www.VIKING-yAchTING.coM 4-man liferafts CRE W SAVER C ZODIA SEAGO N OCEA Y T E SAF PLAST IMO VIKING Life Saver. Why have a liferaft? It seems strange to even be discussing this question, but despite not being mandatory for small, private leisure craft in the UK, going to sea without a liferaft would surely be foolhardy to say the least. ‘No liferaft, no life’ is the wry comment made by Josh Jones, who, together with his wife and children, survived the sinking of their yacht in the Atlantic by taking to their liferaft for 18 hours until they were rescued. I must say I was flabbergasted when, during our trials, some curious onlookers gathered to peer inside one of the inflated rafts. ‘We’ve never seen one of these inflated’ the lady said, as she pushed her trolley full of gear down the pontoon. ‘Do you have a liferaft yourself?’ one of our test team asked. ‘Oh no,’ she said dismissively, ‘ours is only a 30ft boat.’ Can someone please explain to me the logic behind that comment? I treat the liferaft as a vital piece of safety equipment – and not just as a ‘final resort’ in the event of a disaster. I have always told my wife or crew that, should someone fall overboard (especially me when sailing just with my petite wife) and you are unable to We spend a fortune on them and for some their lives depend on them, but what do we actually know about our liferaft and what can we expect when we tentatively yank that painter to set it off? Duncan Kent and the doughty ST test team took six 4-man liferafts available on the UK market today and set them off in the sea to find out how they fared. get them safely back on board within a few minutes, launch the liferaft. A casualty who is in full oilskins and boots can be extremely heavy – we weighed one our guys before and after being in the water with full oilies and his weight increased by 1½ stone (nearly 10kg) – so in my case that’s 16½ stone (105kg) my 5ft/7-stone wife would be expected to heave back on board! Whereas, if she’s launched the liferaft I have somewhere I can climb into myself to keep out of the wind and water until the rescue services arrive. What’s a £300 repack job when the alternative is possible hypothermia or worse! PreParatiON liferaft Pack cONteNts One of the perpetual problems for liferaft manufacturers is the survival packs contained within the raft itself. These have to be pretty basic to avoid extra weight, but they must contain the bare essentials for survival and the ability to signal to a passing vessel or aircraft. The contents of these packs vary considerably and depend on what type of sailing you plan to do, or more importantly, how far you are likely to sail from help. If you’re only ever going to potter along the coastline, stopping for the night in a port or anchorage, then the pack contents of your raft can be minimalist. In fact the packs available for the ISO-approved liferaft we tested were all ‘Under 24-hour’, intended for inshore or coastal sailing – ie. when you would be unlikely to have to spend more than 24 hours in the liferaft before being rescued. These contain a bailer, sponge, pair of paddles, whistle, torch, signalling mirror, seasickness pills, sick bags, 2 red parachute flares, 3 red hand flares, repair kit and a pump. 24-hour+ kits also contain two thermal blankets, a 1st Aid kit, a second torch, six hand flares, 1.5ltr freshwater per person and 10,000 kJ of food pp, although some or all of these extra items may be supplied in a separate, floating grab bag. Equipment packs must be protected against water infiltration and easily accessible while wearing gloves. All rafts must also have a floating safety knife ewsaver • viking • zodiac • ocean safety • plastimo • seago • crewsaver • viking • zodiac • December 2011 Sailing Today 45
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