A Quick Guide to Sea Safety
A Potentially Life-Saving Excerpt from “The Ocean. The Ultimate Handbook of Nautical Knowledge.”
Several years ago, I had the great fortune of sitting down for a post-surfing breakfast with a waterman and author named Jimmy Buffett. When Jimmy asked what I’d been up to, I told him I’d been thinking about writing a book. “Poseidon’s Bible,” I said, “a guide to all things ocean that’ll be fun to read in a hammock strung between two Margaritaville palms—but could also save your ass in a pinch.”
Rather than sourcing dated, or unreliable knowledge, the idea was to hit up actual experts on—fishing, surfing, sea survival and of course, boating. Jimmy chuckled, nodded sagely, and said, “The stuff you only really learn from time on the water.” He then unspooled a veritable who’s who of guides, sailors and surfers he’d learned from over the years. I was glad I had a notebook.
Thanks in part to that brainstorm, thousands of hours of interviews and work came to fruition with Chronicle Books’ The Ocean. The Ultimate Handbook of Nautical Knowledge. With the recent influx of new boaters our sport, and a belief that you’re never too experienced to learn something new, we’ve complied some of the book’s most important safety advice. We hope you might share these lessons with any new or future boaters you know (like the grandkids). It might just save a life.
CASTING OFF: NAVIGATION AND COMMUNICATION
Do you have the essential means for finding your way and communicating with shore? Charge batteries and ensure the following are functional and on board.
• Current navigation charts and/or GPS software
• Mechanical compass
• Cellphone (or two)
• Depthfinder
• Emergency horn and whistle
• VHF radio and a backup
• EPIRB
BE SHALLOW MINDED
Any boat owner who says they’ve never been stuck is probably lying. First, know the draft of your boat and learn to recognize shoal (or shallow) waters. Use a chart and/or depthfinder and stay in the center of channels. Polarized sunglasses cut glare, allowing a much better view of the seafloor. No channel markers? Know the following:
Shorebirds only walk in very shallow water.
Very shallow water is often slightly calmer than surrounding deeper water.
Deeper water is generally darker.
Along shoal water edges, tidal currents visibly swirl, and wind- driven waves or boat wakes will break.
RUNNING “INTO THE SEA”
Driving straight into swells will beat you and your boat severely as the bow plows into waves rather than lifting over them. You can also over-rev and damage your motor.
Slow and meet the waves at a roughly 45-degree angle. The boat will pitch and roll, but that’s better than a straight-on pounding.
Beam Seas
In beam seas, you’re broadside to the waves, which can cause roll-induced capsizing. Unless absolutely necessary, turn into the seas and follow the aforementioned 45-degree rule. If there’s no choice, zigzag forward: turn your boat 45 degrees into incoming waves on your forward quarter (broad on your bow); then turn 90 degrees and take the seas on your stern quarter (broad on your stern).
Running “before the sea”
You’re said to be running before the sea when waves and wind are moving in the same direction as you. In deep water, with low swells, this is not typically a problem, but if waves grow big and steepen, or in shallower water with breaking waves, your boat can yaw from side to side. If a wave overtakes you from astern, the propeller can lift clear of the water, causing a loss of control, forcing the boat broadside and potentially capsizing it—a condition called broaching. If you fail to stay ahead of an approaching wave’s crest, your boat can slide forward down a wave and be driven nose-first into the trough, while the next wave flips it end over end—called pitchpoling. Stay in the relative calm of the trough—don’t let a wave overtake you from astern, and don’t get ahead of the wave off your bow.
RESCUE: CONSCIOUS PERSON OVERBOARD
In a solo rescue, on a low-sided boat, face the victim outward and have them kick as the boat rocks upward.
Lift horizontally. Lifting vertically causes blood to rush to the lower body and away from the brain and heart, which can kill. Especially in colder water, it’s more important to lift someone from the water horizontally than out of the water quickly.
Provide a way for the victim to climb or be lifted aboard. Stringing three lines at staggered heights from cleats on the side for a makeshift ladder. A simple loop tied into a line can also provide a foothold.
The safest spot to re-board: On a bigger boat, use the sides and avoid the transom or bow in heavy seas, since the boat can crush a person. For a small boat, use the transom or even the bow to prevent capsizing. Rescuers should secure themselves to the opposite side to avoid being pulled overboard during rescue.
Pulling a victim from the water. With only one rescuer: Have the victim face outward, away from the boat. Grab their arms with a mountain climber grip or under shoulders. Use the boat’s rocking motion to your advantage. As your side lowers, coordinate your actions so the victim kicks while the rescuer pulls up with all their might. With two rescuers, one grabs under the shoulders or by the arms while the other grabs under the knees, so the victim is lifted horizontally. On a yacht with a crane, hoist the victim out with the crane.
