Emergencies at sea aren’t neat and tidy

by Nikki Henderson
Did you ever catch the news of Tapio Lehtinen’s boat sinking in the Indian Ocean? What a learning opportunity that was for any budding SALTS out there.

The short story:
Tapio’s boat started to sink whilst he was sleeping. He woke up to a ‘BANG’ and floorboards floating. The boat was going down fast. He deployed the life-raft and threw the emergency comms bag and survival suit bag on deck. The slip-knot he had tied the life-raft to the boat with came undone and his life-raft started to drift away. With no time to spare, he launched himself into the life-raft before it drifted away. Despite a broken satellite phone aerial and forgetting his reading glasses he managed to call for help via a YB3 satellite texting device. Eventually he was rescued by a fellow competitor.

I reflected on the story soon after reading the report. It brought back memories of that discomfort you feel after an emergency at sea. – Full report