Buoyancy, buckets and bailing

[Port-Na-Storm]

Those intrepid rowers up at Ullapool have been practising their safety routines in the St Ayles skiff.

I'm amazed how high this boat floats when swamped as she has no buoyancy other than the wooden hull. Admittedly she doesn't support her entire crew but pretty impressive none the less.

http://ullcoastrow.wordpress.com/safety-matters/

Wouldn't be surprised if our old pall Chris P (N) had a hand in the photography.  

[Chris Partridge]

Very impressive - these guys are doing their homework.
One point, however, is that filling a boat in calm water is not the same as getting swamped in a big sea. All entrants in the London to Paris race last year had to practice getting the boat (Thames Waterman Cutter) full of water and discovered they couldn't even get close to sinking it. But when they hit a storm in Herne Bay it turned right over, trapping the cox in the boat. Luckily, his absence was instantly noticed and he was rescued, but it was very nasty.

[Port-Na-Storm]

Some interesting stuff on Francois Vivier's blog about tests to ensure your design complies with the dreaded RCD, ( I mentioned it once I think I got away with it!)

Francois Vivier's Blog

 

[Anders]

Vivier is wrong in one thing. The RCD is not a set of rules. Its a directive (The D means directive) and as a such, each state of the EU can use it the way they like. Thats why its basically useless, because the diferences between very authoritative states like Spain and very "free" (when it comes to boats) states like the Scandinavian is enourmous. Its like living on two different solar systems.

Back to the tests. It should be standard procedure to do tests like this on your own. Not because of some kind of rule but because of common sense. If you dont like getting wet, stay away from the water.