RESCUE: OVERBOARD AND UNCONSCIOUS
Call the Coast Guard. Don’t attempt a solo rescue if there’s any chance you may also end up in the water. Wait for help.
With a net or tarp, improvise a “Jason’s Cradle” to bring an unconscious swimmer aboard.
If one person can swim, have the swimmer get a line underneath the victim’s arms. Once they’re alongside, loop another line under knees and heave them aboard horizontally.
After reboarding, lay victim down with their head toward the stern and legs slightly elevated to keep the blood flow toward the head while the boat is underway.
RECOGNIZE HEAT EXHAUSTION
Symptoms include feeling overheated, lightheaded, dizzy and uncomfortable. A victim may hyperventilate or feel “pins and needles.” Stronger signs are cramps, nausea, vomiting and dark urine. Get them breeze, shade and liquid. Have them relax or lie down away from the heat source, and even strip to underwear. Drink lots of cool liquid, which removes more heat than pouring it over skin.
Dehydration is possible long before thirst and even if you rehydrate enough to quench your thirst. Drinking alcohol on a hot day makes dehydration worse, since metabolizing alcohol generally removes more liquid from the body than it provides. Also avoid caffeine. To rehydrate, mix a half teaspoon salt and five teaspoons sugar in a liter of water. Gatorade and other sports drinks work as well.
RECOGNIZE HEAT STROKE
In addition to the symptoms for heat exhaustion, heat stroke can be signaled by diarrhea, a collapse into unconsciousness, a very high temperature above the ability of many thermometers to even register—and the ceasing of sweating (though a person may still be covered with residual sweat).
Heat stroke is life-threatening, so seek immediate medical help. Treat like heat exhaustion, but even more urgently: Remove all clothing, have victim lay down with slightly elevated legs, and keep skin wet and cool. If victim is unconscious, continue treatments until consciousness returns, then slowly rehydrate with cool fluids.
SUMMER THUNDER
Summer storms can roar in seemingly from nowhere.
Monitor weather radar and pay close attention to which direction the clouds are heading.
If a storm is approaching:
• Put on your dang PFD.
• Get clear of shipping lanes and lower anchor if you fear running aground.
• Lightning can strike miles ahead of an approaching thundercloud. Don’t assume you’re safe just because the storm isn’t directly over you.
• During a lightning storm, shelter under a bridge if you can. (Avoid storm drains!)
• Lower antenna and other exposed metal points. Lowering the motor will increase conductivity, so lightning passes to the water. Wet, salty lines conduct electricity too — drop them in the water.
• Aim your bow into the wind; expect strong gusts. If under power, approach waves at a 45-degree angle.
• Have everyone stay in the cabin or crouch as low as possible.
• Stay clear of metal—wear rubber gloves when holding the wheel.
• On the beach? Stay on the beach. You’re safer on land.
• If someone is struck, initiate CPR. A person is not charged with electricity after being struck.
DEPLOY AN EMERGENCY SEA ANCHOR
If you find yourself offshore with a loss of power and broadside seas, a makeshift sea anchor can keep your bow pointed into wind and waves. On smaller boats you can improvise by streaming out PFDs, a bucket, planks of wood tied in the middle, a dry bag nearly full of water, even a used car tire—anything that’s semi-buoyant to produce drag.
1. Attach sea anchor to the bow stanchion or bow eye (which avoids line chafe and keeps the bow higher into oncoming waves).
2. Drop the sea anchor into the water on the windward side of the boat, and slowly let out the line.
3. When there’s tension on the line, pay out the rode at least one or more “wavelengths”—or the distance between two wave crests to maintain more steady pressure on the anchor. Keep tiller/rudder straight ahead or motor lowered and pointed straight to prevent side-to-side drift.
NEGOTIATE AN INLET
Inlets can be subjected to major tidal currents, rapidly shifting sandbars and all manner of waves. Don’t run a sketchy inlet without a knowledgeable local or prior advice. When an outgoing tide runs out of an inlet channel into incoming waves, the waves will steepen and become more dangerous. Rather than plodding through the middle of an inlet, consider running closer to the sides, where wave and current action appears lightest. The water may be deeper near a side because the sand has been scoured out by the current.
SWIMMING OFF THE BOAT INVOLUNTARILY — PREVENTION
Are you prepared? Deck free of hazards. Maintained hand/guard rails. Pull-down ladder. Lines and PFDs ready for rescue.
Urinating overboard is a constant source of “man overboard” accidents. Use the head or a bucket, especially if you’re not strapped in.
No one on deck alone, especially at night.
Keep a close eye on the drinkers.
SEASICKNESS
The prevailing theory behind seasickness is “sensory mismatch,” the notion that the brain is getting mixed messages. Sitting on a boat, your muscles are stationary and your eyes see a fairly static view, but the fluids in your ear are sloshing around like you’re dancing. This makes you feel wobbly and out of control, causing nausea.
