Do you have a life raft on your sailboat? If you don't, why not?
- Thread starter dserrell
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No real life raft, but on longer trips or offshore, the dink is partially inflated and the other small inflatable is close by; the ditch bag has the handheld VHF and flares etc. .. I usually sail in about 12 feet of water.. boat draws 6 feet.. mast is 51 feet.. There would be lots to hang onto if it went down. Water here is warm enough that there is a good bit of immersion time for a person before there is a real problem. Not advising that you use my plan; ya have to consider where you sail and how close help is. Coast Guard New Orleans and Mobile are quick to get out helicopters here if you can get a call out to them. Almost everything from Houston Tx to Panama City Fl is 1 hour or less from the helicopter.. one of the benefits of the marine commerce in the area.. We’ve had a real, oversized life raft on all the long runs that we’ve made out through the Gulf and up the east coast. My buddy who used to sail Galveston Bay moved to Annapolis. He bought a life raft before moving the boat up there because the water is deeper and colder.. We did the math once that led us to believe that on a mid size boat.. 32-36 feet or so, we could run her aground someplace in Galveston Bay before she actually sunk. Again.. ya have to think about where ya sail and how you use the boat.. Key is to have a plan and before any trip with a few people, talk about that plan and demonstrate where the safety gear is located.
I have a boat
and have been sailing for 25 years and haven't sunk yet!
Seriously, open ocean sailing is one thing, but Bay sailing is a completely different issue. The way the question is worded is somewhat misleading.
We keep our boat in pristine condition, and understand that stuff happens and that one can and may actually eventually really hit something. Depending on where I go and who's with me, so far we've depended on our dinghy.
and have been sailing for 25 years and haven't sunk yet!
Seriously, open ocean sailing is one thing, but Bay sailing is a completely different issue. The way the question is worded is somewhat misleading.
We keep our boat in pristine condition, and understand that stuff happens and that one can and may actually eventually really hit something. Depending on where I go and who's with me, so far we've depended on our dinghy.
I plan on using an inflatable dinghy and having a well stocked ditch bag. Do the life rafts have some kind of ballast to keep them from blowing away? Is there something you can add to an inflatable dinghy to keep it from blowing away?
Why own when you can rent? Unless you cruise full time or make 6-7 offshore trips a year it does not pay to own a raft. It is not just the purchase price but the maintenance and recertification involved.
Does this count.
Its what the wife picked up as a security blanket...lol I think she figured woman and children first and me being the captain meant I went down with the ship so there didn't need to be room for me
Its what the wife picked up as a security blanket...lol I think she figured woman and children first and me being the captain meant I went down with the ship so there didn't need to be room for me
No life raft here. Mostly river sailing and sailing between coast an the barrier islands. I do wear an auto inflatable life vest all the time while underway. As cloudie said earlier the area I sail in (approximately 8 miles by 30 miles)has an average depth of 12 feet or less.
A small sea anchor will stop rapid drift and keep it staight.
I had one (5') from a smaller boat I use to take pretty far outside. A large drift sock should work. You don't need or want to stop the raft, as you would a larger boat.
My understanding is that an over sized life raft is asking to flip it.
It might seem roomy, but in high winds it will blow over.
Just remember...you step up into the life raft
My friend was rescued 400 miles off the coast because the CG landed a helicopter on a naval vessel which took them within range to rescue him and two others and arrive in Nantucket. They had booked a working vacation going from CT to Bermuda and back with a very experienced Captain (gave seminars and made the round trip 25+ times) who made a few mistakes...he misjudged a storm track...he didn't ship the dead lights...and he deployed the life raft when the sailboat was still floating and got washed away into the darkness doing so along with the first mate. He had, however, set off an EPIRB. Everyone who stayed with the sailboat was relatively safe and survived even though the boat had been flipped over by a 40 foot wave, the sails were gone, pilothouse windows had shattered flooding the boat, wiping out the engine, the batteries and hence the pumps. The first mate was luckily rescued by a nearby freighter, but unfortunately the Captain drowned, rest his soul. When my friend met him he provided a plethora of information about safety and about their vessel. His doom was a rented life raft with a super thin spectra line which was quite slick when wet. The raft blew to the end of that tether and they could not gain enough of a grip to pull it to the boat. They were untethered working on it when another large wave swept them away. During this even a couple of crew who were tethered were washed over and recovered. Lots of lessons here. It is a "storm story" on the weather channel, but I haven't seen it yet.
