It's not often than an A Level project finds its way straight to the market place, but that's what happened with Tanya Budd's HypoHoist, which caught my eye at the recent Southampton Boat Show.
A keen sailor, Tanya was practising MOB drills one day, when she realised that manoeuvring the boat back to the casualty was “only half the equation.” She explains: “The problem can escalate trying to retrieve a heavily waterlogged person up the high freeboard of a boat with a dead lift. There's no way I could get them out by myself and it would escalate if the person were unconscious.”
For her A Levels, she was asked to design and produce a product which could be used and be of benefit to the community, and so she came up with the HypoHoist. It's a variation on the traditional idea of using a sail to winch someone out of the water: you attach the foot of the sail to the toe rail, the head to a halyard, lower the bunt of the sail in the water to form a cradle the casualty can lie in, and then start winching: in theory the casualty will roll neatly through the lifelines, and land on the side deck in the recovery position.
In practice, it's not that simple, as sails are virtually waterproof, and you would end up winching up a lot of water with the casualty, putting the task beyond the capability of all but the very toughest “grinders”!
Tanya has solved this problem by making her hoist out of mesh material that water would drain straight out of, making winching more feasible for the average short-handed crew. There are also bigger drain holes provided by a cunning rope ladder which gives the hoist a dual purpose, and which a conscious casualty could use to get back aboard without need for any winching. The rope ladder sensibly has lots of hand holds, which would not only help a conscious casualty to get into the sling, but also help a rescuer recovering an unconscious casualty. It's altogether very well thought out.
After finishing her A Levels, Tanya entered - and won - the Young Engineer of Britain award with her idea. She also scooped two Isambard Kingdom Brunel awards for innovation and engineering, and won a major international engineering competition in America, where her idea was awarded the US Coast Guard Award for Maritime Safety and a prize of of $5,000!
Not surprisingly, Tanya was approached by several companies who wanted to market it.
She chose the Cowes-based lifesaving equipment specialists SeaSafe Systems Ltd to manufacture and distribute the HypoHoist, which retails at £299.95.
SeaSafe celebrated their 40th anniversary at the show with the launch of three new products, the Hypohoist, what they claim are the warmest undersuits available, made with new Flectalon material, and, making the most of the thermal properties of Flectalon, a potentially life-saving Rescue Blanket - and ideal companion for the Hypohoist.
For more information visit www.hypohoist.co.uk
and www.seasafe.co.uk
