Lanier Sailing Academy

Our Passport Sailing Club hosted the first Full Moon Night Sail of the year on Saturday!
Our next night sail is June 11th- Members Only!

103 Basic Coastal Cruising Day 1 is underway!!

Due to high demand we have added 2 more Basic Coastal Cruising 103 classes! (770) 945-8810 to register.

Our Basic Coastal Cruising classes have been selling out fast, so we have added a new one! August 30, 31 & September 1. Give us a call at (770) 945-8810 to register!

Welcome aboard new sailors! Day 1 of Basic Keelboat 101 is underway

One seat left in our June 104 course! Give us a call (770) 945-8810 to register!

A CAUTIONARY TALE

In July 2011 my dear friend Chris lost his life having gone overboard during rough conditions at night off the Isle of Wight. He fell overboard and drowned while still attached to the yacht by means of a tether connected to his lifejacket harness.

Whilst his lifejacket was not at fault, the MAIB report highlights several issues which may have contributed to the difficulties experienced by the crew in recovering him.

Firstly, the Spinlock Deckvest he was wearing does not come with detailed information on how to wear the crotch straps. Chris wore his with the fixed straps running behind his legs and used the thigh straps to moderate their position. This is wrong! The wearer must step through the fixed straps so they run under the crotch and use the thigh straps just to adjust comfort. When the crew tried to haul him aboard the buckles parted under the strain. This shouldn't happen if the wearer has stepped through the fixed loops, although the manufacturer advises that the straps are not designed to allow a victim to be towed through the water. If you own one, please check you are wearing them correctly. I have asked Spinlock to issue a revised manual as there are no videos available online.

Secondly, when the recovery crew tried to get him back onboard they used the chest attachment loop rather than the recovery loop. This had the effect of overstraining the crotch buckles which failed. Lifting a victim by the recovery loop spreads the load on the straps and ensures a direct pull against loading keeping the victim upright rather than arched. This happened because the recovery loop is only exposed on inflation and so no one is used to seeing it, it's also black on some models and not immediately obvious. Please include this in your safety training and briefing, perhaps inflate one and show your crew where it is and why it's vital to use it. The other effect of using the chest loop is that the victim tends to slip through the vest as it causes the chest band to ride upwards.

Thirdly, Chris was tethered to the starboard side jackstay but slid out under the lower guardrail to port. With the deflection of the jackstay under load he entered the water and was in the wash of the bow. Clearly his strop allowed too much travel making recovery very difficult and allowing him to be submerged. Single hook strops should be banned as they don't allow users safely adjust position whilst remaining attached, they allow a wearer to enter the water and they do not have a secondary attachment point for recovery. Whilst it's often restrictive to have a short strop attached it stops you going in the water. Please consider throwing away your single strop or supplementing it with a short strop.

Finally, the crew had not practised MoB with a weighted dummy or recovery of a victim still attached to the vessel. It's not a requirement, but it's essential. Making recoveries of a weighted dummy shows how incredibly difficult it is to recover a victim even with a strong crew and using a winched halyard. Recovery training for a victim still attached emphasises the complexity of lifting a victim if their strop is running through the guardrails and still attached. It also emphasises the need for recovery crew to carry a sharp knife for cutting the strop. Please practice your MoB seriously, not just as a tick box exercise using a fender. Make it as real as possible, set up complex scenarios and insist that training is taken seriously.

Just to let everyone know that the marina will be towing away vehicles parked in the slip holder spots on July 4th without notification.