Tagged: safety
Chemistry
Last weekend, half-way through a day of spring commissioning activities, it occurred to me that I was inadvertently involved in advanced chemistry, without a formal degree. I was working with, and exposed to: engine oil, boat soap, Lestoil, cleaner wax, electrical spray, teak cleaner, acetone, bleach and a number of other potentially toxic liquid chemicals. The problem - mixing the wrong chemicals together can cause an explosion, and even getting individual ones on your skin, or in your eyes, can cause long-term pain and injury. Now, there are a couple choices. One let a marine professional handle the chemical-based activities. [...]
Easy Does It
The season is winding down and boaters are attending to last minute details from changing out the summer pennant for the winter stick to hauling the main boat and dinghy. There are some refreshing reflective moments to cherish, and, unfortunately, some potentially dangerous situations to be cognizant of. For example, while pulling up the heavy mooring chain in the small dinghy the other day, I noticed that there was only about 5” of freeboard, making the boat vulnerable to any tall wakes thrown off by passing boats. A few days later, while removing the dinghy from its dock space during [...]
Lurking Hazards
Well, Labor Day has come and gone. It’s been a good summer for boating, lots of warm, sunny weather and moderate sea conditions. Many boaters shift gears after the holiday, trading oars for pigskins. However, some choose to enjoy the crisp air and clear water late into the season. Environmental conditions shift in the fall, and two important ones are swell size and sunlight conditions. It’s not unusual to encounter 6-8 foot steep swells after Labor Day and that’s important because many lobstermen do not provide enough scope to their pot lines which causes the buoys to submerge under the [...]
Night Vision
It’s been a good summer for boating, with a number of long, sunny days promoting leisurely rides homeward after the traditional dinner hour. Those days aren’t gone yet, but sunset is definitely coming earlier and earlier, reducing the return trip time envelope measurably. Now, boating after dark, especially if the air temperature is warm, is a great experience, but without daylight, it can be a dangerous one as well. For example, in this area, there are a number of large and small rocks that partially submerge, depending on the tide, making them virtually impossible to see in limited light conditions. [...]
Medic
Last weekend, a friend approached me in his boat. Everything was normal, except for the fact that he was holding a white paper napkin over his eye. Apparently, he had just released a mooring in a nearby mooring field where the water was especially choppy and as he progressed from the fore-deck to the cockpit, a particularly frenzied series of waves hit the side of the boat and he went flying into the cockpit of the boat. He hit the floor hard with his head causing his sunglasses to jam again his eye socket prior to flying off, while his [...]
Cats & Dogs
Years ago, when it rained really hard, people would say,” It’s raining cats and dogs”. It was a somewhat comical image to ponder, but, as with most time-proven expressions, it also carried an important message relating to the volume of the rainfall. A couple days ago, a passing thunderstorm dumped some heavy rain, probably 2-3”, within a few hours. The effect on the dinghies at the dock was immediately noticeable as many of them filled with water to the seats. The effect on the larger boats was more important, but less immediately recognizable. You see, many boats are designed to [...]
Weather – Plan B
Recently I took two local boat trips, one in Salem Sound and the other in Gloucester harbor, in some pretty unsettled weather conditions. To help assess the weather risks, I tuned into a handful of NOAA weather radio stations. Unfortunately, in each case, I heard a lot of information which was either irrelevant or outdated, and sometimes both. I needed specific forecast information for the Sound at 5:50 pm, but what I heard was mostly information on other locales, recorded earlier in the day. Occasionally, the taped broadcast would cite the Sound, but the last update was 2 hours earlier [...]
Fill’er Up
Boating is a fun sport, offering independence and adventure, however, to maximize the enjoyment of the experience, good judgement is oftentimes called for. Sound decisions must be made in a variety of areas from guest selection to beverages to navigational courses. And, for power boaters, how much fuel to carry at any one time. One historical rule of thumb has been to carry 1/3 of a tank to get there, 1/3 to get back and 1/3 in reserve. This time-tested rule is a good one, but I’d like to suggest that with current conditions, perhaps it might be a good [...]