Weather Helmed

Because I’m of relatively little use to Matt for the boat projects he’s currently working on (unless you count lounging around half-naked in an apron as “helping”), I’ve had to look into other ways I can prepare us for our imminent departure.  One of the things every cruising boat needs is a “ditch bag.”  This is extremely important as this is the bag you grab when you literally have to DITCH your boat.  As in – it’s sinking.  In theory, you grab the ditch bag and then deploy your life raft, which hopefully opens as it should and doesn’t get blown away, and you’re good to go ’til the Coast Guard or pirates pick you up or you get eaten by sharks.

Rumor has it that you should never abandon ship until you are stepping UP to your life raft – you should stay with your boat until the very last possible moment. I questioned the wisdom of this initially because I couldn’t imagine that being in the life raft could be worse or more unsafe than being thrashed around on a big boat with metal parts to hit your head on and lines to get caught up in and a frantically swinging heavy boom to knock you out… THEN I read “Fastnet: Force 10” about the 1979 Fastnet Race off the coast of England in which the boats encountered one of the most severe storms of the century.  The lesson I garnered from that book was STAY WITH YOUR BOAT AT (ALMOST) ALL COST.  It was pretty spectacular to see that, despite the ridiculously insane weather they experienced, the majority of the boats did not sink and almost without fail, the people who abandoned their boats were the ones who died.

That said, if our boat ever does start to sink for some reason, Lord knows I want a good ditch bag.  We currently have a massive dry bag set aside just for this use.  So, since I was playing with our flares the other day, I thought it would be a good idea to start doing research on what we should put in the bag.  And wow.  Talk about a reality check.  Figuring out what to do with the ditch bag reminds me of a prenup – you don’t ever want to talk about it, don’t want to deal with it because it feels sad and scary, but then, when you NEED IT, you really really really need it.  So, I found a website that I thought was a good starting point for some of the things we should put in our bag….  You can see I have a lot of work to do.

Ditch Bag Inventory

• PUR Survivor-06 Water Maker with extra Biocide Inhibitor
• ACR Rapidfix 406 EPIRB with GPS Interface
• Garmin Etrex Hand-Held GPS (to use with EPIRB)
• Garmin 12 XL Hand-Held GPS
• Icom IC-M3A Hand-Held VHF Radio
• Flashlight (2)
• Batteries, AA (20)
• Watertight Bag for Electronics
• Sea Dye Packet
• 3 Handheld Flares
• Whistle
• Signal Mirror
• Passports (and laminated B&W copies to resist water damage)
• Fishing Supplies
  • Hooks (large and small saltwater variety)
  • Line – 300 lb test
  • Small Hand Reel
  • Sinkers
  • Wire leader
  • Spinners, Spoons, etc.
  • Feather Lures
  • Swivels
  • Rubbing Alcohol in sprayer (to subdue fish)
  • Pocket Pliers (14 tools in 1)
  • Filet Knife
  • Small Gaff (1’ length)
• Water Container
• Freeze Dried Food
• Granola Bars
• Cutting Board
• Heavy Plastic Eating Utensils
• Small Medical Kit (bandages, tape, small splints, antiseptic creams, etc.)
• Multi-Vitamins with Iron
• Seasickness Medicine
• Laxative
• Aloe
• Advil
• Imodium
• Small Turkey Baster (for enema)
• Emergency Space Blanket (2)
• Absorber (to use as sponge)
• Can Opener
• Swiss Army Pocket Knife
• Duct Tape
• Spool of Nylon Twine
• Polypropylene Floating Rope – 1/4” x 100 ft
• Sunscreen
• Polarized Sunglasses (2)
• Tights (for plankton net)
• Waterproof Matches
• Dry Clothes
• Knife Sharpener
• Bail Bucket
• Blanket
• Aluminum Foil
• Gloves
• Dish Towels
• Ziploc Bags
• Funnel
• Sheet Plastic
• Light Sticks
• Hard Rubber plugs
• Hose clamps (to be used with rubber plugs in fixing life raft leaks)
• Stainless Steel Wire
• Finger/Tree Survival Saw

****  Note:  We are probably not going to put all of this stuff in there! We need room in the life raft for US too!  But, I thought it was a pretty all-inclusive list to at least start from and I’m still looking around for other ideas.  I say this because issues like what goes in your ditch bag? do you really need to have a liferaft at all? etc. are highly debated amongst the cruising community and I do not wish to be drawn into that whole discussion!!!!!