I understand the theory of using a Lifesling. All the steps make complete sense to me and I could probably do a pretty good job teaching a Lifesling lesson in a classroom. Before this weekend, I had never actually gone through the physical steps or had on the water practice using a Lifesling.

Milltown Sailing Association in Everett hosted a Lifesling class where divers volunteered to jump in the overboard to help us practice. Practicing with a diver is a more realistic practice scenario than tossing "Freddy Fender" overboard (a fender wrapped in a life jacket,) which is how my family would practice when I was growing up. The skills needed to rescue a real person are invaluable. I need to be competent in performing a practice rescue on my own so I can rescue a limp, sea soaked Kevin in crazy conditions in an real emergency situation, and he needs to be able to do the same for me.

The main thing that I got out of this weekend's Lifesling class was; how just 'knowing' how to perform a Lifesling rescue is not enough. Kevin and I need to be able to do it in calm water, rough water, day or night.

There are 3 main problems to work through during the Lifesling rescue:
1. Maintain visual contact
2. Make a connection between person and rescue crew with Lifesling
3. Pick the person up from water and actually get them on board
I need to work the third, it is physically taxing to hoist a drenched body with my strength without getting too tired (we do not have self tailing winches on Nirvana.) Kevin would say he needs to work on the second, making connection as quickly as possible by keeping the boat powered up when circling the person and cutting the speed after the connection has been made.

Lifesling class....check!
Practicing....get as many checks as possible!

Learning how to repair a boom is next! You can tell in the picture that our boom is resting on the cabin top.

Here's a great link to a Lifesling demonstration:

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