Yachting and Boating World forums: "Liferaft" is it needed for coastal cruising in UK

Oh gawd - here we go - another "bubblewrap everything because it is safer" post ...

Do you:

Wear a crash helmet, knee and elbow pads whilst walking down the road? You could be hit by anything or trip over a stone so you should really.

Put your lifejacket on and inflate it before going afloat? What if the gas bottle fails?

Do you have a LR in your tender? What if that sinks on an ebb tide ....

Put your lifejacket on and have your survival suit ready when walking along the beach? What if a rouge wave comes in?

Have a full first aid kit complete with leg splints and defib unit about your person the whole time? What if you fall off a curb and have a heart attack?

Is there a Fire extinguisher and blanket ready for deployment when you light a BBQ or operate any electrical equipment? It could catch fire ....

Am I saying that you shouldn't have a liferaft? No ... of course not ... but it is dependent on your perception of the risk. I'm one of those reckless individuals that doesn't wear their LJ all the time - I didn't even put it on last weekend

- we don't have a liferaft either - with the sort of sailing we do this chances of needing one are so slight that I'd rather spend the money on items that may actually see some use - ensuring that we don't need the LR to start with ....

A lot of sailing is about risk management - do you have a safety line on when going up the mast - are you expecting the main line to fail? If not, could the spare line not fail too? Should you put a 3rd line on?

Should you be going out in weather where you deem the LR to be of importance - are you expecting your boat to fail - if so, shouldn't you look at resolving those issues first ... what would cause a boat to sink?

1) Mast coming down and puncturing the hull - check the rigging - replace it, have a redundant spare, have bolt croppers to get rid of it as quickly as possible
2) Keel falling off - buy a boat with an encapsulated keel
3) Seacock / Skin fitting / Pipe failure - get the highest possible quality fittings, inspect often, replace before they need it, have bungs/padding available, have suitable pumps and buckets at hand
4) Collision - difficult to mitigate against - could be you are hit by another craft or you hit a submerged object in the water - for the first, make sure you have RADAR and know how to operate - take avoiding action as early as possible, for the second - how about considering making the bow section a sacraficial bow - fill in the forepeak stowage with suitable buoyancy - make the door to the forepeak watertight. Have a keel and rudder design that won't fall off when hit
5) Rolling/pooping - don't go out in weather (or forecasted weather) conditions that would make this a possibility ...
6) Fire - Have additional automatic fire extinguishers onboard in the likely places, make sure all your electrical items are suitably protected, remove gas appliances/bottles, do not allow smoking on board.

Any other reasons you may wish to take to your liferaft?
For many, the risk is so low that it really isn't worth purchasing a LR - you'd do better spending the £500 on a family holiday somewhere hotter!

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Don't be sad boy, people die all the time, just like that, why you could wake up dead tomorrow. - Homer Simpson