When should you change course to render assistance

Under what circumstances should you change course in a distance race to check whether you should render assistance?

Is it automatic if you see a flip or stuff to assume you must go and check on the boat?

Does it matter how radically you have to change course? (Sail back up wind)

Can you assume that boats behind will see the crashed boat and stop and render assistance?

Do you keep checking to see if anyone did stop or the boat is upright before you turn around or heave to and wait until the boat is up and moving again and ask for redress?

Does it matter if its a buoy race and there are mark boats on the course. Would no mark boats change your point of view? Does this change your perspective and give you a pass?

Should distance racers keep their hand held radio's on their person and listen for a distress call?

Should any of this be spelled out in the Sailing Instructions or is the general rule 1 good enough?

Should the PRO bring this protocol up at the Skip meeting?

If you don't think about this stuff before hand... and in the moment say to your self... ah... that’s X... he is alright.... and the !@#!#$ hits the fan... What do you say to yourself ... to the injured X?

I must say... I have grown careless... I just realized that I did not have a set of rules to operate by and have been just making it up as I go without ever thinking it through....

Hmmm. not so good!

You should always check with the down sailor, and make sure the sailor is OK. Does not matter what type of course, bouy or long distance. We sail Hobie 17's, no crew to help. You can not rely on the "safety" boat to assist. One of our sailors in the Hobie 17 North Americans in San Francisco happen to mention that he was trapped under the Tramp, but was able to get out after taking off his harness and life jacket. The race is never more important than saving a life.

Caleb Tarleton H-17 #6446

This is actually a really interesting question and made me think since a couple of the races I've done recently, I've witnessed boats go over all around me.

I think I've established that in most of the races I do, all boats are required to carry a VHF. Without realizing it, this has made me feel if I didn't hear a call on the VHF, all was well and the overturned boat was managing on their own.

After this weekend, this still makes sense except for one thing. I discovered my VHF was not carrying more than a 3 or 4 miles. When I tried to notify the RC that we were retiring, I could not get through. This made me think, if things had gone the other way and we had a very serious emergency, I may not have been able to summon assistance.

We are racing high performance boats where wipeouts are common. The real question is when is it serious and how do we know? My own common logic has always been to err on the side of caution, but clearly I have not always followed this rule when I've seen overturned boats. I think this is a great debate that should be discussed.

TB

Having sailed 3 Tybee 500s in an array of conditions, this is a topic that is pretty important to me. I've learned a lot. The most dangerous place to be is at the back of the pack and we almost got in some serious trouble whith a sailor entangled and the boat going turtle. A boat about 1/4 mile ahead later remarked that they saw our daggerboards in the air and "wondered about us". They didn't turn around and at that time and place and with my experience level at the time, I might not have either given our relative positions. However, I would now.

This past year, we saw a team about 1/4 mile or less behind us flip and could tell that a sailor was separated from the boat. There were still several boats behind and we kept a close eye on them to make sure that someone was assisting. Once we could clearly see that they had assistance, we stopped considering them. That same team on that same leg (a rather experienced team too), after flipping again, found themselves well back from the fleet. A third capsize left a sailor separated again but nobody close enough to see that they had problems. However, they had done something very right that day that I have not been doing - but will be in the future. Each sailor had a VHF radio on their person and the sailor in the water could communicate. I believe the Coast Guard spotted them before any call for aid went out but at least they had a slight chance to call for assistance or help themselves be pinpoitned.

Here's a couple things I consider law: For distance sailing, if a boat ahead of me is having a problem, unless there is another boat in MUCH closer proximity, I will always sail by and check to see that they are OK and under control (no matter their experience level). If a boat behind me is having a problem and there are boats behind them, I will make sure they are getting assistance from another boat. If a boat is behind me and there are not any (or very few / spread out) boats behind them, I'm turning around to offer aid.

In addition to these things, I'm going to start carrying my VHF radio on ME. I know broadcast range is very small when the radio is 12" above the water - but it would serve me a lot better than if it were on the boat floating away.

Regardless of rules, if a boat goes over behind me I slow until I see the crew floating, not trapped, and making progress toward getting onto the hull to right the boat. If a boat ahead of me flips I will slow and hail. I want to know that again the crew is clear of the boat, not trapped. If I see a breakdown, broken rudder gear or mast down I will stop and render assistance or at least offer. If nothing else I can make a radio call for the disabled boat. I am thinking mostly about distance racing here.

