Boating and Sailing.pdf - Moja ladja

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Part 5: Staying Safe Afloat
Dock lines have to be lengthened significantly to allow for tides that may be three to five
times the normal height. Spring lines have to be positioned so that the boat is cradled in
place over its slip even though rising water elevates it above the tops of the pilings. (One
of the major damages to boats is being holed by these pilings as the hull rocks in the
waves.)
Take all your electronics, bedding, and personal belongings off the boat. The driving
force of the wind will push water into every crevice, soaking anything that remains. And
it’s not uncommon for looters to visit the marinas just after a storm, so beat them to the
punch by storing your gear safely at home.
Leave Your Boat Behind
One thing that shouldn’t be done is to stay with your boat in the hopes of saving it in a
major storm. No boat is worth your life, and that’s what you put on the line when you
decide to stay after the evacuation order comes.
When the roads are flooded and the power lines down, there will be no one to help you
and no way out; make your boat as secure as possible, give it a farewell kiss, and then head
inland when the hurricane flags fly.
Swimming and Diving
Most boaters use their rigs for swimming at one time or another. Diving, both snorkeling
and scuba, is also among the major reasons for being a boat owner.
But hopping overboard does pose some potential problems. The first story I wrote for
Reader’s Digest some 25 years ago was on a young woman and her husband who left their
boat to snorkel in the clear waters off Homosassa, Florida, one summer morning and
wound up in a struggle for survival that didn’t end, for her, until some 24 hours later.
Their mistake? They left no one aboard to pick them up. In the strong currents flowing
that day, they soon found themselves so far from the boat that getting back was a struggle.
The husband made a decision to leave his wife in hopes that he could get to the boat and
rescue her, but when he finally made it to the boat the sun was down and he couldn’t find
her. She spent a long night treading water, breathing through her snorkel, and hoping no
sharks found her. The story had a happy ending the next day when the two were reunited,
but it could just as well have been a tragedy.
The moral of the story, obviously, is that divers and swimmers must never leave the boat
uncaptained in waters where the current can make return difficult.