http://www.stmarystoday.com/three_sailors_rescued.htm
My friend was rescued 400 miles off the coast because the CG landed a helicopter on a naval vessel which took them within range to rescue him and two others and arrive in Nantucket. They had booked a working vacation going from CT to Bermuda and back with a very experienced Captain (gave seminars and made the round trip 25+ times) who made a few mistakes...he misjudged a storm track...he didn't ship the dead lights...and he deployed the life raft when the sailboat was still floating and got washed away into the darkness doing so along with the first mate. He had, however, set off an EPIRB. Everyone who stayed with the sailboat was relatively safe and survived even though the boat had been flipped over by a 40 foot wave, the sails were gone, pilothouse windows had shattered flooding the boat, wiping out the engine, the batteries and hence the pumps. The first mate was luckily rescued by a nearby freighter, but unfortunately the Captain drowned, rest his soul. When my friend met him he provided a plethora of information about safety and about their vessel. His doom was a rented life raft with a super thin spectra line which was quite slick when wet. The raft blew to the end of that tether and they could not gain enough of a grip to pull it to the boat. They were untethered working on it when another large wave swept them away. During this even a couple of crew who were tethered were washed over and recovered. Lots of lessons here. It is a "storm story" on the weather channel, but I haven't seen it yet.
http://www.stmarystoday.com/three_sailors_rescued.htm
We take it on and off as its required for races that have overnights or go into more dangerous waters NOT that many boats sink around here ?
I cant see having one on a J24 at all unless i was doing something way out of the boats intended use
I cant see having one on a J24 at all unless i was doing something way out of the boats intended use
We have a life raft along with an EPIRB that we use whenever we are on long crossings across the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulfstream going to the Bahama's. Otherwise, the majority of our sailing is coastal along the panhandle of Florida where we rely on our VHF radio's if we get into trouble.
Inflatable dinghy with outboard engine. The problem with a life raft is that you are helpless!!!!! Entirely dependent upon rescue. With a dinghy with an outboard you can motor to safety if you are not too far out at sea. Since we are coastal sailers most of the time we will be within the motoring range of a few gallons of gasoline. But 20 miles is an impossible distance to swim...well nearly impossible. But with an inflatable with 5 gallons of gasoline it is easily doable. OBVIOUSLY everything depends upon everything. We plan to watch the weather so we don't plan to abandon ship due to a severe storm. I have read too many stories of people adrift seeing ships etc that sail on past . We also have a walker bay 8 that is just fine in a lake. If you try to prepare for every possible situation it becomes impossible to go cruising.
Things I don't understand here are considering the guy was so experienced:
1) How did he get the boat in a poisition to be flipped in the first place? I would think somebody with so much experience would not let that happen.
2) how did they get a 40' wave with winds only 28-33 knots? Rogue?
3) You would have thought after being flipped over, he wouldn't let anybody out without a tether, especially himself...especially preparing the life-raft (so many stories out there of people being swept away preping the life-raft).
Another thing I don't understand is "didn't ship the dead lights"...what are dead lights?
And last question which I guess nobody can answer...why did he leave a floating boat for a life-raft. Ever since the fastnet race of 1979, I believe everybody knows even a dead in the water boat paritally floating is safer than a life-raft. Maybe he thought it would go down so quickly that he wouldn't have time to get out?
Or maybe he was too exhausted to think correctly?
I guess the only thing I really worry about in that reguard is fire.
My cat has crash tanks front and rear in each hull, plus 2 more sealed bulkheads on each side. I have flooded 2 of them at the same time, (delivery trip) and only went down about 2 inches. There are also chambers in the bridge deck.
We keep a dingy well secured on davits. With a cat, the davits are up between the hulls and not vulnerable to waves, at least not anything less than 20 feet, since I have sailed in 8-footers. If it was really nasty I can lash on a big deck. I have done that.
I wonder that no-one has ever toyed with a "convertible" inflatable dingy that could be both. A sea anchor is an easy way to keep it still. A fabric canopy could be added, I think, perhaps laced on (if is bad weather, do it ahead - if fire, you can do it in the water). Many inflatables are already much heavier and stronger than a typical "life raft" which is built to be light and store small. I would think it could be a good answer. A worthy engineering challenge.
My cat has crash tanks front and rear in each hull, plus 2 more sealed bulkheads on each side. I have flooded 2 of them at the same time, (delivery trip) and only went down about 2 inches. There are also chambers in the bridge deck.
We keep a dingy well secured on davits. With a cat, the davits are up between the hulls and not vulnerable to waves, at least not anything less than 20 feet, since I have sailed in 8-footers. If it was really nasty I can lash on a big deck. I have done that.
I wonder that no-one has ever toyed with a "convertible" inflatable dingy that could be both. A sea anchor is an easy way to keep it still. A fabric canopy could be added, I think, perhaps laced on (if is bad weather, do it ahead - if fire, you can do it in the water). Many inflatables are already much heavier and stronger than a typical "life raft" which is built to be light and store small. I would think it could be a good answer. A worthy engineering challenge.
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