A hoax flare in Co Galway last weekend highlighted the importance of educating people about responsible 'sea sense', writes LORNA SIGGINSMarine Correspondent
THE BEST of times, the worst of times – that's how August bank holiday weekend is regarded among rescue services when the weather is any way favourable. One of the saddest bank holiday weekends for marine rescue services in the past decade occurred in the southeast, when five people drowned off Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford. The five were among 10 people on board an angling boat, the Pisces, which rolled over and sank very quickly on July 28th, 2002. There were just two lifebuoys and one life jacket on board the boat at the time.
The incident prompted a review of safety measures by then marine minister Dermot Ahern. New legislation on life jackets, or personal flotation devices (PFDs), was initiated for specific circumstances, including compulsory wearing by children on all vessels, and by adults on vessels up to seven metres in length, and carriage of sufficient life jackets for everyone on board larger vessels.
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board recently called for a new campaign to raise life jacket awareness among fishermen, given the number of recent fatalities at sea that might have been otherwise avoided. However, an increasing number of people are now wearing safety aids for leisure activities, according to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). One of the big issues is complacency – and that includes complacency about the condition of safety equipment. Recent free RNLI “clinics” found that a high proportion of life jackets examined failed to work properly, according to Kevin Rahill, the RNLI’s sea safety manager for Ireland.
“Over half the ‘air-only’ life jackets checked were found to have out-of-date firing capsules,” he says, referring to waistcoat life jackets that are inflated by gas bottle. “These capsules are designed to disintegrate in water, but they do deteriorate over time and have an expiry date stamped on them. If not replaced by the due date, there is a risk that the life jacket will inflate accidentally.”
Significantly, a life jacket or PFD is also only as good as its fitting. “It must be fitted properly, in such a way that it does not ride over the wearer’s head on immersion. Most life jacket designs need a crotch or thigh strap to ensure this does not happen,” Rahill says.
Recent RNLI checks found that more than half the life jackets examined did not have crotch straps fitted. “Wearing one that is too loose or rides up over one’s shoulders will result in the wearer using a lot of precious energy trying to stay afloat,” Rahill points out.
One of the other issues occupying the minds of rescue volunteers is the irresponsible use of distress flares. A flare sighting at Gurteen Bay, Roundstone, Co Galway, last weekend prompted an extensive rescue service call-out, involving the RNLI’s Clifden and Aran Islands lifeboats and the Irish Coast Guard’s Costello Bay unit.
The RNLI’s Clifden station was aware that the sighting was genuine, but may have been prompted by irresponsible use of a flare fired from land.Witnesses described hearing a “whoosh” from sand dunes nearby. The incident was one of a series that has involved tasking of rescue services – placing an unnecessary strain on volunteers.
Boats carry three types of distress flares: daytime distress flare which emits orange smoke for three minutes; parachute rocket flares, which emit a bright red flare and can be seen at long range for at least 40 seconds; and red hand-held pinpoint flares, when potential rescuers are believed to be close.
However, out-of-date flares, which boat owners may be keen to dispose of, may also be falling into the wrong hands – even small hands. It comes as no surprise to David O'Brien, editor of Afloatmagazine.
“We’ve heard of people having great difficulty in disposing of time-expired pyrotechnics (TEPs) as they are known,” O’Brien says. “There used to be an official system, but now it is up to the user to return to the chandlery, and the chandlery has to store same for collection by the Army.”
Safety on the water
- If you plan to go out on the water, always remember to wear a life jacket/PFD
- Plan your trip carefully and never go out alone
- Let someone ashore know where you are going and when you will be back
- Carry a means of communication for raising the alarm should you get in difficulty
- Useful websites for safety details include Irish Water Safety (iws.ie), the RNLI (rnli.org.uk) and the Irish Coast Guard/Department of Transport safety on the water information site (safetyonthewater.ie)
