Demo day for ARC crews

by World Cruising on 18 Nov 2016 ARC Safety Demonstrations took place this morning on the northern breakwater of the marina then at the Club Varadero Maritimo swimming pool. The ARC Safety Demonstrations play an important part in preparing for an Atlantic crossing and are an invaluable refresher for all skippers and crew. The safety demonstrations started with an SAR helicopter high-wire transfer using ARC yacht Hina volunteered as a demo boat with fellow crews watching on from the northern breakwater.

Onboard, Nicholas described his the experienced, “The helicopter winched down a diver and then he boarded the boat and took responsibility of the whole operation and said to each of us this is what I expect from you. It was very clear information. They then brought down a ‘dummy’ body followed by the lifting equipment and he instructed us how to put the guy inside the bucket, so it was very clear.

“It was crazy with the helicopter over us. It was super noisy and you can forget trying to communicate on deck once it is there; you can’t hear a thing. There’s a lot of air flow so you have to really make sure that everything is tied up well because anything thing that isn’t, would fly away. We got a lot of seawater in the face, because the chopper brings a lot of wind. This exercise was in flat conditions and so in big seas it would be a lot more difficult. I was really amazed by the precision of the pilot and he was hugely competent. It was a truly amazing experience and one that not many people get the chance to do .”

Watching on from the shore, Mike from Australia sailing on Calypso 71, had never seen a high-line helicopter transfer before and found it really useful:

“You see these sort of things on TV, but until you actually see it you don’t realise how much spray and energy is generated by the helicopter. It creates a lot of wind and I was thinking about that additional wind with the waves and how the residual wind would be quite terrifying the first time, so that made an impact on me. I have flares on my own boat back in Australia, but have never understood how to use them so this practical demonstration was really good.

I did do a sailing course some time ago so today was a great refresher. For example, I did not think about flares being out of date and now need to get new ones when I get home. I also got some great tips on how to dispose of flares and found lots of other useful information for the crossing.”

Crews were then encouraged to bring along swimming costumes for the practical session in the pool where they learnt about emergency evacuation and could try boarding a liferaft themselves. Chris Ward is sailing on the British Bowman 57, Emily Morgan and volunteered at today’s liferaft demonstration in the Club Maritimo Varadero pool. “It was much easier than I thought,” he said when asked how easy it is to board a small liferaft from the water in perfect conditions. “I’ve never had to do this myself in anger, but I had to do it on a SOLAS course some years ago. I wanted to take part as a volunteer today as I wanted to remind myself about it. Chris Tibbs was inside the liferaft and gave us tips on how to survive while you are in there and there was a continuous lecture going on inside which is really very good.”

Today's demos followed last night’s 'Eternal Spring' costume party and everyone made a fantastic effort to get into this year’s theme, including all the ARC Yellowshirt team, who were dressed as ARC Sunflowers! Prizes were awarded to a selection of the best dressed in theme - a tough choice for the Yellowshirt team with hundred of eclectic costumes to choose from. You can see the gallery of the images on Facebook.

• Best Boys - Oskar and Nestor from Diana
• Best Girl - Johanna from JoEmi
• Best Man - Adam from Perline
• Best Woman - Caroline from Thalia II
• Best Couple - Oyster Blew
• Best Crew - Farr