June 01 is here at last, welcome to meteorological summer, the jet stream is well to the north of the UK giving us a relatively stable high pressure and as we know high pressure gives us some lovely weather. Don't get too excited,Glastonbury is not very far away and if history is anything to go by, it's usually a mud bath which means rain within the next 2 - 3 weeks. Enjoy the sun whilst it's here.
I was going into Portishead the other day with some students and as usual we watched and discussed with enthusiasm the other vessels coming alongside and crew berthing skills.
The students were quick to point out some very basic errors on several boats manoeuvring and close quarters handling skills. Too fast approach speeds, jumping off boats whilst they were still moving was a common spot, no lifejackets or lifejackets not done up were others and despite having one line attached to the jetty still unable to get alongside. The most dangerous incident and one we had to be involved with was a crew member jumping off a moving boat onto a stag horn and breaking a leg in the process. All easily preventable if the cox'n was either more in control or more skilled.
This led us into a discussion about safe practice and complacency. Suffice to say they agreed that the boat should be stopped and if possible don't get off the boat because the transition from boat to jetty seemed to be a high risk point of coming alongside. Getting either a stern, centre or spring line on first was a good plan, after that manoeuvring alongside is a piece of cake. They decided that anyone proceeding to sea on deck without properly fitted lifejackets were probably organ donors in the making (a harsh but a fair point I thought).
There was a discussion about complacency and the incident pit that led me to recount something as dive instructors that we teach to avoid. Perhaps it is something the boating fraternity could benefit from. On the odd occasion make a trip a complacency trip, when is a good time to do that? Sometime after a lay up, the beginning of a new season or before a big trip could be good time to try it. What does it involve? Basically every crew member being tested on the skills they have and procedures everyone should know. Some examples could be; electrical failure, engine failure, MoB, steering gear failure, Pan Pan call, Mayday call. (Does everyone know how to use the radio?)
Probably best not to clutter up the airwaves with the actual "for exercise" call but doing a round robin with each other as a quiz with various problems and chocolate incentives for getting it right works well. What would you do if you went aground? How do you manage a hole in the boat? How do you work out your position with no electrics? Go to anchor, some basic first aid skills problems to solve, how to put out a fire and how to use your flares. Just a few examples of some of the things that could be tested and examples of what I have seen crews being complacent about.
In my experience complacency makes for trouble. Whatever you practice, it has to be better than nothing. Stay safe and have a great summer.
