Tough Love Needed :)

[Wotname]

CreakyB,

All good and well meaning suggestions so far but in my mind, one can overdo safety. To be completely safe, one would never leave port so now it comes down to risk management and dollars.

Given your boat and voyage, IMO I forget the radar, too many dollars, to hard to supply enough power for too small a return. Maybe consider AIS. I would forgo a spare main unless my main was already on its way out.

First aid - as a single hander you don't need much apart from emergency serious pain relief, wound closure and stabilizing broken bones. Heck, even a roll of masking tape and some gauze will provide significant wound closure. Broken bones can be stabilized with tape (electrical or masking) and say your parallel rulers. You get the idea.

Think about the boat rather than the crew (you). Think what you need to keep the boat afloat and preferably sailing ahead of what you need to live. Humans can survive most things given a floating platform, shelter and water.

Where you are going, help is only days away if you pop the EPIRB (or PLB). In fact if you agree with the EPIRB mindset, then spend a few extra dollars and get one with an embedded GPS.

[creakyboy]

Originally Posted by Talbot

One thing I would not be without on a Wharram - a set of ski goggles.

These boats can attain good speed, but then become very wet!.

The ski goggles are also excellent in dust storms!

bahaha like so many things we laugh coz its true,on my tiki 21 i sometimes wore my snorkeling mask when going to windward,without the breathing tube of course it wasn't THAT wet...but close

[creakyboy]

Cheers everyone for the responses

Jim-i'll be checking that ssb weatherfax for certain thanks for that

Bash & Fishwife-I already have backup rudder installed,its a cat unlikely both would fail-however certainly something i don't take lightly and one of many areas that will be very closely double checked before setting off

Denverd0n-thanks for the link,first aid is something i know little about,apart from heat exhaustion/sunstroke/dehydration (which will come in handy considering my boat is fairly open) so any knowledge/links on this subject are greatly appreciated


James S-much as i'd like a diesel,i currently have twin 4-stroke outboards,they're in top condition but fuel comsumption vs a diesel means i will have to rely mainly on the wind

CTRDVM-yep the chained to the helm thing gets a bit much sometimes,self steering is a priority,as is stopping to fix whatever comes up as i'm sure things will despite the best preparation things can go wrong.

Wotname
"All good and well meaning suggestions so far but in my mind, one can overdo safety. To be completely safe, one would never leave port so now it comes down to risk management and dollars."

and therein lies the rub, the greatest fear i have is still being tied to the dock waiting till i'm "safe" enough.

hehehe,have done the 100 mile an hr tape thing for wounds in remote bushwalking situations before,still i'm thinking a first aid course will probably be a good idea before departure even just for some added peace of mind.
yeah thats what i reckond bout radar too,twould be nice but cost and then added cost for more power generation will prob put it out.yep already have a list of 'improvements'for the boat ie the fore and aft bulkheads will be made watertight,extra strenghthening here an there etc

Once again thanks all for the tips an ideas,much appreciated

[dana-tenacity]

Originally Posted by Wotname

CreakyB,

All good and well meaning suggestions so far but in my mind, one can overdo safety. To be completely safe, one would never leave port so now it comes down to risk management and dollars.

Given your boat and voyage, IMO I forget the radar, too many dollars, to hard to supply enough power for too small a return. Maybe consider AIS. I would forgo a spare main unless my main was already on its way out.

First aid - as a single hander you don't need much apart from emergency serious pain relief, wound closure and stabilizing broken bones. Heck, even a roll of masking tape and some gauze will provide significant wound closure. Broken bones can be stabilized with tape (electrical or masking) and say your parallel rulers. You get the idea.

Think about the boat rather than the crew (you). Think what you need to keep the boat afloat and preferably sailing ahead of what you need to live. Humans can survive most things given a floating platform, shelter and water.

Where you are going, help is only days away if you pop the EPIRB (or PLB). In fact if you agree with the EPIRB mindset, then spend a few extra dollars and get one with an embedded GPS.

Would have to agree, in fact I was waiting to see if someone else would say it first. I have done thirty times that distance without most of the stuff being mentioned here. Yours is a small light boat. You might make yourself less safe by overloading it.

[Morganministry]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

A previous poster mentioned something for sewing up serious wounds. Nowadays EMS professionals almost never sew wounds. They use glue, or staples..

Were do you see EMS professionals stitching, gluing and /or stapling patients? In all of my training (granted I became an EMT a few years ago) I have never been told to do that. We bandage and ship to the hospital where THEY can clean the wounds and stitch, glue or staple them up. I will also say here that not all areas allow the EMS people to do the same things, the area I work as an EMT, is under fairly strict guidelines. EMT Basics aren't even allow to take blood sugar samples.

Now that I got that out of the way, My last trip to the ER (for myself) was a few moths ago. They opted to stich my wounds.

I have heard of the glue, It sounds like an easy way to reattach Flesh, But there are issues with trapping bacteria in the wound. And some wounds need to drain, I don't believe the glue allows that. Again that is my personal belief and I could be way off base on that.

After rereading the quote, I took EMS professionals to be the EMTs and Paramedics. Now if you are including ER Staff in that, then I retract my statment.

Some one talked about what should be in a first aid kit. I found this link on another thread it is pretty inclusive. http://bethandevans.com/pdf/Medicallist.pdf


Thanks,
Scott

[Nice N Easy]

If single handing, I would strongly recommend a wind vane. More reliable than an electric auto pilot, and uses no electricity. Also, I would think a radar should be much higher on your priority list than AIS. And an alarm on it loud enough to wake you from the deepest sleep.

[Paul L]

The biggest safety issue for a singlehander is fatigue management. That needs to be solved before any of the other safety items make much sense. Things that materially contribute to this include: Experience/practice, bullet proof self-steering such as wind vane and autopilot, off watch alarms such as Radar and AIS. Get the fatigue under control and the rest of the trip should be fine.

Paul L