How to deal with entanglement at sea.
James Golden gave a really interesting and informative talk about entanglement.
It is every sailors nightmare wrapping a pot-rope or some other object in the prop. Various methods of avoiding this situation were discussed and some very interesting and practical solutions were suggested. The format of the talk was great, James invited the audience to split in to small groups and discuss the subject matter and the those groups shared their experiences.
Two very important points came up a number of times.
The first point was that if you have any problem at all that threatens the safety of the boat call the coastguard or make a pan pan call on channel 16 just to alert the safety services to your problem. . A member of the RNLI present pointed out that they would prefer to have a call cancelled than for the call to come to late.
The second point was that however easy it may seem you should avoid getting in to the water to try and sort the problem, james had some great photos to illustrate how dangerous this could be.
A good number of people turned up and enjoyed the talk, the company and a glass or two of wine from the bar.
I am looking forward to the next talk which will be on February 27 @ 7:00 am – 10:00 pm a talk on the Golden Globe Race given by Pat Lawless a well known Irish sailor from Ballyferriter will give a talk on participating in the Golden Globe single handed round the world race and his plans for taking part again this year in his boat Silvermines Hydro.
