Safety at Sea BYOB Training Day

Safety at Sea Training Day - BYOB

Sunday, May 18, 2024 1100

On Sunday, May 18, 2024, Raritan Yacht Club and the Storm Trysail Club/Foundation (STC/STF) are teaming up to offer a new safety training event.  We call it “BYOB” —Bring Your Own Boat— Day.  A core tenet of STC’s safety training is that safety seminars, videos, and books are important for exposing sailors to safety concepts, techniques, and equipment. However, it is only with actual and repeated practice on their own boats with their own crew that competence can be achieved with the “muscle memory” to act properly in the moment.  The BYOB event encourages owners and crews to perform crew overboard (COB) and other safety drills on their own boats, with their own equipment, and their own crews.  Distance Newport-Bermuda Race and Block Island Racers may also wish to participate and fulfill some of their practice requirements for those races.

Skills that will be covered include COB prevention, returning to a COB, emergency communications, and several different recovery techniques for different situations.  Offshore race crews will also include abandon ship and firefighting protocols.  We will also discuss how to do a safety briefing on your boat and how to practice these skills on our own. Training will be tailored to the boat and crew.  So, for instance, a fully-crewed race boat might do slightly different drills than a short-handed cruising couple. 

Prior to the event, there will be a Zoom briefing session for all skippers and crew to go over the basic techniques.  On the morning of the event, we will conduct a brief dockside demo of several of the methods.  For the on-the-water portion, each boat will be given a list of drills to perform with instructions.  Our coaches will then go from boat to boat to help you fine tune your practice and methods.  At the end of the day, we will meet up at RYC for refreshments and to discuss lessons learned.

RYC and Storm Trysail will provide coaches and coach boats, and STC’s innovative COB “dummies” (which simulate the weight of a 180 lb. crew) for recovery training.  As available, we will also provide special “rescue” PFDs, tall buoys, and throw bags.  A maximum of 10 boats will be registered.  

Note:  This training does NOT provide any sort of certification.  It is simply a chance for you to practice these skills with your own boat and crew under the eye of a trained coach.

Schedule:   Pre-Event Zoom Meeting: Thursday, May 15, 1930 (Zoom Link)

On-the-Water Training: Sunday, May 18 at 1100.

Meeting Location:  RYC Grill Room

Owner must register and sign a release. (Owner and their crew will only sail on their own boat).

  • After you register, we will provide you with a series of links providing information on COB recovery techniques
  • The exact program you follow will be tailored to your type of sailing (cruiser, short-handed, fully-crewed offshore race, fully-crewed buoy racer).
  • Each boat must be equipped with a Lifesling. If you have them, also plan to bring a tall buoy and a throw rope.  We will try to have loaners available, but may not have enough for everyone.   We will make recommendations regarding how to adapt your standard Lifesling for better results.
  • On fully crewed boats, one crew per boat should be prepared to act as “rescue crew” to be lowered by halyard over the side (to waterline level) wearing a PFD. The rescue crew will attach a tether to the COB dummy and both will be hoisted up on deck.  This technique is required to recover an unconscious or injured COB who cannot stay in a Lifesling.  As available, “Rescue PFDs” will be provided by STF.  The rescue crew should also wear a dry- or wet-suit, helmet, tether, and bosun’s chair or climbing harness (all of which should be standard equipment and supplied by the boat.)
  • All crew should wear PFDs with integrated harnesses on the day of the event.

If you enjoy the event and learn something, we hope you will consider making a donation to the Storm Trysail Foundation to help us continue our important work.  Donations may be made at: https://donorbox.org/storm-trysail-foundation-annual-fund

Register:

Raritan BYOB Day

Contact Details

Name(Required)
Waiver and Release Form
I understand that the decision to participate in any event during the May 18, 2025 Raritan BYOB Training Day is my sole responsibility and not that of the Storm Trysail Club (STC) or the Storm Trysail Foundation (STF). In consideration of being permitted to participate in the Training Day, on behalf of myself, my heirs, executors, administrators, successors, and assigns I hereby waive, release and discharge any and all claims, actions, causes of action, and suits whatsoever, in law, admiralty, or equity against the STC and STF and any affiliated companies, each of their officers, directors, employees, sponsors and agents (collectively as "Releases") resulting from or arising out of my participation in the Training Day. Participants in the Training Day grant, at no cost, the STC, STF, and SUNY Maritime the absolute right and permission to use their name, voice, image, likeness, biographical material as well as representations of the boats in any media worldwide (being television, print and internet media), including video footage, for the sole purposes of advertising, promoting, reporting and disseminating information regarding the Training Day or future seamanship related activities.