On buoy courses I need to rethink my reliance on the crash boat responding. Now that I think of it for the most part they haven't responded. Again, I want to see that the crew is safe then they're on their own unless they need further help in some way and the crash boat is unavailable or off daydreaming somewhere.

I've wondered, what if somebody really needs assistance. I'm a single hander and I guess I would just have to abandone my boat to go help. It can be easily replaced or repaired, unlike my fellow sailors.

You may need your boat to get someone to safety ... wouldn't it be better to round-up and use your righting line to tie off to the other boat?

Also, I carry a (folding) knife in my life jacket in case of entanglement with lines or tramp.

There is a new product available on US market.
PLB - personal lacator beacon
http://www.acrelectronics.com/PLBorig/gypsi.html
which is a small EPIRB, satellite and GPS enable. It's fully functional EPIRB, but it's registered wich CG to person, not a boat. I wrote in application that I sail small open boats solo, so CG w'd know what to expect.

I believe, for $650, it's a good life insurance:)

Regarding subject - I'd check a boat in trouble in front of me, but, probably, not a boat well behind...

My quick notes and feelings:

1) It should be mandatory for distance races that each crew has a VHF on their person. We try to do this for even our Tuesday night racing, but it doesn't always happen... But the radios will be handheld - pick one as if your life, not your wallet, depends on it. Top models these days have a low and high power setting (typically 1 and 5 watt), which although not what you'd get on a fixed mount is better than some handhelds that only have a low power setting. Remember that VHF is line of sight as well. Practical sailor recently had a good test of high end water proof handhelds (which actually proved to be waterproof this time, an improvement).

2) Knives - I feel that any knife that you plan to use to free yourself should not be a folding knife. If one of your hands are what's trapped, you can't bring the knife into play. A fixed blade knife mounted in a fashion that either hand can get to it is a must.

3) People separated from boats - I was starting to think that a good idea for us to carry in distance races are the throwable lines that are carried on big boats for COB. I'm not talking lifeslings here, but the small packs that have a line stowed inside that you throw to the person separated from the boat. I'm thinking one on deck, and one affixed under the tramp.

Overkill? Maybe. But this last weekend's race, combined with other stories about sailors separated from boats has me thinking it's not.

At this past Saturday's distance race, after rounding the downwind mark, we turned upwind, were both on the wire in building winds and seas when the crew trap line failed dummping the crew off the boat. I kept the boat upright, but in that short amount of time some distance was put on the crew. Fortunately he wasn't hurt, and floating high and continually waving an arm so that I could keep a fix on him. Even so, there were times where I couldn't see him due to the waves. I made one circle back to him, parked, but in the conditions the boat still moved away faster than he could swim to it. I made another circle, coming closer, and he was able to grab the footstrap and pull himself on while I kept the boat secure.

Two observations about this - 1) I quickly realized that in those conditions, getting the boat close enough to him was dangerous. I needed to be close, but any goof and I could have hit him. 2) If I had something I could easily grab and throw the difficulty of this whole thing would have been dramatically easier. Now, on the boat was a throwable, and I could have rigged a line we had stowed for towing and such (this was to be my next attempt followed by calls for help if this failed). But If I could have grabbed one of these self contained throwing lines it would have gone so much better. Also, if the boat was turtled, I would have somehow get that stuff off the submerged side of the boat to use it. One of these throwable line packs on the underside would be ready to use quickly. So, lesson one, have a line already tied to the throwable - treat it like it can be used, not simply to meet regs.

Just some thoughts. By the way, when this happened there were other boats in the area. Nobody checked on us. But it may not have been obvious there was trouble because we did not capsize - the only hint that something was not right was the jib being furled and the boat sailing in circles. Maybe I should have made a call immediately to alert boats in the area? I didn't want to do that unless necessary, but...

Even though we were able to re-rig the traps, I decided to call off our effort as we were off our game and because the thought started to run through my mind that if it happened again in the building conditions near the upwind mark we might have a different outcome, or would need to invoke assistance. But that was simply the call for that day in that situation.

