2024 Search and Rescue Experience in Lake Superior

Mark & Bev Lenci, M/V Friendship 4

We have decades of worldwide cruising experience, but those years never included being the primary vessel in a search and rescue (SAR) event. Then in one week, we were the primary vessel in three SAR events in Lake Superior.

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This article is about the process by which life jacket standards and requirements have changed in the last 50+ years leading up to December of 2024, when new standards and requirements took over. In the second part of this article, available next month, we’ll discuss what we think are the ramifications of the latest, greatest (?) regulations. Read more

The underlying reason to wear a life jacket is to provide buoyancy to keep the wearer’s mouth above the water to prevent drowning while awaiting rescue. With that relatively simple goal, why are there so many life jacket designs, and why are some more effective than others? Read more

Disappearing Targets

“Safety Moments, presented at CCA Stations and Posts”

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There’s often a prolonged period of motoring to cross the largely windless Pacific High and to make headway in some adverse winds. Motoring, at least with my vintage Pathfinder engine, introduces vibration into the boat. Many, many cycles. Read more

Michael Moradzadeh, San Francisco Station

 

The Global Software Glitch of the Summer of 2024 serves as a warning and reminder to, among others, ocean voyagers.

An innocent error in coding took out thousands of computers, with paralyzing consequences for global communications including systems used by offshore sailors for email and weather. One can only imagine the consequences of an intentional, malicious, attack.

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It may be too soon to store your sextant, sight reduction tables, chronometer, and that funny starfinder... Read more

Before we head out on the water once again this is a good time to check on all things inflatable... and NOT inflatable. Read more

Both these incidents illustrate the fact that yacht safety equipment is useful only to the extent it can be accessed in difficult conditions, that it is in working order, and that the operator is thoroughly familiar with its operation.  They also illustrate that guiding a rescue vessel into the vicinity of survivors in the water or in a life raft is not the end of the rescue problem. There remains the problem of visually spotting the victims among waves or swells, often… Read more

Frequent travelers, or those listening to a particularly good podcast, frequently skip the safety briefing because “they’ve heard it all before 1,000 times” and find no value in it. Similarly, when sailing, we become immune to repetitive messages about safety because “we’ve heard it all before.” But there are instances when things ARE different, and we’re foolish if we don’t listen, and listen carefully. Read more