Safety Tip - Hot Pink Swim Cap - and more

[SeaLady]

Hot Pink Swimming Cap

Last weekend I attended the inaugural Women Who Sail Australia get together at Nelson Bay.
Got some great simple tips.

My favourite was to always carry a Hot Pink Swim Cap.
Ideally in a 'bum bag' with other personal emergency stuff when sailing.


Why???

Because if you fall overboard a bobbing head wearing a hot pink swim cap is much easier to see and rescue.
Plus it helps retain heat in your head.

Hopefully it will never be needed but I am in the process of putting together my own 'emergency bum bag'

Contents so far:

Hot pink swim cap $2-10
Combined whistle and chemical light 4 for $2 from a cheapie shop
Leatherman or pocket knife
Lip balm SPF factor 30+
Deflated water or wine cask bladder. Just in case your life jacket fails or you are not wearing it for some reason, blow it up and shove it under your shirt to assist with floatation

[Miker]

Some good tips there, water might be a good thing too..... Although by the time you add water, some protein bars and sunscreen you might have to carry a small backpack on deck with you.

[Troppo]

Sealady, the thought of ladies bobbing around in the water with hot pink swim caps on has stuck in my mind. Really stuck in my mind.

In the Fitzroy River lots of people go crabbing, some use fluro colours on their crabpot floats to make them more easily visible and to easily tell them apart from all the standard white ones.

I do see hot pink crabpot floats from time to time.

From a distance it could be some one bobbing . . . .

Aghh, now I am gunna be double-checking every time I see a hot pink bobbing something!

troppo

[SeaLady]

An example was given during a Man Overboard drill on a Sailors with Disabilities yacht.

They threw a normally wheelchair bound 'victim' (the speaker) in the water and the crew had to come back and collect the MOB.
In good and controlled conditions it took 20 mins to drop the sails and get the boat back to the MOB for rescue.
A lot longer than anyone expected.

Good news the then wheelchair MOB is now walking around, no medication nor painkillers.
Still sailing and teaching others.

A fluro hat of some sort is now essential for everyone who comes on SeaLady.
Hopefully never needed.

[SeaLady]

One scary thing from the weekend.

There were 127 Women Who Sail, most who sail with their husbands.
Many have done circumnavigations.
But when asked how many could safely get the boat back to land if their husband was incapacitated only 1/3 could do that.
Did not ask if the wives could rescue their husband if he fell overboard and was unconscious, even if he was wearing his hot pink swim cap.

[Phillip]

Sorry, not good enough to have a "pink hat"

What you need is a divers rescue sausage folded up and put inside your inflatable vest.

This way with it lying on the sea surface you can be easily seen from 10,000 feet

or by deploying vertically you will be seen from at least 1 mile.

I'm writing an article on it now, so will post when done.

[woodsy]

Must agree . The divers sausages are effective but a pink hat on top of it wouldn't hurt....

I've often thought a small inflatable kite with dual controls would be useful also. With a tail it could be seen from afar. Maybe steer you towards help too?

[Troppo]

One scary thing from the weekend.

There were 127 Women Who Sail, most who sail with their husbands.
Many have done circumnavigations.
But when asked how many could safely get the boat back to land if their husband was incapacitated only 1/3 could do that.
Did not ask if the wives could rescue their husband if he fell overboard and was unconscious, even if he was wearing his hot pink swim cap.

I find that very interesting, Sealady. Makes me wonder why.

Is it because 2/3 of the women are incompetent? Just along for the ride?

Is it because of stereotypes where it is the man's job to captain?

But even if it was only a man's job to be captain (which it is not), wouldn't you think any serious captain would train the crew to handle the boat in emergencies?

I know when I get a little sniffle, I just fall in a heap. What would happen if I was out to sea and got a sniffle and had ladies on the boat who could not get me back to shore? How would I get my vicks vapour rub from the chemist shop? It would be a nightmare!

Louis

[SeaLady]

I have ordered some spandex fabric, pink swim hats and will experiment with sewing or gluing some reflectors on it.
Had never heard of divers sausage - great idea.
The concept of all this inside the inflatable life jacket is a good one.