If you carry a liferaft, you should also carry a grab bag - a bag ready prepared with everything you would want to take with you into the liferaft, should you ever need to use it. For it is a fairly safe bet that, in an abandon ship situation, you would not have time to stop and think about what you ought to be taking with you, never mind to retrieve it all from scattered stowages.
When Alex Thomson abandoned Hugo Boss in the Southern Ocean, to be rescued by Mike Golding, he actually had a whole night to decide what to take with him, and managed to take an RNLI Offshore Bear mascot, and his video camera, as well as three large bags of food and clothing, but that was very much the exception that proves the rule.
So what should you put in your grab bag? Alex was in the relatively fortunate position of being the sole occupant of a four-man raft, so there was plenty of room for all the kit he transferred to Ecover. In more normal circumstances there would be much greater constraints on both space and weight. Everything you take with you must justify its place.
But as in so many areas of sailing, there is no “one size fits all” solution. A family abandoning a cruising boat in mid ocean - possibly many days from rescue - would have different needs from a racing crew in mid Channel - likely to be surrounded by fellow competitors who can pick them up quickly, and within easy reach of RNLI and Coastguard helicopter, too.
ORC Special Regulations for Category 2 offshore racing do not stipulate what to put in a grab bag, but make the following recommendations:
- 2 red parachute and 2 red hand flares and cyalume chemical light sticks
- Watertight handheld GPS
- SART (Search and rescue transponder)
- Epirb
- Water in resealable containers or a hand-operated desalinator, plus containers
- Watertight handheld marine VHF transceiver plus spare batteries
- Watertight flashlight with spare batteries and bulb
- Dry suits or survival bags
- Second sea anchor for liferaft with swivel and 30m line
- Two safety tin openers
- First aid kit including sunscreen
- Signalling mirror
- High energy food
- Nylon string, polythene bags, seasickness tablets
- Watertight hand-held aviation VHF transmitter (if race area warrants)
It is not intended that the items in the grab bag duplicate things already required by Special Regulations (hand-held VHF, Epirb etc), it is more a matter of where they are stowed. And some of these items will already be packed inside the liferaft, depending on which of the standard emergency packs is included.
The basic RORC/ORC pack includes three flares, for example, waterproof flashlight with spare batteries and bulb, and anti-seasickness tablets. Liferafts for boats going further offshore, where people may need to stay in the raft for longer, will include water, signalling mirror, fishing kit, additional flares and food, depending on which pack is chosen.
So it is a case of deciding your priorities, and then packing the contents in a suitable container, and stowing it in a conspicuous place, where it will not get left behind if it is ever needed.
A grab bag should have “inherent flotation”, be coloured fluorescent orange and marked with the name of the yacht, as well as having a lanyard and clip, say the recommendations.
Quite how the flotation qualities of the bag will be affected once all that kit is stuffed in it is open to question. It seems likely that at least two containers would be required, possibly concentrating flares, VHF, Epirb, GPS etc in one, and food, water, first aid kit and so on in another. And don't forget items like passports, ship's papers (especially insurance details!), credit cards and so on
McMurdo and a number of other suppliers offer purpose-designed grab bags of different sizes, fluorescent, buoyant, splash-proof, with secure Velcro fastenings to keep out the water, and the required strap and clip.
A screw top plastic flare container also makes a good “grab bag”, and there are now many waterproof bags on offer which can trap enough air inside to float, provided you don't put too much weight inside them.
The Grab Bag Book by Frances and Michael Howarth (Adlard Coles Nautical, £9.99) makes the following practical suggestions about packing the bag:
- Shape a domestic polythene cutting board to fit the base to reinforce the bottom of a soft bag and prevent sagging. This will be useful for cutting things whilst in the raft
- Use closed cell foam for cushioning and extra flotation
- Seal individual items in waterproof plastic bags
- Use a vacuum bagging machine to seal and reduce size to a minimum
- Store small items in plastic boxes or jars with secure lids
- List the contents of all the sealed items on the outside with waterproof ink
- Include any equipment instructions on waterproof paper
- Attach a lanyard to everything to prevent loss, especially in rough weather
- Cover everything with a sharp point that could puncture your raft
The Grab Bag Book offers much more than a range of inventories of what to pack in your grab bag (ocean, coastal, cold, hot, minimalist) though these are important enough. Subtitled Your Ultimate Guide to Liferaft Survival, the book also deals with all the realities of actually putting your liferaft to use, from choosing and preparing equipment to being rescued.
It's packed with well-thought out and practical advice, on everything from first aid to fishing, from seasickness to survival strategies, and should be required reading for anyone who carries a liferaft.
Once you have started thinking about what to put in your grab bag, it's difficult to know where to stop. There's a strong case for including gloves, for example, for setting off flares, sunhats, waterproof paper and pencils, binoculars, ….
Just remember that you've got to keep it reasonably small and easily portable, or it will defeat its purpose. And make sure that one or more crew members are briefed, in advance of any emergency, to take responsibility for getting the grab bag into the liferaft!
For more information visit www.mcmurdo.co.uk
and www.adlardcoles.co.uk
