It happens so easily - man overboard, a heart attack, or simple sea sickness. Suddenly all the fun is replaced by an emergency that you as owner/skipper can do nothing about - because like it or not, you're the victim.
So now it's up to your crew - perhaps a friend along for the ride, perhaps your partner who leaves all the sailing to you, perhaps one of your kids - alone in the cockpit and scared witless about what to do next. These thoughts are for them as much as for you.
The first rule in any emergency is keep calm - just chill and think. It's often difficult, especially when things happen so quickly, but keeping a cool head can mean the difference between life and death. Yes, everyone will be scared. But you can do something about that too - by recognising that emergencies can happen and prepare for them beforehand.
Take MOB for instance. All it takes is two seconds. You're standing up to call someone, the boom clobbers your head, and you're in the water dripping blood with your boat sailing away at four knots. What do you mean you haven't practised throwing a life ring to someone? And your crew don't even know where they are? Cruise ships have emergency drill for their passengers, so should you. It's homework that could save your life or someone else's.
OK, so doesn't it mean that EVERYONE should at least get the basics before you cast off? You bet your sweet life it does. Like where's the throttle? How do you stop? Should the sail come down? How do you turn round? Who's keeping an eye on the person in the water (so they don't lose you)? And how do you call for help?
We're not suggesting everyone on board should study for Day Skipper, but we do think they should have SOME idea about what happens on a boat - so they're not literally all at sea should something bad happen. For starters, put yourself in their place. Keep calm.
Right, so now you've managed to get your pulse rate into the low hundreds - what do you do next?
Well, you've got two responsibilities, haven't you? One to the victim, the other to the boat - and very often the second is more important than the first. For instance, you can't even think about first aid if the boat is standing into danger and the lives of those on board or in other craft are threatened. So at the very least you ought to be sure that others aboard know how to take the helm, change course, and steer in a particular direction.
Explain and practice this before you leave the dock. Ideally, they ought to know about slowing down, even how and where to drop anchor. But if you're the expert and they're more concerned with soaking up the ambience, make sure they know where the life jackets are if they're not already wearing them, how to operate the fire extinguishers and how to call for help.
Ah yes, call for help. How about that the triple-whammy, all-singing, all-dancing mobile phone they made you buy? If you're on an inland waterway, it's not too difficult to edge into the bank and call someone. Out at sea, it gets a bit more serious - because of the way the technology works, even the most glitzy mobile can only reach 20 odd miles - and then not with any reliability.
