Safety?

Discuss anything to do with safety, technical aspects of yachts and engineering, and anything else to do with yachts and yachting in here.

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Kevmac
YF Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:58 am

Safety?

Post by Kevmac »

Hello All,

Yours was the first forum I found, thanks for adding me.

I've never stepped onto a yacht before in my life. I've now been thrown into the deep end by being invited on a 24+ hour trip from Ireland to the Scilly Isles.

I don't want to sound too naive to the others. What would I be expected to take? I'm taking this as a once in a lifetime chance.
I don't want to spend a lot of money, what would the basic requirements be?
Jeff
Site Admin
Posts: 751
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 3:54 pm
Location: North Yorkshire
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Re: Safety?

Post by Jeff »

Fantastic opportunity for you - you'll love it!

Welcome!

Things to think about...

Clothing. Ideally wear wool if you can as opposed to cotton, under your waterproof outwear. If you have to buy your own gear, check out Decathlon who do high spec sailing wear for relatively very low prices. It's almost always colder than you think so wear lots of layers and make sure you buy outer wear you can fit over lots of layers.

Footwear. Ideally get some sailing boots. Cheapest option is plimsols. Make sure they're non-marking or you will be very unpopular!

Gloves. Any decent pair of waterproof gloves would be fine but if you're getting involved with ropes etc then some sailing gloves would help. Depends on time of year of trip - you might be OK without.

Lifejacket - I presume you'll be provided with one but if not get one with a crotch strap and auto-inflation. Any decent regulation LJ should suffice. Try before you buy to ensure comfort perhaps but I've never found a problem with any of the dozen or so I've put on.

Glasses. Get some polarised, UV protection (really UV protection, a lot say they have it but actually don't so get some in Boots to be more sure) glasses.

Cap. A peaked cap is really useful for looking in the direction of but not being blinded by the sun.

If you really want to get involved and have some time to spare I'd highly recommend working through the DaySkipper course offered by the RYA. There's a number of online versions. Costs vary. It will really give you an excellent grounding in the terminology, skills and safety aspects of sailing, navigation, and anchoring.

Sea sickness. Your first piece of water is often quite subject to large swell. Some first timers with me took various sea sickness drugs and were sick. One time I had aboard a ships captain with his own small fishing boat. We did a 24 hour passage in bouncy seas and he took a sea sickness pill - and puked for much of the journey - so if you do plan to take them perhaps try them out before your big trip. 24 hours at sea with sea sickness would be extremely unpleasant at best - dangerous at worst. Personally if ever I started to feel sick (happened a couple of times in the early days) I chewed on raw ginger root and went on deck to look at the horizon. My own theory is that it's caused by your brain sensing movement when it thinks there should be none - and attributing that to dizziness caused by something you ate - so it decides to evacuate your stomach contents... so it's all in the mind! But that's just my theory.

Anchor. If your friend's boat doesn't have a Rocna then tell them to get one. You'll likely be anchoring in the Scillies and a decent anchor makes for a decent night's kip.

Have a great time and please do come back on and tell us how it went!
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