They keep saying Sunfish in the news, but from the photograph, that was NOT a Sunfish.
Hypothermia is a tough thing to avoid. (been there) Space blankets might help, but I tried to use one once and was very dissatisfied. I was trying to sleep, and they are noisy.
Towels are good!!!
A gallon milk jug full of water is a good thing to have aboard. Tie it to the boat.
After being thrown off by a squall line, I make sure the painter is tied to my belt so the boat won't get too far away. I usually carry a five pound mushroom anchor, but it's more for temporary mooring than emergency equipment.
Every discussion of emergency equipment I've seen suggests that fish hooks and line are very unlikely to be useful. I'd guess the compass is also mostly decoration unless there's fog.
Some sort of communication equipment would also be good. Perhaps that old cell phone? I think they will still call 911 even when deactivated. (if the battery is charged) I remember seeing (buying?) a CB radio for relatively few bucks that was supposed to live in the car trunk until there was an emergency. Plastic bags give pretty good waterproofing if you go redundant -- baggie around gadget, then that bag with some paper towels inside an outer baggie.
<dbohara@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:1115065765.676033.109350@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com... <snip>> When we got near him we saw that he was shaking violently from> the cold so I threw him my raincoat and we towed him in where> he changed to dry clothes.> So, what to do about this problem? Clearly we need some safety> equipment other than just a lifejacket aboard.> Consider, the MiniCups are 12' long with almost no room for storage,> think of a slightly enlarged Sunfish (yes, I showed him that article> about the two boys in N. Carolina). What would you consider for safety> equipment?> A compass, a pint of water, a space blanket, a tiny flashlight, maybe> three pen flares, fishhooks and line. All of this must fit into a> small box velcroed to the cockpit wall. What else?> I am even thinking about a small anchor but what kind?>
I'd stick to shelterd bounded waters in a boat like that. The worst can happen is you get blown across to the opposite shore or river bank.
If caught in a tide or current you can paddle or sail across or at an angle to the flow and reach shore. Paddling against can be futile.
The boat building solution to that particular sailing location would be to build a bigger sailboat and put an outboard motor on it. There are free plans for bigger inexpensive boats available. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned
