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

Just because official bodies hold a particular view, does not mean that it is either right nor open to challenge. My views are based on the evidence - all in the public domain.

Thankfully we have not got to the stage where carrying a raft is a legal requirement as in France, and I think this is because the official bodies know that it could never be justified.

Just in case you think that I am anti lferaft I suggest you read the fishing boat accident reports from MAIB where there is overwhelming evidence that lives could be saved if hydrostatically released liferafts were used. However the situation is very different as these boats go out in weather when you and I are tucked up in front of the fire. The boats also have a tendency to turn over unexpectedly because of snagging the bottom or loads shifting etc. Once again all in the reports. Recently the Spanish government has made it compulsory for fishermen to wear lifejackets in an attempt to reduce the death toll and I understand proposing to withold compensation if the deceased was not wearing one.

In part this argument is philosophical. Do we base our legislation/advice/official body opinion on evidence or individual and collective belief. For the last several centuries since the enlightenment have collectively favoured the evidence based approach through scientific method. There is a danger that we are moving away from this - we can see it in the debates on road safety, medical care and the environment to name just a few.

In this narrow case that we are looking at (liferafts in yachts) we have very clear evidence, well documented. There are so few cases that statistics are inappropriate, but the method of analysis is to look at each individual case for lessons and possible themes. This gives us three primary causes of foundering (coinditions, collision and structural failure) and 3 lessons on liferafts - they work OK in organised evacuations (but may even then fail to operate); they are less effective in deployment in extreme conditions and they can be unstable and difficult to board. There is no evidence to show that they might be effective in situations like Ouzo, other than in a theoretical sense, and we will probably never know until there is a similar incident where a hydrostatic released raft was used.

In the meantime set your boundaries of sailing within your own perceived risk envelope and enjoy it!

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