CCA Safety Moment for March 2021

Read more

Perhaps a meta-analysis of anchoring tests is the only way to get a sufficiently broad idea of what will work best for an individual. No single test proves very much, and all are compromised by the simplifying assumptions in the test protocol. Read more

After an initial stage of having existing life jacket designs updated with modern labels, new life jacket designs created under a new UL standard (UL 12402) will begin to enter the market, and these life jackets may have features and innovations which are not currently allowed under the older UL standards. At least that is the hope. Read more

Sea and be Seen

Read more

Sailors can learn from the crash of flight 8303. We can, on occasion, get into a situation that gets more and more difficult from which to recover. This can be caused by ego, or by a sudden change in the expected circumstances, or a lack of “forehandedness”, which was one of the late Capt. John Bonds’s favorite words to throw out at Safety At Sea students. Forehandedness, he’d lecture, was the ability to anticipate possible changes in the current situation and to be ready… Read more

Read more

I like to think that the courses and articles and online tutorials are complete and easy to understand, but anyone who teaches knows that the best way to check comprehension is to listen to the questions that are asked. After my “story” in Lectronic Latitude was published, I received several excellent questions from a sailor whom is living on her boat in La Paz, Baja California. Alison Osinski, PhD, asked me the following: Read more

Several years ago, I was asked to serve on the National Boating Safety Advisory Council, which is a group that (as the name suggests) advises and coordinates with the Coast Guard on issues related to recreational boating safety

Read more

Six key points to keep in mind when docking the boat. Chuck explains it all. Read more

Coast Guard Safety Alert: This safety alert reminds all inflatable life jacket users of the importance of performing periodic maintenance on their equipment. Instances of fatal accidents where inflatable life jackets failed to properly inflate have been documented. When a life jacket fails to inflate properly, the results can be life threatening. Unknown bladder leaks may exist, fabric degradation or an improperly installed CO2 cylinder is all it takes to render an… Read more

Racing "Big Boats" on SF Bay aboard a classic wooden schooner highlights the need to brief crew on the specifics of their roles onboard. Read more

The failure rate of life jackets can be alarmingly high without proper attention Read more