success. We got 42 people through the course and we hope it is a start to changing the culture of safety within the bay.

What does M I P D A N I O stand for? Well it is an acronym for the contents of a Mayday message you would make in grave and imminent danger.

Mayday
Identification
Position
Nature of Distress
Assistance required
Number of people aboard
Any other information
Over

That’s all for now… have a great weekend. I will be racing up to Drakes Bay on Rhumb Boogie and back on Saturday and Sunday.

Flare training – So SOLAS wins!

Going in with the bolt croppers

Different types of rigging to cut thanks to Composite Rigging and Svendsens.

The liferaft that has just been inflated at the dock.

Group hug – keeping together and warm

Meet your liferaft!

How to swim as a group to the raft.

Liferaft teams racing to the raft.

Come on in and join the party