be safe

From: Michael Worobec (mike@previewsoft.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Wed Apr 09 1997 - 00:59:12 PDT


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Date: Wed, 09 Apr 1997 00:59:12 -0700
From: Michael Worobec <mike@previewsoft.com-DeleteThis>
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To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
Subject: be safe
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Wind Talkers:

Two people were rescued at 3rd today by the coast guard. I believe
everyone is ok, though. This is due to a fantastic job by fellow sailors
and the coast guard.

So, as a safety reminder, here's a few not-so-obvious tips learned from
the experience:

1. Be prepared to communicate clearly and in detail with the Coast
Guard. In this case, there was confusion as to the names and number of
people involved. Two people involved had similar names. Over coast guard
radio, the search team thought they were done when in fact they had
rescued someone else who was not even being searched for in the first
place. I think there was still some confusion after dark as to whether
everyone was in. Probably it is a wise idea to put a note on your car
dashboard saying who and how many belong to that car. This makes it much
easier to do head count and get names right, especially if you're
sailing at an unfamiliar or popular site (3rd had probably 50 or more
sailors today)

2. A hard decision has to made when your are attempting a difficult
rescue - to return to shore to get help, or to stay with the person in
need of rescue. The decision would include the following factors:

a. the ability of the person in need of rescue to 'signal' their
location, either by raising a sail, using a strobe, or a flare.
b. the ability to describe the location of or return to the person
c. the condition of the person
d. the time of day
e. the protective equipment and condition of the person
f. your own condition and ability
g. proximity of other sailors
h. etc (you get the idea...)

Someone with more experience with this could probably complete such a
list.

I think the note on the dashboard rule would be a very good one for
everyone to adopt - You can't really count on someone knowing your car
and how many people came with it (except at 3rd on a weekday before 4)

By the way, anyone know a good place to buy a strobe and a radio?

And, two other pieces of safety equipment that can be extremely helpful
- a compass and a watch. A compass can be used to figure out position
via crude triangulation. And a watch is needed for estimating tidal
effects on position. These two pieces of data are invaluable to the
coast guard.

Mike



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