Casualty recovery
Governing: STCW Code Table A-VI/2-2; REG Yacht Code Part A 13.4(1); MCA PSCRB (Restricted) Guidelines, Outcome 3. Builds on: L2.1, L3.1; Medical First Aid (MFA).
Table A-VI/2-2 requires you to demonstrate that you can recover a casualty from the water and transfer a casualty to a rescue helicopter or to a ship or to a place of safety. That is the reason the boat exists.
Design assumption
REG Part A 13.4(1)(a) requires a means of recovering a person from the sea, assuming the person is unconscious or unable to assist. If the yacht provides an overside ladder or scrambling net, it must reach at least 600 mm below the lowest operational waterline. Plan every recovery on that assumption.
The approach
- Approach from downwind or down-current, so the boat drifts towards the casualty, not over them.
- Keep the casualty in sight; bowman points continuously.
- Neutral or engine stopped in the last metres; no propeller near a person.
- Come alongside with the casualty at the recovery point, usually just forward of the console on the lee side.
Getting them in
| Casualty | Technique |
|---|---|
| Conscious, able | Hands and lifejacket shoulders; roll over the tube |
| Unconscious or cold | Two crew, horizontal lift or parbuckle with a net or sling |
| Suspected spinal injury | Stretcher or board if carried; minimise movement |
| Heavy or in immersion suit | Parbuckle; use the boat's roll |
The PSCRB (Restricted) criteria list recovery aids including ladders, stretchers, lifting devices and nets. Know which your boat carries.
Cold casualties
- Lift horizontally where possible; vertical lifting of a hypothermic person can cause collapse.
- Handle gently; no rubbing of limbs.
- Protect from wind with a thermal protective aid or a cover.
- Monitor breathing continuously.
The Restricted criteria stress precautions when disembarking survivors, especially cold casualties.
Transfer
To the yacht. Brief the recovery point: swim platform only if the Code and conditions allow, or the rescue boat itself is lifted with casualty aboard. REG Part A 13.4(3)(d) does not accept stern platforms as the embarkation point for rescue boat transfer on the smaller yachts' non-LSA arrangements, and requires a safe route including for a person on a stretcher.
To a helicopter. Follow the winchman. Keep the boat steady on a heading given by the aircraft, usually into wind. Do not touch the winch wire or hook until it has earthed on the sea or the boat. Secure all loose items against downwash.
To another vessel or ashore. Hand over with a brief: time in water, condition, treatment given.
WARNING - Propellers Never approach a person in the water with the propeller turning. Waterjets reduce the risk but still draw water into the intake.
CAUTION - Your crew Recovering a heavy casualty over the tube is how crew fall in. Keep one hand for the boat and brief who holds whom.
TIP - Practise with a dummy A water-filled rescue dummy teaches more in an hour than a day of theory. Most crews underestimate how hard it is.