Taking charge
Governing: STCW Code Table A-VI/2-1; REG Yacht Code Part B 7.13 and 7.21. Builds on: L1.1, L1.2; Personal Survival Techniques (PST).
The core of PSCRB is the ability to take charge. Table A-VI/2-1 asks you to give correct commands for launching and boarding survival craft, clearing the ship and handling and disembarking persons, and to make initial actions on leaving the ship that minimise threat to survival.
Who is in charge
REG Part B 7.13, for passenger yachts:
- There are enough trained persons on board to muster and assist untrained persons.
- There are enough crew, deck officers or other certificated crew, to operate the survival craft and launching arrangements for everyone on board.
- A deck officer or certificated person (someone holding a CoP in survival craft) is in charge of each survival craft. The Administration may allow persons practised in handling liferafts to take charge of rafts instead; for lifeboats a second-in-command is nominated.
On most yachts the muster list assigns a named officer or senior deckhand to each raft station. If that is you, you need PSCRB or PSCRB (Restricted).
The commands
Use short, standard orders, spoken loudly and repeated:
| Phase | Command intent |
|---|---|
| At the station | Muster, lifejackets checked, count off |
| Preparing | Raft out, painter made fast, launch area clear |
| Boarding | Board in order, fill from the far end, sit and hold on |
| Clearing | Release, bear off, get clear of the hull and propellers |
| In the water | Drogue out, entrances closed, count again |
| Rescue | Nobody stands, nobody moves until told |
| Disembarking | One at a time, injured first as directed by rescuers |
The first ten minutes
- Get clear. Cut or release the painter, get away from the hull, propellers and any fire or oil.
- Look for survivors in the water and recover them.
- Stream the drogue to reduce drift and stabilise the raft.
- Close the entrances, bail out and dry off, inflate the floor.
- Check for injuries, give first aid.
- Anti-seasickness tablets to everyone, early.
- Account for everyone and set a lookout rota.
- Join up with other craft; tie rafts together or to the rescue boat.
Marshalling
REG Part B 7.21 requires enough lifeboats and rescue boats that no more than six liferafts need be marshalled by each. The rescue boat's job after launch is to gather rafts together and tow them clear.
CAUTION - Guests in rafts Guests may be in evening clothes, intoxicated, frightened, or all three. Put a crew member at each raft entrance, keep instructions simple and give people a task: bailing, lookout, holding the torch.
Leadership
A craft full of cold, frightened people needs one voice. Set a routine early: watches, rations when due, checks on the injured, maintenance of the raft. Give information honestly, including what you do not know. The PSCRB (Restricted) criteria include basic crisis management and awareness of passenger reactions for this reason; on passenger yachts see Crowd & Crisis Management (Passenger Yachts).
TIP - Know your muster list by name Before each charter, look at who is in your raft on the muster list. Crew change. Make sure your number two knows the commands too.