This another relevant question.

What's the best way to keep a hand held on you.

I find that they are not waterproof...... so you need a bag... This makes the thing so bullky that there is no good way to keep it on you... So... it goes on the boat. (not useful here.

What do the single handers do?... I am sure they are out practicing by themselves.

I find that my Icom MC88 is waterproof. I don't put it in a bag, it has taken repeated dunkings, and still cranks along. The Practical Sailor review dunked (to the standard) all the ones tested, and all passed. Times have changed, it seems. If you have an older radio, it may be time to buy a new one.

I keep mine in a pocket on the chest of my vest, with the strap attached to the jacket.

I have a mesh pocket on my life vest with an internal D-ring retainer, through which I loop the strap of the radio. Then I tuck the radio into the pocket. It is completely out of the way. I have been using the same Uniden Voyager VHF for about four years - it does RC and race duty, and has been dropped, submerged, sat on and kicked. Squelch knob doesn't work anymore (luckily turned up <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />) but otherwise still works great.

I'm going a completely different route here.... I think VHF is useless when compared to the iridium satellite phones on the market for around $ 1000. They have worldwide coverage and you can carry them on your person in a waterproof pouch that is not much bigger than a normal cell phone.

In addition to using it on the water, I also venture far afield in the winter on a snowmobile. Almost always far from cell phone coverage. Having the ability to get a distress call out for me (or someone I come across out there) in below freezing temps makes it crazy, IMO, to not have something like this. The cost per minute is always the drawback but how much is it worth the one time you really need it.

Greg

Epirbs
Epirbs are the way to go. I mainly sail in the ocean and I got the ACR one mentioned. I also got a life jacket with a built in hydro pack. If something devastating happens to me on the water, I can activate the epirb and sip on some water till help shows up. The epirb has an internal GPS and within minutes, it notifies authorities exactly where I am and they can look up my personal info that is updateable via website.

Helping others
Just make sure someone else helps or the till he gets underway. If you need to go back just keep track of your time helping and it will be taken off of your overall when you finish. It is not rocket science. Do the same to others as you would have them do to you. Put yourself in their position.

I also sail a Lagoon 38 and the throw rope we have is small, light and excellent!
Very accurate and if you do miss the bag fills with water on retrieval so the rope throws well next time. Very light bit of kit.
Personal VHF is resistant to 3 metres and fine in a chest pocket.

Jake's mention of the dangers of being last are true. In the last Outer Banks 500 (2004), we were neck 'n' neck with another boat when they jibed away and went over. We kept going for a while knowing they were experienced sailors. After about 20 mintues, when their sail didn't pop back up, we turned around and went back for them.

The crew had missed the trap wire with his harness and went overboard. With the spinnaker up and windy conditions, the skipper couldn't keep the boat down and eventually capsized but not before putting a big gap between himself and his crew. They were more than a mile off shore and being seperated farther by wind and waves. We pickup up the crew and deposited him back with his brother and their boat.

In that case, I got a range mark on land and hit the timer on my watch when we first turned around. I think the whole thing took about an hour. We asked for redress in the amount of time that elapsed to rescue the other sailors and return to our range mark. The next day, we went over and it took about 15 minutes to get the spinnaker untangled and the boat righted. Another boat that was about 10 minutes behind us altered course slightly to check on us, which was sportsmanlike of them. But they also asked for an exorbitant amount of redress, which was not sportsmanlike.

So what's fair? Grant redress in every case to encourage competitors to watch out for eachother, or demand some kind of proof that you were, in fact, hindered in your quest for the finish line.

Maybe it boils down to Do The Right Thing. A number of years ago at the Otter Regatta in Monterey a H14 went over and had the skipper trapped under the boat. For some reason a nearby safety boat thought everything was okay and was leaving the area. Another 14 came along, saw what was happening and dove off his boat to help. It was bad enough that he used his cable cutters to free the drowning skipper. Luckily his boat got caught in the seaweed which prevented it from running onto the rocks. He didn't ask for any redress.

Just to show that no good deed goes unpunished. the rescuing skipper sailed out to start the first race on Sunday and discovered someone had pulled his drain plugs.

He had cable cutters with him!?

