Safety at sea: how to get out of the water?

[Craus]

Quite often there are quite dangerous situations for which it is very difficult to be prepared. Despite this, it is not only your training as a sailor that is important, but also your psychological one. It is thanks to her that you will be able to maintain clarity of mind even in the most critical situation.

By knowing a few simple psychological tricks, you can relive the most incredible events much easier. Psychological training is one of the most important aspects for seafarers. Emergency situations at sea require caution, speed and decisiveness. Therefore, it is better to know a few tricks of your brain and never use them than to fall into a stupor at an important moment.

Be careful

One of the most common tips, but no less important. It is on your vigilance and attentiveness that the likelihood of a particular event often depends. Check the new rigging several times to ensure that the mast remains upright. Maybe you should check the sails again for damage?



Don't forget about engine maintenance, liferaft certification, tackle. The list goes on, but a cruise requires more than good equipment.

There is a whole list of mandatory activities that everyone must go through. First aid lessons, swimming instruction, diesel engine training (or any other type of engine).



These well-proven procedures help seafarers better cope with unpredictable situations, just as astronauts, police, pilots and other professionals usually train for worst-case scenarios.

Practice

After a tense transition, you are already almost asleep, but thoughts begin to creep into your head. Did you check everything well? Are we standing in a safe place? There can be a million such questions with variations. In the worst case, thinking "what if ..." begins.



The dark side of the imagination can create fear, anxiety, and even panic. Many who travel with children are afraid that a child left unattended for a couple of minutes will fall overboard. And then begins a convulsive check of everything that is on the boat and what can lead to such a sad outcome.

Precisely in order for the tragedy not to happen, it is necessary in practice to repeatedly show and explain to the child what he can and cannot do. The only problem is that you cannot work out all situations. 



Unfortunately, not everything can be described and documented in the manuals. This is a pressing problem. To help astronauts prepare for low-gravity environments, NASA has built a giant pool, and aircraft pilots and merchant ship officers are practicing scenarios in ultra-realistic and ultra-expensive simulators.

Can recreational sailors work out a rudder failure? Unlikely.

Submit and Act!

Let's say a yacht has a steering failure due to some external factors.

You may even be able to use different braking devices to improve steering, but will any of these devices work? Is that all there was to it? What if it's not rudder failure, but another mechanical problem? Can I fix it somehow?



A large number of questions arise when you simulate a similar situation in your head. Well, it's time to solve them!

Go from simple questions to complex ones. Can I use braking devices? Yes! But how? ... And so on. Each answer in your head should be dictated solely by real knowledge and experience. Do not hope that knowledge that you never had will suddenly appear.

The point of such modeling in imagination is not to confuse or frighten you. You must be clear about the possible scenarios in order to effectively confront them. On the other hand, it is impossible to be ready for everything, so make, as they say, a few “homework” for all occasions.



Let's say there is a problem with the keel, mainsail, or rig. Break the whole boat into separate pieces and assess your skills soberly. Make a clear plan of action in your head: we do this and that with the mainsail, we fight like this with the rig, but with the keel ... Then any problem will become a little easier.

Expect unexpected situations

It also happens that many problems that suddenly come to the surface do not do it by accident. So, for example, corrosion on some important part is hidden under the visor and in order to get and see you have to be perverted.



Usually people do not look into such places under the pretext: "Well, there is definitely nothing there." And it may well come out sideways right in the middle of a cruise.

Thus, we come to the conclusion that malfunctions and force majeure are part of all life at sea. In order for them not to interfere with bright and positive emotions, psychological preparation is necessary.

Lost steering won't necessarily ruin the cruise, but it can be nerve-wracking. No matter how hard we try to avoid it, unpredictability is a feature of the cruise. Learning is the answer.



However, the disadvantage of training is that there is often no large pool with a wide variety of situations to be practiced. Yes, some do practice with liferafts in the pools. Students will learn that it is inconvenient to operate rafts, swimming in clothes is difficult, and getting on a liferaft is more difficult when wet. But such an experience is possible.

Think about it

Preparing for emergencies is a scary and difficult topic. Who wants to imagine terrible things?

But it takes imagination to destroy fear or insecurity. To fill in the gaps that other teaching methods do not fill. Imagine, visualize, think out.

There was a sailor in Vanuatu who couldn't imagine going overboard. But he went aft to check on the towed boat. He was never seen again.

Situations vary, and decisions often come suddenly. Do not be afraid of emergency situations. You need to be ready for them. Remember the basic principles of health and safety. Good luck and seven feet under the keel!

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