Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Lifeboatman Course

Since I have everything except LB to get my AB ticket, I went ahead and took the LB class this week since I had a few days to kill before shipping out. Today we practiced launching the lifeboat off the davits about 6x in a row. US Coast Guard required each person to safely launch a lifeboat within 15 minutes, and so far everyone is well within the time allotment. The boat we are using is a 2000lb old-school rowboat, with no motor. The Davit itself is designed to hold a larger boat, something in the range of 5000lbs and much longer I believe. We have to learn all the lifeboat terminology: Guy lines, Frapping lines, Griping lines, Tricing pendant, Sea Painter, Harbor pins, and much more... It's maritime, and therefore, it's fun. Call me crazy. Tomorrow, we have to row a lifeboat and demonstrate our rowing capabilities as per Coast Guard requirements.

Lifeboat Davit

If you wanna watch something fun, check out FreeFall Lifeboat systems. They are designing quick deploy lifeboats now that launch off the stern of ships without any lines or gravity systems. It's similar to amusement park ride in my opinion. Here's one that breaks a FreeFall record in a test from the manufacturer. Pretty crazy ride, especially if full of 20 crew members!

FreeFall lifeboat

I'll post up another tidbit around Friday after completion of the course and before I ship out on Friday or Saturday.

 

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