VHF and EPRIBs are fine for distance races, and hopefully there will be someone in range that get there in time to assist, but back to bouy racing, it is up to each sailor to look out for the down sailor. There can never be enough "safety" boats to get to a trapped sailor, or one separated from his boat in time, unless they shadow the fleet. Fellow racers have the best chance to lend assistance, as they will be nearby. In heavy conditions, such as the Gorge on the Columbia River, and in the recently completed H-17 North Americans in San Francisco you are exposed to high winds, strong currents, large waves, and shipping traffic. It is easy to get separated from the boat, or unable to right it in these conditions. Better to take a down sailor on board, and wait for help. The race committee will grant redress, based on your position at the time. But more important, you may save a life. Many of us have also gone to good PFD's that have collars, and are also are bright colors. Another consideration is to wear the PFD outside the harness, so you can get out of it if trapped under the tramp.

Caleb Tarleton

If you are distance racing and a boat behind you flips then unless you are extremly confident that a boat behind them has spotted them and is rendering assistance, you must turn back and render assistance. (Even if that means sailing upwind).

The Great Texas Catamaran Race has a nicely crafted rule covering this:



I have twice diverted in that race to render assistance. In one case I actually helped them right a turtled boat that had taken a little water into the mast. In another case the other boat righted itself just as we arrived next to them. In both cases we recorded the time we diverted course and the time we got going again and were granted redress by the PRO with no questions asked and no grumbling from other teams.

Spelling it out in the sailing instructions and talking about this stuff at the Skippers meeting is a very good idea. If there are no chase boats and it is a buoy race then all the competitors must be prepared to render assistance. Obviously this is a difficult call to make - but safety is a lot more important. We recently did a few fun races without a comittee boat or chase boats. We spotted some newbies who weren't even racing who had flipped their boat and looked like they were struggling - so we dropped out of the race, went over and my crew swam over and helped them out.

Monitoring a VHF radio for a distress call is a little marginal. This assumes every one is carrying one on their person. Also, on a spinnaker boat, carrying the kite and moving at pace, both skipper and crew have their hands full, so monitoring the radio may be difficult.

For serious distance races (Tybee 500, Great Texas etc), renting a satellite phone for the week is a good, inexpensive option (less than $100). In fact, the Great Texas made it mandatory this year for each boat to carry one.

Personal EPIRBS are also a good option, but this means you are always handing responsibility for the rescue to the Coast Guard - which may be appropriate for really serious situtations (such as one of the sailors separating from the boat), but may be over kill if you have just dismasted and drifted in to a shore with no cell phone reception. The safest option is to carry both (one satellite phone on the boat and a personal EPIRB each).

Life lines go a long way to preventing drama. We use 6ft tethers with elastic that keeps them to 3ft and kept permanently attached to the boat this year apart from when the crew went low side to clear the boards/rudders.

A few years ago we did an informal distance run out to an island in Galveston Bay and back to the beach. On the way back a guy who was soloing a H16 at the back of the pack flipped. Another guy just ahead of him saw this and kept on sailing instead of standing by to offer assistance.

When we got back to the beach we waited and waited for the H16 sailor to appear. Finally, as the sun began to set the guy who had witnessed the capsize told us what he had seen (not very smart waiting that long).

A few boats went out to try and find him - but it grew dark and we never found him. The beach crew did the smart thing and called the coast guard, who found him using an IR camera and got him back to the beach safe and sound.

We use this as a cautionary tale around the fire as to why you should always render assistance when distance racing - this story could have just as easily ended in tragedy.

Chris.

He did. Must have been a Boy Scout at one time.

EPIRBs are fine but if you've got line of sight, VHF should be the primary method to call for assistance. The State of Hawaii now requires that all boats have either a VHF or EPIRB. The problem here with EPIRB is any response will come from Barber's Point on Oahu. That's 80 miles from Maui. As the local Coasties seem to be from Midwestern states, they have a hard time translating the local names into a location.

My wife spotted a boat in distress and called the local Coasties. They thought she was trying to report a problem on Oahu. She finally gave up and called the Fire Dept. who showed up in five minutes.

That's like carrying epoxy... and spare epoxy. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

And scuba tanks! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

And an epoxy spreading cell phone!

