T&T: Man do I love winter

[Kirwood Dirby]

All true Kevin.
When we boat in the winter, nobody is allowed on deck. That way they cant
fall in. :) We generally hug the coast in the winter because I am worried
about boat problems and lack of recreational boaters on hand to assist. In
the winter around Boston there is almost always a lobsterboat nearby.

Our winter boating is limited to short day trips, no overnighters and
therefore no long distance.



On 1/2/07, Kevin Redden <kfredden@verizon.net> wrote:
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > I took the kids out today for a boat ride here in the cold northeast
> (Boston).
> > It was GREAT!
> > 34 degrees, light wind, full sun. .................
> > ...............................
> > Winter in New England is great, nobody on the water, calm weather,
> > does it get any better?
>
> One of the big issues of boating in cold water is the greatly increased
> risk to
> the crew in case of a problem.
>
> While in warm weather, if the worse happens, we just put on a PFD and go
> swimming while we wait for a nearby boater to come pluck us out of the
> water.
>
> I cold water however, the biggest danger is from hypothermia due to the
> cold
> water, not from drowning. Remember, most of the victims from the Titanic
> had on
> life jackets and floated just fine, but were killed by the cold water.
>
> The US Coast Guard considers cold water to be such a high risk to their
> own
> crews, that when water temperatures get below 60 degrees F, small boat
> crews
> (<65') are required to wear Mustang suits ("anti-expose coverall" in CG
> parlance), and when water and air temps get below 50 degrees F., the crews
> are
> required to wear dry suites with thermal underwear.
>
> An added danger in cold water operations is that in many locations there
> are far
> fewer operational boats in the area that could come to your aid in case of
> a
> problem - in other words, you're on your own in case of trouble.  In 32
> degree F
> water, you've got about 15 minutes 'till unconsciousness, and 30 to 90
> minutes
> until death.
>
> If going boating on cold water, be real careful out there, and have
> protective
> clothing for the crew!
>
> Kevin Redden
>
>


-- 
PaulC
http://www.teampaulc.org/