Before boarding, put on a Nei Guan pressure point bracelet. Lacking that, use acupressure on the Nei Guan point. It’s found three finger breadths below the wrist, on the inner forearm, in between the two tendons. Apply downward pressure, massaging and stimulating the area for four to five seconds.
• An over-the-counter sedative like Dramamine or Bonine help but might make you sleepy. Take them before you’re sick!
• Sip water, keep your eyes on the horizon and stay on deck. Stay active. Don’t focus on the inside of the boat or close your eyes to sleep; this makes it worse.
• Scopolamine patches may help reduce nerve activity in the inner ear.
• Ginger (crystallized or regular) has been used to help digestion and treat nausea for more than two thousand years.
• Driving the boat engages your muscles, keeping seasickness at bay.
• Move to the center of the boat, where the boat rocks least.
• If you can’t shake the urge to vomit, sooner is better than later. People often feel better afterward. Sip water to rehydrate.
FEND OFF A SHARK
Use any equipment—a spear, knife, or pole—to hit the shark, aiming for the snout. Retreat immediately.
Some advise yelling at an attacking shark. Why not? You’ll probably be hollering, anyway.
Punching a shark in its sensitive snout is sound advice, but “punching” underwater is terribly difficult. Gouge the eyes and tear at the sensitive gills with your fingers or anything sharp. Bottom line: Fight like hell.
THE STING
Jellyfish, anemones and some corals, have stinging cells that contain venom (even tiny immature jellies, aka “sea lice”). Stings are by far the most common ocean-related, animal-induced injuries. Some can kill. In Caribbean and southeastern US (including inland tidal) waters, they’re a growing problem.
Prevent
Jellyfish stingers are triggered by contact with skin, so even thin fabrics dramatically reduce exposure. Form-fitting wetsuits and Lycra clothing—like rash guards and “swim yoga” pants—are very effective. Two products shown to prevent stings are StingNoMore (developed for the military) and SafeSea. However, SafeSea is ineffective against deadly box jellyfish and its efficacy hasn’t been clinically tested with the same rigor.
Treat
Typically, less than 1 percent of stingers discharge on initial contact so flood site to remove any remaining stingers using vinegar for at least thirty seconds. Lacking vinegar, or if the sting is in the eye, flood the site with very warm or tolerably hot water—washing off the remaining stingers. Use hot water from the boat motor’s cooling stream.
Deactivate the injected venom: Soak the area in tolerably hot freshwater, ideally 110 to 115 degrees, or use hot packs, for twenty to forty-five minutes. Deactivate injected venom even faster with StingNoMore cream (rather than hot water). Afterward, use antihistamine and anti-inflammatory creams like hydrocortisone to lessen inflammation.
If someone suffers a severe box jelly, siphonophore, hydroid, or fire coral sting, they may need assistance and CPR. If you must rescue someone from the water, cover your own skin, use a rescue board or surfboard, and ID the jellyfish, if possible. If the victim is unconscious, or has labored breathing or heart arrhythmia, begin CPR. Venom’s cardiac effects diminish over time and lives have been saved after twenty to even forty minutes of CPR.
HOW NOT TO TREAT JELLY STINGS
• Never wash off attached stingers using cool/cold water (fresh or salt), urine, alcohol, ammonia, or bleach. This rolls inactive stingers across the skin so they sting again and again.
• Never treat stings with meat tenderizer, shaving cream, baking soda, or any other folk remedy. Some will increase the level of stinger discharge; none are proven effective.
• Never rub, towel, scrape, or swipe tentacles to remove them. Do not immediately cover or pressure-bandage sting sites. Any pressure can further inject poison into the skin.
• Never, ever use an EpiPen, or epinephrine, which could prove fatal. A jellyfish sting is not an allergic reaction.
LACERATIONS
Stop the bleeding: Apply solid pressure over the length of the cut. You must exceed the internal pressure with external pressure. Hold clean fabric—or whatever you have, like a towel or T-shirt—while applying nonstop direct pressure for as long as it takes to stop bleeding. If pressure fails to stop the bleeding or it’s spurting badly, you must apply a tourniquet.
Apply a tourniquet: A tourniquet cuts off blood circulation to a limb, and once applied, it must remain in place until the victim reaches a medical facility. The most effective is a combat application tourniquet (CAT—keep one aboard). Improvise with a long strip of cloth at least a half inch wide (not shoestring or wire) one or more times above but not over the wound (ideally, above elbow or knee). Wrap over clothing to protect skin. Tie a half knot, place a rigid stick on the knot, then tie another knot to bind the stick. Twist the stick until bleeding stops, then immobilize the stick so it doesn’t loosen.
