Printed Safety Plans On Board

[Dave Spencer]

After taking an early spring "Safety for Cruising Couples" webinar put on by the Great Lakes Cruising Club, both the Admiral and I became newly inspired to ensure the both of us and any guests on board were fully versed and practised on safety protocols at sea.  The course was presented by well respected US sailors Ron Trossbach and Sheila McCurdy from the Cruising Club of America.  It's a big topic that includes a lot of hands on practice but Sheila offered thoughts on creating a few simple documents that could reduce the stress (slightly) of an urgent situation.  Here's my cut at a few documents that I plan to print double sided, laminate and have on board.

Engine Starting and Shutdown - Useful if someone unfamiliar with the boat needs to get it underway.  i.e. If I am at a remote anchorage and become incapacitated or have been evacuated, one of my cruising friends (or a stranger) could pilot the boat back to harbour.  I know I would appreciate a document like this if I had to take command of a friend's power or sailboat and get it back to harbour.

Distress Communication Procedure - Self explanatory.  There are lots of forms available for Mayday communication.  This is mine.

Fire and Flooding Safety Plans - I tried to identify the most likely sources of fire or flooding and the location of mitigation equipment. 

I welcome constructive criticism.  Feel free to use or modify these documents.  I would be glad to send you the source files (Word and Powerpoint) if you want to modify for your boat.

[Ken Juul]

Good idea for a Mainsheet Article

[Noah]

Excellent job! Thx

[KWKloeber]

Nice work Dave

One thing you might add is procedures/situation(s) for making a PAN-PAN vs MAYDAY call. 
Likely it would be you and not someone else, but a thought anyway.

Also, on starting -- a LARGE reminder to check for/retrieve any lines before gearing up.  It's a bitch when that swim float line or rode gets wrapped into the prop.

ken

[Dave Spencer]

Ken J,
That's a good thought.  I'll work on it (although likely rather slowly).

Ken K,
Good catch.  I updated the starting instructions to check for lines in the water before putting in gear.  It sounds like your comment was triggered from painful experience.    
I'm not too concerned about instructions for a PAN-PAN.  I have other reference material aboard for PAN-PAN and Securite calls and other procedures.  I want the laminated placards to be readily available and as clear and simple as possible to address life threatening or vessel threatening situations.

[KWKloeber]

Dave

Dragging a line is like grounding, 'eh?  Happens to "other people."

Another - it's difficult to improve on the already great, so this falls under "IIWMDiagram" (engineer.)  I'd group the similar items together, working top to south by most important/critical category.  Maybe Fire Exts > thru hulls > electrical > etc?  Nitpicky, but could save a few seconds for a non-crew under duress.

-k

[Jon W]

Thanks for posting, very helpful write-ups. Where did you get the graphic of the C34 that you could copy and paste into your document?

[KWKloeber]

Looks to be right out of the brochure (1990 maybe?) turned into a grayscale.

You could also use the half hull view if you wanted to identify topside safety/other equipment.

-k

[Dave Spencer]

Hi Jon,
I Googled Catalina 34 and then clicked on "images".  There are several interior layouts shown, some in colour but most in B&W.   I think I found mine on sailboatdata.com.  Some judicious cropping may be necessary to remove unwanted text but it's very simple to do on Powerpoint.

found it... copy attached.