Survivors by choice - Liferaft Test

by Sail-World Cruising on 18 Aug 2007 Yes you do (or should do) a SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) course, and you bumble around in the swimming pool with hard hearted tutors spraying you with cold water while you scramble clumsily into the raft; but the rest of the time that liferaft sits mysteriously under its cover on the deck, and you hope that you'll never have to use it in a real-life situation.

So now Italian technical magazine SoloVela has organised a survival test on board of Oceanic 6-person liferaft by Arimar, a well known manufacturer of liferafts and other products. The test was carried out on 1st - 3rd June, in Marina di Ravenna, an Italian resort along the Adriatic cost, and although the full report is not ready, some conclusions have emerged.

The crew, which was formed by Nico Caponetto, editor-in-chief of SoloVela and author of the test, Antonio Iaria and Lorenzo Lavezzi, were kept on board the liferaft for 48 hours, without contact with the outside world, but under strict supervision of the supporting team. This included a physician and a psychologist, who monitored the physical conditions of the 'survivors'.

The test had two targets: on the one hand, it wanted to test the life on board a liferaft provided with the standard equipment – physical difficulties of movement, adaptability, and resistance to hot and cold conditions –, while on the other hand it wanted to check the consequences of two-day survival in these conditions for clinical and psychological aspects. To do so, some parameters were compared - blood and urine tests, as well as electrocardiogram - and psychological tests were carried out about the sense of anxiety and insecurity to which the crew was subject before and after the test.

On Friday June 1st, after the technical checks and the briefing with the physician and the psychologist, the test started 1.5 hours later than the scheduled 4:00 pm due to bad weather conditions. Notwithstanding this, the crew was not discouraged.

After having reached the established point, gone beyond the offshore dams, and followed the north dam by keeping a distance of about 350 metres, the liferaft was activated, thrown into the sea and then the shipwreck was simulated.

The crew got on the liferaft and immediately looked over the standard equipment; Nico Caponetto cut himself with the floating knife, a small accident that was promptly healed by using the first-aid kit to be found on board.

The bad weather conditions including rain during the first day caused some problems and, during the second day, the crew tried to dry out in the sun to prevent being wet during night hours. After the rainfall, the survivors had to face the heat, which cannot be easily tolerated in a reduced space and with few opportunities to be sheltered.

During the two-day test, the three survivors lived on thanks to the standard equipment, which includes 1.5 litres of water and 500 gr. of energy biscuits, which supply 10,000 Kj (kilojoules), as food per person.

From a physical point of view, the test proved to be quite hard, as Nico Caponetto stated: 'It was bit cold at night, we could not completely remove the water, the permanent movement of the liferaft and its floor, the great strain to make any movement, and the lack of food.

'As far as the psychological point of view is concerned, the conclusions of the psychologist are not available yet. Each of us reacted in a different way, sometimes with discouragement and concern, but good on the whole, taking into consideration that we did not have the typical uncertainty component that characterises the situation of real survivors'.

This experiment was unique of its kind; it will allow giving important instructions to travellers by sea. Caponetto discloses some pieces of advice: 'You have to behave differently for safety purposes. The liferaft was in perfect conditions, every tool was present and in working order, but, it is exactly a rescuing liferaft, where you survive.

'I advise to prearrange a waterproof bag to contain an EPIRB, a VHF, water and dry clothes. In addition, you have not to follow the instructions about the need not to drink during the first 24 hours. According to the physicians, it creates a dehydration situation from which it is difficult to recover'.

Apart from these comments, we shall have to wait for the full report. Watch this space!