C.P.R., A.K.A. CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION — ONE VITAL TIP
We don’t have the space for a full CPR rundown here, and there are plenty of places to get CPR instruction—and certification. It’s something any responsible boater—and human—should do. But here’s one vital tip when you’re dealing with a drowning victim as opposed to a heart attack: unlike cardiac arrest, the heart has stopped beating in a drowning because of oxygen deprivation. In the case of drowning CPR, if you can possibly do so, it’s vital to get 5 rescue breaths into a victim immediately to help oxygenate the blood. Even if they’re floating in the water. Then begin rescue breath and chest compression CPR on the boat or beach as soon as possible.
WHAT IS COLD SHOCK?
Typically, with cold shock, you involuntarily gasp and can hyperventilate. If your head is submerged, you’ll inhale water, and it’s tough to swim and breathe in a controlled way. You may also feel pain and numbness in the extremities, as if you’re immediately hypothermic—but you’re not, yet.
COLD WATER SURVIVAL
If you experience cold shock, keep your head above water and try to relax. You’re rapidly losing heat, but control over your breathing and muscles will return in a minute or so.
Swimming or flailing accelerates heat loss, and can cut survival time in half. Huddle with others for warmth and support.
HUDDLE WITH OTHERS FOR WARMTH
Or if alone, use the “heat escape lessening position” or HELP: Hold your knees to your chest to protect your trunk and clasp your arms around your calves. Do not submerge your head and do your best to keep waves off your face.
TOO COLD: TREAT HYPOTHERMIA
Hypothermia happens when the core body temperature falls between 97 degrees and 93 degrees. Symptoms include uncontrollable shivering, cold hands and feet, numbness and/or pain in limbs, loss of dexterity and clumsiness.
Never give alcohol or caffeine. Both increase blood flow to extremities, including the skin, robbing the body of heat.
MILD TO MODERATE HYPOTHERMIA
Lay the victim on side or back. Wrap the victim in warm, dry clothes and blankets. Stay out of wind.
Give warm (not hot), sweet drinks and simple carbohydrates (bananas, raisins, fruit juice) to generate metabolic heat.
Actively warm the victim. Put in a warm room (car or cabin) or use direct body-to-body contact. Wrapping a hypothermia victim in a blanket doesn’t add heat; victims generate insufficient heat to rewarm themselves. Wrap a blanket around you and the victim to conserve the heat you are supplying.
If possible, put the victim in a warm-water shower or bath—around 105 to 110 degrees, or comfortable enough to remain in. Direct warm water to body core, and keep arms and legs clear of water. Heating the extremities causes cold blood to flow to the body core and can prove fatal.
Apply hot, wet towels or blankets (115 degrees and up) to the victim’s head, neck, groin, chest and abdomen. Do not warm or massage arms or legs.
Keep the victim warm for several hours, with head and neck covered; shivering to rewarm is fine. Mild exercise can help generate heat.
MODERATE TO CRITICAL HYPOTHERMIA
When body temperatures drop between 93 to 82 degrees, the risk of death increases quickly. Symptoms of critical hypothermia can appear confusing: uncontrollable, violent shivering can suddenly stop completely; victims may act dazed, drunk, and/or irrational; and victims may even appear dead when they might still be saved.
Immediate medical help is crucial. Lay victims down, elevate feet, and wrap them in warm blankets. Handle victims gently—rough handling can cause cardiac arrest—and plan immediate medical evacuation. If a victim is unconscious and appears dead, tilt their head back, as with CPR, to open the airway. Look, listen, and feel for breathing and pulse for two minutes. If you’re certain they’re not breathing and have no pulse, initiate CPR. Don’t give up. Many people, especially children, have been saved when it seemed that all was lost.
TOO HOT: HYPERTHERMIA AND HEAT STROKE
Hyperthermia (or heat illness) occurs when your body can’t shed excess heat fast enough. In hot weather, heat exhaustion can be triggered by exertion coupled with dehydration and/or high humidity, preventing cooling sweat from evaporating. Victims can quickly become incapacitated and disoriented, not even realizing anything is wrong. Deadly heat stroke can follow.
ABANDON SHIP — THE LIFE RAFT
Captains of offshore boats should have a life raft, a prepared bug-out bag and a plan. When you’re sinking is no time to practice. Have a plan and be sure your crew understands it.
NEVER DRINK SEAWATER OR URINE
Seawater contains a higher concentration of salt (3 percent) than your blood (0.9 percent). Drinking seawater will overwhelm your kidneys, pull water from your cells and kill you after locking you in the grip of horrible madness. Meanwhile, dehydration will concentrate salts, electrolyte, and acids in urine, making it worse to drink than seawater.
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This article originally appeared in the June 2023 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/seamanship/quick-guide-to-sea-safety
