When on a boat, in case of danger, call Dilip. That’s my safety mantra. You can depend on him to be his unflappable self in any situation. Last season we were snagged in miles of fish net, within touching distance of a fishing boat whose crew seemed to be fast asleep. Dilip was crouched on the transom hacking away at the net, by torchlight. I was worried we would ram into the neighbouring boat; and said so. Dilip calmly finished the job, clambered back into the boat, started up the engine and we were on our way.
On a serious note though, as a Clipper crew member, I had an immersive training in safe sailing. And Dilip, under Sir Robin’s tutelage, has had an even more rigorous mentorship.
So, when it came to the regulations around a Category 1 sail boat, we had no doubts about the need to ensure we followed them; and added our own safeguards for Antara.
Some of the basic equipment includes life jackets, tethers and life buoys. All our guests are offered the option to wear a life jacket, except in bad weather, when they have no choice! We have 18 life jackets, 6 with hooks to attach tethers. The tethers are to be attached to the boat and to the individual’s life jacket. These life jackets are auto inflatable in case someone falls in the water and also have a manual option to blow air into the jacket in case of a malfunction. We also have 12 non inflatable SOLAS life jackets including 2 small ones for children.
Two life buoys, those large orange discs that one sees on most boats, with long ropes attached, are kept handy to address the possibility of a man overboard. Always kept handy in the doghouse the life buoy is easy to chuck over to the MOB. One of the first things we teach our guests is how to deal with an MOB. It is training that we hope our guests will never need to use in real life.
There is of course a Medical Kit on board to address most common illnesses as well as minor burns and bruises. Dilip is also certified in First Aid.
A multifunction display screen on deck shows us feeds from:
A Chart Plotter that works like a map on shore, showing us the details of the shoreline as well as plotted water depth at any given location. We also keep paper charts on board to offset the possibility of a malfunction in the chart plotter.
A Navigation Radar helps check boat and ship traffic around as well as prominent land features specially in low visibility conditions.
Traffic tracking of big merchant ships is enabled with the Automatic Identification System (AIS) which displays avessel’s identity such as name, call sign, MMSI number, its position, course, and speed and most importantly its relative movement with respect to us to help us avoid getting run over by it.
An Echosounder, provides a real time feed of the depth of water below the hull. This device sends sound waves into the water to determine the depth of the water. Since we have a draught (distance between the water line and the lowest point of the boat, in our case the keel) of 2.5 metre we stay in depths of 3 metres or more.
By now I’m sure you can see that there’s more to sailing than sea spray and sunshine. On our long sail trips it’s easy to immerse yourself in all aspects of sailing including Watch keeping. Teams of 2-3 are assigned a watch and asked to keep a look out, primarily for fishing boats and their nets. Most of them do not use AIS and hence cannot be seen on our Multifunction display. This can be dangerous in the night and requires a vigilant lookout.
A simple, practical resource in such situations is a fog horn. We used it once to alert the Betim ferry as we manoeuvred our way down river, when our engine suddenly quit on us even as Cyclone Vayu made its presence felt. Read my account of it on our blog.
We also have better communication equipment including a basic VHF set to allow us to talk to ships and port authorities in the vicinity. This has often come in handy when approaching a new port as first time visitors and novel adventurers on a sail boat. An INMARSAT C communication set enables receipt of weather and other sailing related information and allows us to broadcast emergency messages via email.
On the inside of the ‘doghouse’ on Antara, we have two important emergency devices. One is the SART or Search and Rescue Transponder. This performs the job of a signalman, sending out homing signals when activated. The response is displayed on radar screens of rescue units as a sequence of dots which helps rescuers reach the vessel in distress.
Antara is also kitted out with an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB). This is a radio transmitter that is connected to the INMARSAT COSPAS global emergency communications network when activated. This helps search and rescue groups to locate us in the event of an emergency. Our EPIRB has a hydrostatic release with a float free cover, so it will float up even if the boat sinks, and send a distress message across the world.
Automatic and manual bilge pumps ensure that water on the boat is pumped out quickly and prevent flooding.
And if we do have to abandon ship, we have a SOLAS compliant 12-man life raft with a hydrostatic release, that’s equipped with food, water and first aid that will suffice 12 people for a week. Have a look at this video of a similar, smaller life raft.
To top it all we have fireworks! These are red and green distress flares and smoke markers that are to be used in specific distress situations. The key is to remember what is to be used when, and how, while keeping your cool and trying not to panic. We also have 3 fire extinguishers and a fire blanket on board.
Next week, we move on to more fun stuff. Have you wondered what we eat while sailing? How do we cook, that too in a rocking boat, while balancing at an odd angle? Watch out for more in our next newsletter.
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Wow..nicely written team Antara.. u forgot to add... Antara is a fully registered and certified boat with all requirements met to carry passengers on board. Maybe the only yatch on the west or east coast of india cleared to carry passengers.