Falling over board (Case Histories) - Sobering

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Kanani

Raul Island (in the Kermideck's sp?).
.

Raoul Island Kermadec Island
29' 16" S 177' 55" W
Current conditions as of 10:45 am NZDT
22 D Celcius

Feels Like: 22° Barometer: 1018 mb and steady Humidity: 85% Visibility: Unlimited Dewpoint: 19° Wind: ESE 14 kph Sunrise: 6:30 am Sunset: 8:27 pm

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Raoul Island Kermadec Island
29' 16" S 177' 55" W
Current conditions as of 10:45 am NZDT
22 D Celcius

Feels Like: 22° Barometer: 1018 mb and steady Humidity: 85% Visibility: Unlimited Dewpoint: 19° Wind: ESE 14 kph Sunrise: 6:30 am Sunset: 8:27 pm

Thanks for the sp corrections.

When we were there, there were 6 guys, employed by the NZ gvm't to run a weather station. They had a large house and a working farm. The island is quite amazing although the anchorage is open and you drop your anchor into huge boulders (recovery is iffy).

Best Tuna fishing grounds in the world. In fact, one of these guy's job is to keep Tuna Trwlers from fishing around there. It is supposedly the most proliffic breading grounds in the world.

The guys got an "Air Drop" once a week and could order anything that they wanted (I've never seen so much booze in one spot). They also had a pool.

On the windward side of the island was a 250' Japanese fishing trawler, laying on the beach (unable to get it off). At that time, it had only been there a short time and the scavaging was great.

I even have a stamp in my Passport from Raoul Island. One of the guys made it up. It's in the shape of the island.

I just checked out the Island on GoogleEarth. It's changed some. I see they now have a small air-strip. I was told that, that big Japanese fishing boat sunk into the sand. It must be true because it isn't there now. That was one big ship and there is NO WAY that they got it off of that beach. Just after we left, we heard that the hull filled with water.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Kanani

6 guys, employed by the NZ gvm't to run a weather station. .

I see theres a photo of them in 1964 when the volcano errupted. Photo on this page from a EDU Volcano site
That would have scared the blazes outta them
No wonder the ones you met wanted an airstrip

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I see theres a photo of them in 1964 when the volcano errupted. Photo on this page from a EDU Volcano site
That would have scared the blazes outta them
No wonder the ones you met wanted an airstrip

If you look at the picture that you posted (the picture was taken from the deck of a ship), you'll see a small shed, on a cliff. In order to get ashore, a guy has to go into that shed and swing a crain over the side of the cliff. The crane has a ladder attached to it. We tied our dinghy to a mooring bouy and the operator dropped the ladder down to our dinghy. We climbed on the ladder and the crane lifted us about 40' into the air. Then the crane operator swung us around and dropped us on the top of the cliff.

From there, we got on a tractor and we all went up to the house to party (about 2 miles away). This was after 3 days of no sleep and my wife was still bleading from her face. One of the guys fixed her up and there was no scaring......pretty amazing. Oh boy......those were the days.

[Kanani]

I can't believe it. I found that ship....It is at 29 15.42S 177 57.13W in GoogleEarth. You've gotta really zoom in on it.

When I was there in '89, that ship was high & dry. All of the ships gear was intact. Even the crew's bunks were made. I helped the guys dismantle the ship binoculars and hike it back to the farm. The cliffs off of that beach are about 1500' straight down. We had to repell down ropes to get to the beach and climb back up them to get home. Man....I'll never forget that.

About 3 days later, the wind shifted (which it very seldom does) and we had to anchor off of that beach. We went to shore with the dinghy.....that was another experience......landing our dinghy in the surf on a beach that has about a 30% incline.....yuk.

[David M]

Originally Posted by Kanani

Why let someone else's personal choice get to you?? Seems like a waste of energy to me .

Commercial seaman are required to wear PFDs. It is part of their job discription. Besides, it's far more dangerous to be on deck, on a large ship, in foul weather than to be on a small boat.

Have you ever seen how a large vessels handles big seas. I have been out there in 30kts and 20+ foot seas and watched these big ships. I was perfectly comfortable riding up and down those seas. Those ships looked scary as hell.

Yes, I have been on ships at sea and saw on one particular Maersk ship in a bad storm, (50 kts plus) the deck flexing and the ship shuddering for myself. There is a vertical shudder that's not shown that is very pronounced when the bow punches into a wave. It's more interesting than scary though. It was watching this for the longest time...because it was my internship and I had never seen such a thing. It's not scary because you know that the ship was designed for this...just like an aircrafts wings are designed to flex. Did I have a PFD on that day while on deck?..hell yes.

As a mate on offshore supply boats, I saw the same thing..but much less pronounced. Same thing..I wore my PFD always while working on those decks. It was just common sense.

[hellosailor]

David-
"It's not scary because you know that the ship was designed for this."
Hmmmm. Me, personally? I may know the ship (bridge, plane, car, rope, whatever) was theoretically designed properly and competently by someone who hopefully knew what they were doing. But then again, designers are often hired by the lowest bid. They're also (sometimes[g]) human, and humans have been known to make mistakes. The "new" Citicorp building in NYC was designed by highly competent architects--and it was only by chance that some students analyzing the design while it was still being built, found that the building would COLLAPSE in strong winds. The architects went into a huddle and literally had the building redesigned and reinforced while under construction--praying there would be no strong winds before the redesign was done.

I've also flown on Lockheed Electras and watched the wings flap (literally) in winter storms. By then the Electra (originally known as a deathtrap) was considered a highly robust and reliable aircraft, but it sure taught me that when the pilot says he doesn't want to fly--you don't debate his experience. [g]

Shipping lines have been known to keep vessels at sea past their limits too. Intentionally. I hope you at least sent a "thank you" note to the designer of that one.
[g]

[coot]

Originally Posted by Kanani

There's no way in hell that I'm wearing a PFD 24/7 at sea. Taking it off while off-watch is the same as not wearing one at all. If something happens and you've gotta jump up and attend to business, the 2 minutes that it takes to put one of those things on could cost you your boat and your life.

What kind of PFD do you have that takes two whole minutes to put on? I have a sospenders inflatable with integrated harness, and it only takes about two SECONDS to put it on.

[MarkJ]

I used to do a fair bit of wok in helicopters over the great barrier reef and they had PFD's in small bum-bag type belt fittings. I wouldn’t mind one of those. they could double as a mobile tool kit
My preference on harnesses is the less cumbersome the better.

[Ex-Calif]

As you can see we couldn't get these little rodents to wear their PFDs. However the MOB net works pretty good - LOL

Up a river trolling for crocs - You think we are using the right bait?