First of all, in any emergency
Stay calm, alert the crew, share out tasks and, if the situation is serious, make a distress call on channel 16 (MAYDAY if there is grave danger to life; PAN-PAN if it is urgent without that danger). Together with fire, a person falling overboard is the most serious emergency on board —you have it developed in the safety at sea guide—.
Fire on board
For there to be a fire, three things are needed —the fire triangle—: fuel, oxygen and heat. Putting it out means removing one of the three: cutting off the fuel, smothering it (removing the oxygen) or cooling it.
The action follows three steps: location, confinement and extinction. To confine is to isolate the fire: close ports and doors, cut off the electrical supply and the gas, and plug ducts so it does not spread (by radiation, conduction or convection). Then, direct the extinguisher jet at the base of the fire; once out, cool the area so it does not reignite and ventilate to clear the toxic gases.
The classes of fire and their agent:
- Class A (solids): water is suitable.
- Class B (flammable liquids): powder or foam; water spreads them.
- Class C (gases) and class D (metals): specific agents.
- Class F (cooking oils): special agents; not water.
- Electrical fire: never water (it conducts electricity); use CO₂ or powder.
A useful manoeuvre: sail on a course and speed similar to those of the wind to keep the fire to leeward and reduce the apparent wind, so the flames do not spread through the boat.
Towing
To give or take a tow:
- Make the line fast to strong points (cleats, bitts, the base of the mast), never to weak fittings.
- Use a long, somewhat elastic line: the catenary cushions the snatching of the sea.
- Take up the strain gradually and proceed slowly; the towed boat steers to follow the tug's wake. In narrow waters or to berth, it is usually towed alongside.
Flooding, grounding and collision (in brief)
Locate and plug the leak, pump out, and close the valves you are not using; remember that a half-sunk boat is a better refuge than a liferaft. In a grounding, check the hull, flooding and tide before trying to refloat. You have the detail of flooding and grounding in the safety at sea guide.
Abandoning ship: the last option
Abandoning is the last resort: do not do it hastily and do not leave the boat until it is the least safe place. The golden rule: «you step up into the liferaft, you do not step down into it» (you board upwards, when the boat sinks beneath your feet).
Before abandoning: prepare the crew, stop the boat, send the distress call and activate the EPIRB, put on warm clothing and a lifejacket, gather the survival equipment (grab bag, water, pyrotechnics, a light per person at night). Make the liferaft's painter fast to the boat before launching it, pull on it to inflate it and board in pairs, without jumping and without getting wet, gently so as not to damage it.
If there is no choice but to jump into the water: do it from windward (in bad weather, so the boat is not driven onto you), with your legs together, your elbows in, one hand covering nose and mouth and the other holding the lifejacket; avoid jumping from more than about 5 metres.
How to study it
- Fix the fire triangle (fuel, oxygen, heat) and the rule electrical → never water, CO₂.
- For towing: strong points, long line, gradual strain.
- For abandoning: it is the last option and you step up into the liferaft.