Navigazione in solitario

[AlfredoC]

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Dead before the lifeboat is launched

If you fall overboard this weekend you may be dead within five minutes of hitting the cold water. Your well-planned and frequently rehearsed man-over-board drill is not much use when racing solo. You may be dead before the lifeboat is launched.

Cold Shock is the killer in water below 15 degrees Celsius; Bramble Bank is reporting a sea temperature of 9 degrees today! (March 22nd 2011).

Cold Shock is about gasping, panic, hyperventilation, inhaling seawater, heart attack, stroke and rapid drowning. This is not Hypothermia, the favourite topic of sea survival instructors since Noah shivered in the Arc. Hypothermia kills over a time scale of hours but cold shock kills in the first few minutes of immersion. A fit young sailor wearing a lifejacket may survive the sudden immersion but an 85-kilo sub-prime athlete in his fifties with an undiagnosed dickey ticker probably will not survive,

Solo Skippers should be wearing their lifejackets from the moment they leave the pontoon until they return.

Yotties going afloat in Spring sailing conditions would be wise to dress in the best of modern sailing kit, three layers is standard with synthetic base layers, no one wears denim jeans and cotton t shirts under their oilies these days do they? The jacket should be an ‘over the head’ smock top with neck seal and wrist seals, this will reduce the rate of inflow of cold seawater around the torso and may mitigate the severe pain of cold shock. Crowned with a fleece beanie hat that provides some insulation when wet and there may be half a chance of surviving the immediate immersion. An auto-inflating lifejacket with integral harness and spray hood is essential, not the separate spray hood worn in the dainty pack on the belt. The Spinlock Deck Vest is a good example.

The man overboard situation is vitally urgent and demands a MAYDAY call because the person is in grave and imminent danger and requires immediate assistance by anyone who witnesses the event.

The author learnt to sail in the Dark Ages, has crossed the Atlantic solo three times in the Ostar and sailed with charter guests to Iceland and Greenland.


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Aloha