Benny the Bilge Rat responds to Hancock’s rant on life jackets
My esteemed colleague, Brian Hancock, has questioned the need for crew to wear personal safety equipment in anything other than extreme conditions.
Damn right. As someone who has sailed 17 million sea miles and survived countless life-threatening emergencies, I can endorse his opinion 100%.
But why stop at jackets and tethers? There are other so-called ‘safety requirements’ now imposed on offshore sailing that are equally stupid.
Life rafts, for example. I well remember sailing in the Whitbread with Brian many years ago. We were roaring across the South Atlantic on the Bulgarian entry, Kutyaballsoff IV, when the boat was hit amidships by a Russian submarine. They had no-one on lookout. Seems everyone was below playing chess or fixing the samovar.
Anyway, our boat was sinking fast so we threw the life raft overboard and watched for the tether line to pull the inflation valve. But – blow me down! – the raft just stayed in its case and sank. Turns out someone (it could have been Brian), had cut off the tether earlier in the trip to use as a sail tie.
No problem! We were all good swimmers. Jumped in the water, had a quick debate on whether to make for Rio or Cape Town, and set off. The sharks got a few of us, but luckily conditions were good and I made it to Tristan da Cuhna. Life rafts? Who needs them!
And, while we’re at it, let’s get rid of all that fancy electronic navigational stuff as well.
GPS, SatNav and routing programs just give crews a false sense of security. Knowing exactly where you are takes all the fun and excitement out of offshore sailing. The only good use for those Starlink aerial trays on the back of the boat is to scale and gut any fish you might catch.
Bring back the astrolabe and Jacob’s Staff, I say. – The Rat
