Sailing Safety
Some safety stuff…
You should know the following by the time we leave the harbor area. If not, ask the captain.
Location of life vests and fire extinguishers.
Wear a life jacket at sea if you are not a good swimmer (see below).
Emergency call procedures via the VHF radio (see below).
Man over board procedures (see below).
How to turn off auto-pilot (see below).
Who to contact in an emergency.
Not a good swimmer?
If you are not a good swimmer, let the captain know and wear a life jacket at sea.
Bring and wear a comfortable auto-self-inflating life jacket (available e.g. at Amazon) or one of the yacht’s regulation life-jackets (which are however very bulky for daily use).
Emergency call via VHF
Select channel 16
Full power (25 watts)
Press speaker button
“MAYDAY” “MAYDAY” MAYDAY”
“THIS IS” ________ [name of the vessel). Repeat three times.
Describe your position, the problem and the vessel (e.g. sailboat, one mast, white).
“OVER”
Release speaker button.
Repeat at intervals until an answer is received
Man over board (“MOB”) aka Crew over board (“COB”)
If you fall over board, scream!!!
If you notice a crew member fell over board, scream “man over board!” and point at them, continuously, no matter what, until the MOB is rescued. You are now the “spotter”!
The “spotter” points at the MOB continuously, no matter what, until the MOB is rescued. The head of a MOB is easily obscured by small waves. The spotter assures that we never lose sight of the MOB.
Somebody else, not the spotter:
Throw something floaty, like a fender, a life vest, the horse-shoe, a kayak…
Turn the auto-pilot off (see instructions below).
If under sail:
Turn on engine – make sure there are no lines near the propellers.
Steer yacht into the wind and quickly lower all sails.
Motor to MOB and recover them.
Propeller in neutral (not off!) when MOB is near the propeller.
How to disable the auto-pilot
Press STBY (“Standby”)
