On March 6 and 7, Race for Water’s crew did a two-day onboard safety training with the Centre d’Etude et de Pratique de la Survie (CEPS: an organization devoted to maritime safety and research). All crewmembers were required to participate, so that they’re prepared for whatever comes their way during Race for Water’s five years at sea. We recently spoke with Ségolène Dumas, a CEPS trainer.
“CEPS normally does training for merchant marine crews, professional sailors, and recreational boat owners. We offer the kinds of training that professional sailors are required to take, and we do custom courses as well. For Race for Water’s crew, we worked with Luce Molinier to cover the full range of incidents that they might have to deal with. We had one goal: training the crew to respond to emergencies, using the equipment they have on board,” explained Dumas.
“On board Race for Water, the crew took the training seriously. They were focused. It’s rare that we get an entire crew to participate in this kind of safety training. That really helped their group dynamic and it promoted trust among everyone on Race for Water. If anything happens, they all know what to do, and they know that they can count on each other. As an instructor, it’s really gratifying to see that, and we had some great discussions. All of us at CEPS really enjoyed the training too. We got to learn about Race for Water; she’s a new kind of yacht, and we had to take all of her technology into consideration when we created a safety plan. It was a really positive experience for all of us.”
The safety training included various modules:
- Identifying every crew member’s job or role
- Learning about the on-board safety equipment and how to use it
- Review of communication methods to be used in an emergency, and how to alert others
- Use of signal flares
- First aid
- Review of evacuation procedures
- Recovering a man overboard
- Helicopter rescues
- Handling an onboard fire
Photographer : Peter Charaf