Safety At Sea

Safety at sea should become part of your sailing being.   You must incorporate it in everything you do aboard.  To sail safely, you need to have:

In the articles below we expose you to the thinking of many experienced skippers and sailors, and trust the viewpoints will increase your safety competence. Learn from our experiences: frequently in safety at sea There Is No Book to tell you a specific answer, but you can learn how others have thought through issues.

This page is an index with links to important articles and videos about safety.  In part, it organizes thinking about safety by the type of sailing you do.  But, as safety is a complex issue, we encourage you to work your way through all areas of this page. Because we come from cruising-racing backgrounds, this page may appear to be slanted toward offshore and coastal racer-cruiser sailboats … BUT there is valuable information here about thinking and acting safely that you can use aboard power cruisers, day sail boats and one-design racers.

General Topics:
For all sailors, regardless of what you sail or where.

Coastal Cruising, Typically Short-Handed:  A cruise with a two-partner team, or perhaps with one or two others aboard.  Sailing shorthanded means new and modified skills.

Multi-day or Offshore Passages, including Racing:  The differences from coastal cruising and racing are significant.  You must be more self-sufficient, as help may not be available for longer periods. 

"Safety Moments": The Cruising Club of America conducts short discussions of a safety topic at all meetings.  These are called “Safety Moments”. Handouts are frequently given out.  Those handout are stored here, and are also scattered in the other sections of this website, as appropriate.

In-Depth Documents
If you want to drill down in some of these area, here are detailed reports.

Courses Currently Available:  Sign up for additional training at these locations.

General Topics:  For all sailors, regardless of what you sail, or where.

• Introduction to this site and how to use it

• Crew Overboard – Prevention
• Crew Overboard – Recovery:  One of the best instruction guides is the ISAF Offshore Special Regulations Appendix D.
• LifeSling Demonstration Video -  A must for LifeSling owners, and you should own one
• LifeSling Owner’s Preparation Guide
• Overboard Victim Tips -  If you are the one overboard, these are tips to help you be recovered safely

• Lifejacket Recommendations for Sailboats
• With a Caution when Fitting Safety Harnesses
• Tethers for Sailboats.  Making sense of all those offerings.
• Jacklines & Tethers - An extensive article about jacklines and tethers, covering all aspects of rigging, positioning and use.

• Water In The Boat - Prevention
• Fire In The Boat - Prevention is Key
• Calling for Help: the DSC Distress Communications Form tells you how to use your radio to call for aid in an emergency.
• A Script to use for Mayday calls. All boats should have this (or a similar aid) next to their VHF radio.
• EPIRB Basics
• Preventers - Minimize risks from the boom in an accidental gybe. You should have a permanent Preventer System.
• Hypothermia – One of the best write-ups for sailors is found at the ISAF site, in the Offshore Special Regulations, Appendix E
• Sailboat Mast Safety - In your harbor or offshore, be safe going up the mast
• Safe Dinghy Checklist -  Before you dinghy ashore again, read this and learn.
• Lifelines - Now you can have Lifelines of Dyneema® (also called Spectra®). A very complete review of these lifelines and their care and use is here.

Coastal Cruising, Typically Short-Handed: The normal in-season cruise is now a husband-wife (or other partner) team, maybe with one or two others aboard.  Skills may range from strong to novice.  Shorthanded and unskilled can be daunting.  But typically coastal sailing means having help available, sometimes almost immediately but almost certainly within a few hours.  Also, most trips are taken in daylight.

• A Short Checklist – A target checklist for safety.  If both parties can do these 14 things, then you increase your safety significantly.
• Modifications CCA members heartily recommend to make your boat a good couple’s cruise (a “perfect boat”)
• Coastal Weather Resources – There are many ways to get short and long-range forecasts in the US.  Here are some of interest. (coming soon)
• Crew Overboard - Modifications to be made for shorthanded sailing

Multi-day or Offshore Passages, including Racing:  The differences from coastal cruising or racing are significant.  You must be more self-sufficient, as help may not be available for longer periods. 

• Offshore Tool Kit
• Offshore Rigging Equipment
• Fleet Surgeon’s Memorandum for Offshore Passages
• Which Inflatable PFD Should I Buy?
• Helicopter Pickup - No one wants to be in this circumstance, but the Coast Guard shows how it is done.
• Helicopter Pickup:  Rescues off “HMS Bounty”

Safety Moments: A CCA Safety Moment is a prepared 3-5 minute (max) presentation or demonstration given to members and guests at meetings and other gatherings of the Cruising Club of America with the purpose of maintaining a culture of safety and good seamanship aboard their yachts. Topics are chosen by Safety Officers in each of 13 local Stations and Posts and focus on the type of in-shore and near shore cruising (sail and power) that the audience does. The CCA Safety at Sea Committee acts as a source for topic suggestions and a clearing house for ideas and subjects while maintaining a Resource Library of Safety Moments. For additional information contact rontrossbach@msn.com.

• Skills List for Short-handed Crew - If both crew can perform these boat functions, your safety level will increase.
• List of Improvements for Short-handed Boats - If your cruising boat has these improvements, then sailing with just one or two more will be safer.
• Lifejacket Recommendations for Sailboats
• With a Caution when Fitting Safety Harnesses
• Sailboat Mast Safety.  In your harbor or offshore, be safe going up the mast.
• Safe Dinghy Checklist.  Before you dinghy ashore again, read this and learn.
• Tethers for Sailboats.

In-Depth Documents: Longer, and more detailed studies. But many of these have powerful messages, so go through them when you can. You will learn something!

• Overboard Recovery Symposium - In-depth analysis of Crew Overboard Recovery Symposium on San Francisco Bay in 2006, using Monohulls, Multihulls and Power Boats, and using different techniques for returning and recovering crew.  A must-read for skippers and captains.

• Special Topic: DSC from Many Aspects.
  Designed for training during the 2013 CCA Cruise in Maine, these four pieces comprise a look at the installation and use of DSC capabilities.
  • A Tutorial on how to set up DSC in your boat
  • DSC 101 on how to operate DSC
  • The answer to a DSC Question that also explains many specific usage issues
  • A DSC Communications Script that belongs in every boat's navigation station.
    
    
• The Bonnell Cove Foundation: The CCA's arm to promote research and education for Safety-at-Sea and Environmental Protection. 

• CCA Member Stan Honey Recounts the 2006 Volvo Ocean Race.  This includes in-depth analysis of MOB recovery on ABN AMRO Two’s MOB incident, and comment on wearing harnesses, as well as some great information about the race. Also see Commentary by Fleet Surgeon E. Fischer.
• Illness, Injury and Damage Summary for Seven Bermuda Races (1998-2010)
• Investigation of Serious Incidents (Chicago-Mackinac Race)
• Investigation of Serious Incidents (Rambler 100 Fastnet Race)
• Investigation of Serious Incidents (Farallones Islands Race)
• Investigation of Serious Incidents (Ensenada Race)
• Incident Report Newport to Bermuda Race 2012 – Seasickness and Dehydration

Courses Currently Available:  Sign up for additional training at these locations.

• US Sailing Sanctioned Safety-at-Sea
• Suddenly Alone