You have only about 3 minutes to abandon ship if you have a major leak and can't stop it. That includes the time spent assessing the damage and trying to plug or correct the problem.
- All crew put on their PFDs.
- One transmits May Day on the SSB and the VHF while you still have power.
- Others assemble the following items in the cockpit:
- EPIRB;
- Yellow Bottles containing flares;
- Ditch Bag;
- Emergency dribag of warm clothes
- Emergency watermaker;
- Leatherman knife;
- Ship's Log, Handheld VHF, and GPS;
- Dinghy oar;
- Seat cushions (floatable);
- Ziplock bag with wallets, passports, tickets, and boat papers; and
- First Aid kit
- One person releases water jerry jug (with line) from its deck tiedowns
- Other person puts Leatherman knife in pocket and small grabbed items in Ditch Bag
- One person passes the items from the cockpit to the person on the deck
- All inspect the life raft tether attachment to the boat to make sure it is secure
- Deploy the life raft on leeward side of the boat (so it stays close to the boat and is shielded from the weather)
- Tie Ditch Bag, yellow bottles and water jug with rolling hitches to life raft tether
- Throw the yellow bottles and water jug overboard
- One climbs into the life raft. Make every effort to climb into life raft from mother boat. It's incredibly difficult to haul yourself into a life raft from the water.
- Others hand the Ditch Bag, watermaker, cushions, clothing, and oar into the life raft and immediately climb in
- Haul on the tether to retrieve Yellow Bottles and water jug
- Activate the EPIRB and leave it activated
- Let the tether out as far as possible and prepare to cut it--but only when the mother boat is clearly sinking. Note however, that a liferaft cannot be towed or held alongside for long without suffering damage.
- Take seasick pills out of Ditch Bag, and swallow
©2004 The Trouser Rollers. All rights reserved.
This page was last modified on:
August 9, 2009
