Life Rafts

Launching and boarding in bad weather presents problems
There is no guarantee that a life raft will work properly when you need it or that it will stay afloat long enough for you to be rescued.Well-documented yachting disasters have raised serious questions about the value of life rafts in really bad sea conditions. Seven lives were lost during the storm that hit the Fastnet Race off England in 1979 in incidents “directly attributed to the failure of the life raft,” according to the official board of inquiry. In a sobering footnote, the board added: “The yachts these seven people abandoned were subsequently found afloat and towed to harbor.” Nineteen years later, when a fierce storm fell on the fleet in the Sydney–Hobart Race of 1998, the life rafts performed no better.It is obvious that launching and boarding an inflatable life raft

Features include:

• 1.Inflation CO_{2 cylinder on the side of the buoyancy tube.}

• 2–3.Boarding system: weighted boarding ladder + webbing bridle inside to ease entry into raft.

• 4.High-visibility self-erecting canopy with reflective tapes.

• 5.Outside lifelines.

• 6.Automatically activated lighting: inside and on canopy arch, with battery-save feature.

• 7.Entrance flap with ties.

• 8.Ventilation chute/observation port and rain water collection.

• 9.Inside bracing lines.

• 10.Weighted stabilizing pockets.

• 11.Upper and lower independent neoprene/nylon buoyancy tubes.

• 12.Inflatable double floor for heat retention.

• 13.Rescue quoit and line.

Features include:

• 1.Inflation CO_{2cylinder on the side of the buoyancy tube.}

• 2.High-visibility self-erecting canopy.

• 3.Outside lifelines.

• 4.Inside bracing lines.

• 5.Observation port/water collector.

• 6.Independent buoyancy chambers.

• 7.Weighted stabilizing pockets.

• 8.Rescue quoit and line.

in high winds and heavy seas is no easy matter. In the Fastnet Storm, 12 life rafts were washed overboard and lost before anyone could board them: 8 from their stowage spaces in the cockpit and 4 from deck tie-downs. The inquiry board noted that “life rafts clearly failed to provide the safe refuge which many crews expected.”Most coastal life rafts have just one buoyancy tube, in addition to a canopy and ballast bags underneath to prevent capsizes. Offshore life rafts have two separate tubes, one on top of the other, and self-erecting canopies.Many rafts have surprisingly little in the way of water, provisions, medical supplies, and safety equipment. Be sure to find out exactly what is inside your raft, and supplement it with an abandon-ship bag—it will be vital to your survival.Your chances of survival on a raft on the open ocean are greater if you can sail or at least steer it in the right direction. Waiting passively to be rescued in a helplessly drifting life raft is a prime cause of despair and hopelessness.According to Michael Stadler, a German professor of psychology and a small-boat sailor, even the most desperate situation is bear-able—even for someone on their own—provided they have some sense of controlling their position and environment.See also Abandoning Ship.

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