With less than a week to go before the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2008, the mostly young crew of the Volvo 60 Getaway-Sailing.com had a sharp reminder of just how important and how difficult in practice safety at sea can be.

Under the watchful eye of Getaway-Sailing’s Safety and Sea Survival instructor Phil Thompson the 19 person crew had to simulate a full abandon ship situation in Sydney Harbour today, and even in enclosed waters it was a demanding exercise.

With a life raft trailing from the yacht’s stern, crewmembers let off distress flares, then had to take turns jumping into the water in full storm weather gear, swim to the life raft, haul themselves into the raft, then swim back to the boat to be lifted out of the water in a sling as other crew members practiced the man overboard drill.

“I have done this drill twice before, but that was in a heated swimming pool,” joked the ocean racing veteran of the crew, Tony Cable, who is set to compete in his 45th Rolex Sydney Hobart this year, a record. 

“It was a bit of a shock when I jumped in. I took a couple of mouthfuls of salt water.  I’m feeling a bit charey in the stomach.”

Cable wasn’t the only one to rediscover how difficult it is to get into a life raft in full heavy weather gear including sea boots that feel like buckets full of water tied to the feet. 

“My wet weather pants got so full they were holding water in my bum,” declared Polly Thomas, Getaway-Sailing’s sailing manager. 

“When we all got back into our dry clothes it felt as though we were all fat people who had suddenly become thin.

“It was hard enough today in flat water.  It would be so much more difficult to do in a real life situation, with large waves,” Thomas added.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the infamous 1998 race when six lives were lost at sea and five yachts sank. Following an inquiry into that race the safety requirements for competing yachts and their crews were rigorously upgraded. On any boat in the 101-strong fleet readying for the 64th edition of Australia’s greatest ocean race, 50% of the crew have completed a Yachting Australia Safety and Sea Survival Course.

“I have been in every Sydney Hobart storm since 1961,” Tony Cable said as he watched the last of Getaway-Sailing.com’s crew scramble into the liferaft. 

“We are all so much more conscious about safety these days. It is absolutely vital you know how to do this.”  By Jim Gale/Rolex Sydney Hobart Media Team.