Don't fall in

Examining our survival suits, in preparation for a drill.  Have to get it on in 60 seconds or less!

Weds and Thursday I had to go to the safety class in preparation for that research cruise I'll be doing in August.  It was a good class - I learned a lot.  I think some of us in the class had a few 'scared straight' moments after we had to watch several videos of actual helicopter rescues, ships and boats sinking (one went down in only 40 seconds!), and listen to real 'mayday' calls.  It was sobering.  You don't mess around up here, the water is cold, help is often a long ways away, and weather can go from nice to awful in minutes.  I think the hardest was listening to the mayday calls, right before we had to practice our own.  The sheer panic in the voices on the real calls was chilling.  All of the callers we listened to were rescued though.

Day one of the class was all classroom time - lecture, video, practicing mayday calls, going through emergency scenarios and talking out what we'd do.  Day two was fun - we got hands on practice with lighting flares, shooting flare guns, putting out fires, then the best part, working out scenarios in teams on a boat tied up at the dock - like a fire (without a real fire) that then escalated into an abandon ship drill.  We all had roles, had to grab specific equipment, put on our survival suits, then eventually jump into the water.  Once in the water we got to practice maneuvering ourselves (surprisingly hard to do), flipping a life raft, climbing in, and making human rafts and chains in the water (so you stick together and are more visible).  Because none of the water stuff was in a real situation with wind and waves, it was fun, and the suits keep you warm and floating high in the water.  But all that rolling around and maneuvering in stiff suits in the water (and out of the water) is exhausting!

I'll try to post more pictures from the in-the-water training, when I get copies from the guy taking them!