Fidalgo Followup - safety and boating skills

[BruceDrake]

I have several questions following the various emails about what could have been done better on the Fidalgo trip - but it applies to any trip. I believe there was a boating safety session in spring but do not know what was covered there. I wonder if it covered any of the following:

Towing
Is there an ideal spacing length between the boats for maneuvering, stopping etc?
Are there any siginficant differences in the types of line that best absorb initial shocks or types/sizes of line that should not be used?
Should one have a transom eye bolt for towing for strenth or is the stern cleat sufficient?

I have not towed anyone in fourty years - I figure I should do some homework.

Rough water skills
Are there any club sessions on what to do when you get into heavier seas. Most of my experience was in Miller bay with a 14 foot boat and little common sense. I did learn to never again pass close to the stern of a Navy cruiser in the middle of the sound but knowledge of the best way to proceed in heavy water is something I need to learn more about beyond trial and error. (Trial and error with my wife on board entails another set of risks best to be avoided). I have heard two stories from members this year about past trips where they thought they had bought the farm. Not a place I want to go just yet.

Buddy system
My recollection of boy scouts was a good troop was kept aware of when younger members were having problems on a hike and helped them to head back to the main camp if that was needed. This was also drilled into us in ski school days with younger kids and later regarding ever skiing out of bounds. There is strong male bias in outdoor events to tough it out and keep going that can be quite dangersous, hence the importance of buddy systems, sweepers in skiing to make sure eveyone got down the hill at the end of the day, etc. It is important that the buddy does not just give you confidence to keep going - more important they need to give support to not keep going when that is appropriate.

Polling members about issues in a safety course
There is an incredibly wide range of experience in the club, but I keep seeing new members showing up on the website and wonder how many of them have questions about what to do in various situations. A poll of some sort of topics for future safety or boating skill discussions might be worthwhile since I have yet to find the equivalent to Boating for Dummies. I suffered through weeks of the Coast Guard boating safety course and they covered nothing related to the topics above.

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Boating Safety

Bruce -

The boating safety course we took earlier didn't cover towing, rough-water boat handling or the buddy system specifically, although attendees were given a lot of information that would help them in each of those areas.

Great idea to start with some poll-generated details on the boating experience of members--including what they feel a need to know in greater detail--so that we can better address safety-related topics in the near future. (This winter would be a great time to refine our understanding of the buddy system and how to respond in different situations...especially when our events include boaters with a wide variety of on-the-water experience.)

Just to get the buddy-system conversation going, it seems that one of the big-picture things we need is improved ways to communicate with one another...especially during events that involve cruising distances across the water. Some of us use VHF radios; some use cellphones, but we've seen repeatedly that engine noise alone can wipe out such communications. (Personally, although I'll always carry a cell phone in addition to the handheld VHF, I don't know if I've ever actually heard the phone ringing when my engine's running. Usually, I only find out somebody called when we come to a stop and I'm able to check messages. Obviously, I need a headset or earpiece for the phone.) Ditto with the VHF, but at least it can be louder than the phone, allowing you to at least get snatches of conversation as you're slowing down to hear the rest of the message--or make a call.)

While we generally keep visual track of one another during cruises, we've had some examples this year of folks being left completely behind--out of sight, out of contact and essentially left to fend for themselves...whether towing or simply cruising at some distance behind the fleet. One solution, besides asking that everyone be more aware of who's with the pack and who's missing, would be to consistently discuss the planned route in detail before departure, and always have one boat designated to lead...and another particular boat designated to bring up the rear, 'sweeping' to be sure everyone's still moving along the intended course. The first and last boats would have to be equipped with better-than-average communications equipment, so that they could stay in close touch with each other...even if other boats in the middle were only semi-equipped to communicate by radio and/or cellphone.

Remember the early days, when hardly any of our boats were running--period? We've come a long ways and we seem to enjoy a lot more events where everybodys' engines keep running all day long, but towing is a possibility in any group, anytime. Perhaps, in light of recent experiences, we need to decide before heading out who has the best towboat at a given event, who's willing to tow, and who else might be recruited if the towboats are the ones needing help, etc. If we were able to designate towboats in advance, and improve general communications ability, we'd all be incrementally safer out on the water, and more comfortable about venturing forth.

