PRACTICING our man overboard drills

January 22nd, 2024

There's a lot for us to do as we prepare to go blue water cruising. New Zealand has one of the strictest Category 1 requirements which New Zealand registered boats need to meet before they are allowed to leave New Zealand for ocean sailing. It's taken a lot for us to prepare Tāiko to meet these requirements. One of the requirements is that we had to complete an advanced sea survival course. We thoroughly enjoyed this course and learned so much. We couldn't believe how much we had taken for granted things that we 'thought' we knew but we actually didn't. One of the many things this course made us take more seriously, was our man overboard procedure. Although we had done a couple of sailing courses which did run through a man overboard procedure, they relied on there being more than two people aboard to complete the procedure. As it is just the two of us, it has always worried me that I wouldn't know what to do if Adam fell overboard because it would just be me left aboard. 

Obviously, the best thing to do is not fall overboard in the first place. However, this course did make us sit up and take a bit more responsibility for knowing what to do should this unwanted event occur. More so, it made me take more responsibility for our safety aboard as Adam had already been serious about it. While we were in Opunga Cove in the Bay of Islands, the conditions were calm and this gave us the opportunity to practice our man overboard procedures but also for me to become more familiar with our safety systems and how to hove to.

As always, thanks for reading.

Vicki