Emergency procedures

When preparing for a sea cruise, it is impossible to foresee absolutely all situations, especially if you have little experience and you occasionally go on a sea voyage on rented yacht.

What can make the crew leave the ship within 5 minutes? Fire or threat to go under water with the yacht! In such cases, there is no time to think, before the start of the voyage, the actions of each team member should be worked out to the point of automaticity.

An emergency can be triggered by damage to the ship's hull, accompanied by the ingress of a large amount of seawater.

Usually this is a consequence:

• damage to technological openings below the waterline;
• collisions with a floating large object or another boat;
• grounding.

Overkill (a complete coup on a big wave) cannot be ruled out.

The captain is responsible for the life and health of people. According to the security briefing, 5 assistants are required (if the team is small, someone will have to work for two). Each crew member should be aware of their responsibilities in the event of an emergency.

The First Officer is responsible for the health of the fire extinguisher and the availability of funds to eliminate water leakage. He must quickly deliver tools (hammer, clamp, etc.) and materials for temporary hole closure: plugs (plastic or wooden) for technological holes, plasters.

The second mate is responsible for filling the emergency dry bag with essential items (this is done well in advance, in a calm environment). It also provides fresh water canister storage (close to the life raft). For buoyancy, the canister is filled three-quarters with water. In an emergency evacuation, the emergency bag and canister must be delivered to the liferaft in a matter of minutes.

Two people (third and fourth) put the liferaft into operation. You can't do it alone, as the raft is very heavy.

The fifth mate, the most qualified, is ordered by the captain to send a distress signal using the emergency buoy and fixed radio. The EPIRB radio beacon will accurately show the location of the vessel. How quickly the necessary help will come depends on the precise work (and resistance to stress) of this person.

At sea, regardless of the type of emergency, the order of the crew's actions is always the same:

1. A person who has noticed the occurrence of a non-standard situation notifies the captain of where and what happened, loudly and concisely: "Outboard water in the right forward cabin!" or “Fire in the galley!”
2. The captain's order is given: “Put on life jackets, prepare for evacuation on the life raft!”
3. Everyone on board dress appropriately for the weather and climb into the cockpit wearing life jackets.
4. The first mate is next to the captain and carries out his commands.
5. The person in charge delivers a dry emergency bag to the cockpit.
6. Those in charge are preparing a liferaft for launching, attaching a launching line to the duck. But until the command of the captain, the raft is not activated or launched.
7. The captain, assessing the situation, at the slightest threat of destruction of the yacht gives the order "Send a distress signal!" or submits it himself.
8. The crew is fighting for the survivability of the yacht (measures are being taken to eliminate fire or water leakage).
9. If it is impossible to cope on our own and there is a threat of death of the vessel (or people), the captain orders to lower the liferaft into the water and leave the yacht.

According to experts 2yachts, subject to safety precautions, equipping the boat with emergency rescue equipment, well-coordinated work of the crew of many troubles can be avoided. By themselves, emergencies are extremely rare!