Survival at Sea 101

We recently spent a week in Seward, Alaska completing the Marine Safety Instructor Course (MSIT) taught by the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA). Our objective? Complete the training and start the process of becoming a USCG approved Marine Safety Instructor. This will allow us to train and certify other fishermen as USCG Drill Conductors. Most importantly, it’s part of the continual process of improving the safety & survivability at sea of our vessel and crew.

Topics we covered included preparation for emergencies, where we studied the seven steps of survival. We also learned about Cold water survival, Sea Survival, Equipment, Procedures & Onboard Drills, Land Survival, Food and Water in a Survival Situation, Cold-Water Near Drowning, Hypothermia, Methods of Instruction, Risk Assessment & Risk Management, and lastly Cross-Cultural Communication.

I am very happy to have taken this course, however there was an element of it that fed some real fears. While I spent a good chunk of my life on the water, now being a wife and mother it’s different. Sometimes knowledge can be scary. I didn’t like hearing and analyzing mayday calls, watching videos of real life emergencies, and critiquing people’s final moments. That was rough. But my husband and I’s goals going in to fishing remained quite simple.

Most importantly how we as a team work together in an emergency and being prepared to do so is number one. Tuesday we splash the boat then have about a mile high list of to-do’s to get our boat ready for the season. We will be applying lessons learned in this class and conducting our own drills onboard during this pre-season prep. More to come!