Cold Water Survival

KP2013dramamama

10-Year Member
5-Year Member
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Jul 11, 2009
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http://gcaptain.com/cold_water/

This is an excellent article on cold water survival. Novices and pros should read it alike. Now, if shipping companies could just have some form of life preserver our mids could wear while working. I'd be a happy camper. Anybody want to start up a new company??
 
1. The cold water boot camp video mentioned in the article is a required part of the KP curriculum.

2. All ships have work vests if you'd like to wear them. They're required by most companies when you're working over the side.
 
What about when you are working on deck? Our ds said his was really bulky and was hard to work in.
 
SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY!!! Either get used to it or by your own. Anything that is Class V approved is sufficient as a work vest. There are some that are inflatable that are comfortable or a float coat are far less bulky. If you are anywhere near the rail I recommend one. When I was on a tug, we were required to have one on at all times when outside.

I can't begin to tell you how many dumb dumb dumb things I did as a cadet that still make me cringe (ahem) years later. I consider myself very lucky to have gotten through sea year unscathed unlike my classmate whose name is on a bench in front of Mariners Chapel.
 
SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY!!! Either get used to it or by your own. Anything that is Class V approved is sufficient as a work vest. There are some that are inflatable that are comfortable or a float coat are far less bulky. If you are anywhere near the rail I recommend one. When I was on a tug, we were required to have one on at all times when outside.

I can't begin to tell you how many dumb dumb dumb things I did as a cadet that still make me cringe (ahem) years later. I consider myself very lucky to have gotten through sea year unscathed unlike my classmate whose name is on a bench in front of Mariners Chapel.

Yeah, you are not alone in this. Hell, Sea Year? How about afterwards. Especially on tugboats. . . . . Nothing like going back to fix tow pins in the transom in heavy weather . . . . at least I got a pretty good adrenaline rush from time to time. . . .
 
Yeah, you are not alone in this. Hell, Sea Year? How about afterwards. Especially on tugboats. . . . . Nothing like going back to fix tow pins in the transom in heavy weather . . . . at least I got a pretty good adrenaline rush from time to time. . . .

Nothing like taking in the hawser in knee deep water with 8 foot seas on the side to wake you up at 0200. Time really does stand still when you are watching a parted stern line springbing back in your direction. You can't react fast enough to move before it hits the stern of the house a few feet from your head and lands on the deck, but you still take off running anyway. I had a Capt who wanted me to change the masthead light in the rain with no safety harness. Big fat NO! He tried to shame me into doing it by appealing to my manhood then acted all studly when he did it. I told him that stunt just makes you stupid.

The craziness of the TV show on the Great Lakes tugboat show really wasn't that far off.

I still shudder when I think of hanging off the side of the stack in the middle of the Pacific looking 60' down at the water and changing a light bulb that was shorted to the cage. No harness and all alone ... Stupid Stupid Stupid!
 
Nothing like taking in the hawser in knee deep water with 8 foot seas on the side to wake you up at 0200. Time really does stand still when you are watching a parted stern line springbing back in your direction. You can't react fast enough to move before it hits the stern of the house a few feet from your head and lands on the deck, but you still take off running anyway. I had a Capt who wanted me to change the masthead light in the rain with no safety harness. Big fat NO! He tried to shame me into doing it by appealing to my manhood then acted all studly when he did it. I told him that stunt just makes you stupid.

The craziness of the TV show on the Great Lakes tugboat show really wasn't that far off.

I still shudder when I think of hanging off the side of the stack in the middle of the Pacific looking 60' down at the water and changing a light bulb that was shorted to the cage. No harness and all alone ... Stupid Stupid Stupid!

Yeah. Man, the more I think about things. About the only time I really got into it with one of my Captains was back on that nasty old ATB. We had just finished working on the bow pin, and were down there (the Superintendent and I) removing the staging. I had the engines warming up (you know where this is going), and the old man decided that this was a good time to put the engines in gear. This swung the bow toward the dock and I was lucky enough to jump into the dock fendering just before my leg was taken off. I don't remember the ever making it up to the wheelhouse so fast in my life. I got up there and just let the old man have it. He gave me some lame excuse about the Mate telling him the gangway was moving, so he had to . . . .I turned around and the Owner's rep was behind me, his eyes about to bug out of his head. . . . I still get a little wound up when I think of that afternoon. . . at least I finally had some witnesses to this guys antics. . . I would drop a name, but he is still out there; working offshore the last I heard. . . .He earned the nickname "Captain Crunch", just glad to still have all my limbs. . .
 
I had a Captain refer to my previous employer (the harnessless company) as the "Terrors of the Chesapeake". They have cousins in Florida.
 
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