It was great to attend the boating-safety class as a group earlier this year. Much of what we learned was critically important (who has the right-of-way; how to recognize the running lights of different kinds of vessels, etc), but a lot of the information seemed abstract when placed alongside the real-world questions we face when boating alongside folks with varying levels of experience, different expectations, and sometimes wildly different kinds of equipment.

Hopefully, we'll enter the 2010 boating season with some fresh guidelines, checklists and improved understandings of what to do when "X" happens, whether X is bad weather, a mechanical breakdown, medical emergency or what-have-you.

- Marty

[McSkagit Tim Jones]

Towing, the buddy system, communications, etc.

Having been in the marine assistance towing / rescue and salvage business 30years, I'd probably be the one to head up a class on topics such as towing, rough water boat handling, operating in traffic lanes, fog, limited visibility, communications, etc.

In addition to the event organizer, salt water events should have a fleet captain. Everyone attending a salt water event, or an event with multiple launch points would be required to check in with the fleet captain. The Fleet captain logs your boat (type, color, description), launch point and apprx time of departure, number of POB's, experience level, communications equipment, phone number, etc. That way if you don't show at the rendezvous point, we know where to start looking.

I also have a lot of information about the limitations of VHF radios. Radios versus cell phones, equipment and stuff to consider. I'll post that later.

[Lowell]

That's great.

I would really enjoy taking a Class from Tim, he is a guy with real experiences and common knowledge, you just can't get that out of a text book. He knows the club the type of boats we have and the limitations of boats and members. Also whats important is having the knowledge of local waters in relation to wind and current patterns.

Nobody is more a novice at this boat game than I am. Common sense helps but.....
I'd love to see a class where we could learn more about the safety aspects that pertain to our boats and what we like to do with them. I'd also like to know more about radio's and what I can do to help both myself and others. I do know that my cell phone has a vibrate positon that helps me know when I have a call that I can't hear. Been using that on the motorcycle. Towing is another thing I'd like to know more about. B

[Steve_Kiesel]

Ditto on a class from Tim, or from someone with actual Saltwater time/experience. I have more than avereage training, but hearing about real life experiences may save one of us a very disappointing day out on the water.

The class in Fife earlier this year was great. A lot of good information. Now maybe take one or two points from that class and expand on them in an informal way.

[ChuckB]

So set up your curriculum Tim and a time and date, I'll be there...
ChuckB

[BruceDrake]

Safety meeting and annual planning meeting on same day?

The Annual Planning Meeting is November 14. Would it be possible to have a safety meeting earlier in the day with the annual meeting later? That way people interested in both but not keen on driving to two separate meetings on different dates could save time and gas.

[McSkagit Tim Jones]

Towing class

I'd be happy to put together a towing class for sometime this winter. Would like to have a lot of graphics and pictures. I have stuff on three seperate computers, none of which talk to each other. I'll work on it and suggest a date down the road a bit.

McSkagit

[Skagitguy]

Tim, Are you going to launch your Skagit 31 this Fall ? Chuck

[McSkagit Tim Jones]

31 launch th is Fall?

Hello Chuck,
Yes, that's the plan. Still shooting paint and the wrap around glass in the cabin to do. May have a lead on a better trailer to rent or borrow. Will keep you posted.... Need to find a metal lathe to modify my helm set supports...

McSkagit

[ricphoto]

Tim...

if you need me to pull all your materials together in presentation form on a DVD just let me know...I teach this sort of thing for Apple and Adobe and would glad to create something to your outline...

...Ric

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Safety Classes

Tim -

It'll be great to have your decades of experience (often under the worst possible conditions), helping all of us prepare in terms of equipment and know-how. Nothing like rescuing boaters for 30 years to teach all imaginable lessons!

Thanks,

- Marty

[mark_61]

Any way to make a dvd of the class for us out of the area members who can't
get up there for the actual class. I have never been on anything larger than our local lakes but would like to spend some time in your area in the future and the benefit of local experience would be valued. I'm sure it would also apply to boating anywhere. Just a thought.

Thanks ---- Mark