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July 2020 July 2020
the deck (to allow for a downward pull). The other end (with the 2 strops Nature Sightings
attached) is fed over the side into the water. The casualty puts one strop around
the chest and the second strop under the knees, to achieve a ‘sitting’ position . We would be very interested to hear of your local wildlife sightings (common or
The person on deck starts pulling and lifts the casualty out of the water. unusual), so as to build up a picture of what is about and when it first arrives /
emerges.
Fact1: A 13 year-old girl can pull an 18-stone man out of the water single-handed.

Fact 2: if the casualty is not suffering from hypothermia, an unfit, 18-stone man
can pull himself out of the water with this piece of kit. Contact Us
If you would like to know more about the work of the Wildlife and Environment
Group or to be included on our e-mailing list, please contact:
Tony Bates at tonybates19@gmail.com / 01929 471563
Amy Yates at AmyEyeats@hotmail.com or
Mike Gee at mike.n.g@outlook./com / 0775 988 4942.

Easy peasy! A cheap piece of tackle to put together consisting of:
2 triple blocks (Top one with an integral jammer)
60ft/20m of 11mm climbing rope (best size for grip).

2 x padded helicopter strops with carbine hooks.
Go for it- and enjoy the realisation that you can do a single-handed “man
overboard” rescue for real. (You could practise from an overhanging branch in
the Bere Stream?)

Now there’s a thought for some entertaining ‘lockdown’ exercise in the fresh air!
Note.
The ‘Fastnet 79’ yacht race disaster exposed major flaws in air-sea rescue practise.

Hoisting people out of the water vertically if/when they are suffering from
hypothermia is lethal. On the way up, the blood flows from the thorax into the legs
and the casualty has heart failure.
The ‘sitting position’ (with two strops) avoids this from happening and is now ‘de
rigueur’ in casualty rescue.
Stay safe at sea.
David Gray

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