The Westerly Owners' Association - North Wales Group

Sea Survival Course, Saturday 23rd February 2008

At our AGM in November 2007, we asked attendees if such a course would be of interest and the very favourable response encouraged the Committee to organise it. Our Treasurer, Derek Lumb, had been involved in organising a survival course with his sailing club and contacted Sea Training International Ltd which ran an RYA/MCA Small Craft Basic Sea Survival Course. We needed 10 attendees for the course to be viable, with a maximum of 16. No problem, there was an immediate response to the e-mail and postal notification and attendance was rapidly oversubscribed.

Sixteen volunteers duly arrived at the Indefatigable Training Centre, an MoD establishment on the Menai Strait at Llanfair PG, and were welcomed by Paul Davies, our instructor. Paul was quite surprised to discover that, unlike courses for sailing clubs, most of the attendees had never previously met each other!

The morning was dedicated to classroom instruction about such topics as survival in cold and hot climates, search and rescue, buoyancy aids, liferafts and equipment, emergency food, and the importance of basic survival knowledge. Instruction was backed up with videos and many items of survival equipment. This, together with Paul’s experience, made the instruction very interesting and it was particularly useful to be able to ask questions.

After consuming our packed lunches, we got back into our cars and drove to Bangor swimming pool which had been reserved for us. We changed into whatever clothing we decided to wear, a few of us wore our sailing heavy weather gear, others put on old jeans and T-shirts. We all had life jackets, most of us using our usual sailing ones. Paul instructed us on many things, including how to jump into the water safely, how to keep together in the water for safety and warmth, and how to swim in a group but didn’t tell us that he would spray us with a hose to simulate breaking waves! I used an old lifejacket without a crotch strap and it tended to ride up around my face. I’m very glad my usual lifejacket has a crotch strap.

A large 8-man liferaft was launched in its canister and inflated, and we took it in turns to right it after it was capsized for us. It was quite entertaining - for those watching! Then two groups of eight took it in turns to get into the raft to experience being inside. I found it extremely cramped and claustrophobic, and that was in calm conditions. Using a liferaft should definitely be the last resort.

The day went very quickly and everyone enjoyed it and found it most instructive. We were each given the RYA booklet on sea survival and later were sent our RYA certificates of satisfactory completion of the course.

Mary Boylan described herself as a reluctant participant but said “I would just like to add that personally the course was excellent. When the idea was mooted at the meeting I thought it was a great idea and still did when we discussed it at a subsequent committee meeting. Great that is, providing I didn’t have to go on it! Eventually I buckled under pressure and despite being a poor swimmer, put my name down. I needn’t have worried, my life jacket kept me afloat and one of our more mature members put me to shame. She hadn’t been swimming for a long time and so wasn’t too confident. She decided to prepare herself by going swimming at her local pool in the weeks prior to the Sea Survival Course. She passed with flying colours and a round of applause from the other participants”.

The course was a great success and we intend to organise another in 2009. Those who couldn’t get onto the 2008 course will have first priority of places.

Brian Bell