A few documents that might be of interest.



and one for fun:

My waterproof VHF's have had no problems stored in my life vest pocket, which affords them protection from direct spray.
All 3 are still alive, though one has a salt-jammed squelch control. The biggest problem is corrosion of the battery charging terminals: you must wash with fresh water after every outing or one of them will erode from electrolysis.

The sames goes for GPS's: the ones that have died have been subjected to direct spray (foretrex, etrex, and GPSMap3 dragged under a Tornado on the boom during powerboat righting last weekend.)

I think folks are nuts thinking a non-waterproof satellite phone is going to do them any good. I've killed 2 cell phones now by getting the slightest amount of salt water on them from wet hands.

I once tried putting a thin latex sock over my VHF for protection from spray, but you can imagine the looks I got from people. :-D

--Glenn

It's funny to think that someone would actually carry cable cutters but it was the right tool at the right time and probably saved a life. Kinda like me wearing a bike helmet for over 50,000 miles and never getting any benefit from it other than shading my head and then using it for a tenth of a second to keep from getting killed in a crash.

Everything...even the "waterproof" stuff...goes in a fitted drybag through which it can be operated. I've had the same handheld for three years and it's been through a lot.

My phone and radios are also in a waterproof bag and stay in it the entire time. I never take them out to use them. It works great through the bag. I have no reason to think the sat phone would be the same......
Greg

The sat phones can be used while in a waterproof bag - but the bag has to be quite big because of the size of the antenna. I know one distance racer who calls in race reports from his while on the water - so it is doable.

I keep mine folded in the dry bag for emergency use only. I figure you take it out the bag, make a call and then put it back.

Q - Under what circumstances should you change course in a distance race to check whether you should render assistance?

A - Whenever required by the RRS and/or the Rules of the Road (international treaty for safety at sea that all local laws and regulations must follow).

Q - Is it automatic if you see a flip or stuff to assume you must go and check on the boat?

A -No. You are required to change course only if assistance is required. It's the skipper's call.

Q - Does it matter how radically you have to change course? (Sail back up wind)

A - Only if your course change puts your boat in danger.

Q - Can you assume that boats behind will see the crashed boat and stop and render assistance?

A - No.

Q - Do you keep checking to see if anyone did stop or the boat is upright before you turn around or heave to and wait until the boat is up and moving again and ask for redress?

A - Yes.

Q - Does it matter if its a buoy race and there are mark boats on the course. Would no mark boats change your point of view? Does this change your perspective and give you a pass?

A - The presence of other vessels in the vicinity obviously affect a skipper's decision to render assistance. If you see another boat approaching the troubled one and consider that it will suffice, you are free to go.
Note, however, that if conditions are bad enough to put one boat in trouble, they are likely to be (or become) bad enough to put more boats in trouble, possibly more than the RC and support boats can handle.
Besides, if you make a bad judgement, you are liable. Legally and moraly.

Q - Should distance racers keep their hand held radio's on their person and listen for a distress call?

A - A hand held is mandatory when required by the sailing instructions. If there are no explicit instructions regarding its use, the decision to turn it on depends on battery charge availability and weather conditions. Each skipper must decide what to do. Rule of thumb: if you would feel better knowing that others are listening at a given time, then turn yours on as well.

Q - Should any of this be spelled out in the Sailing Instructions or is the general rule 1 good enough?

A - Except for the hand held, everything else is covered by the RRS and international treaty.

Q - Should the PRO bring this protocol up at the Skip meeting?

A - Maybe as an additional safety measure.

Luiz, good recap. Depending on the venue and conditions, the PRO should always cover safety and assistance. When we race on the Columbia River, home of the Gorge, and other areas with high wind and ship traffic, it is always covered. Large ships and barge traffic is the main hazzard. The normal instructions are automatic DSQ if you venture too close to ship or try to cross in their path. Also the reminder that the tug and barge may be several hundred feet apart, but the tow cable, under water is still there. Another automatic DSQ if you try to go between them.

Our safety boats try to herd the Cats away on an approaching tow, but accidents still happen. Several years ago, we had a H-16 that had turned over eaten up by a barge and tow. The crew had been rescued, but the tow could not stop. They can not alter course, and it takes several miles for them to stop.

Safety first, better to let them pass first, then cross behind.

Caleb Tarleton