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Transcript of "Cob final report (2)"
1. FINAL REPORT2005 CREW OVERBOARD RESCUE SYMPOSIUM By John Rousmaniere June 26, 2006
COB Final Report 2 The accident known as "crewoverboard," "manoverboard," or "person-in-the-water"presents the most demanding and agonizing challenge that any sailor or powerboater willface. It is no wonder that rescue methods and gear are in constant development. Rarely,however, are they tested side-by-side in a variety of boats. At the Crewoverboard Rescue Symposium on San Francisco Bay, California, heldAugust 9-12, 2005, some 400 tests were conducted of 40 items of gear and numerousrescue methods by 115 volunteers in 15 sail and powerboats of many types, includingmultihulls, cruisers, and racers. Conditions ranged from a light wind and flat sea to a 35-knot blow and steep chop. Out of these tests came findings of considerable practicalvalue, including: • New rescue techniques for several types of multihulls and powerboats • Improved rescue techniques for keel sailboats • New understandings of standard maneuvers, the advisability of matching them to boat types, and the need to be prepared to improvise on them • Appreciation of differences between various emergency lights and alarms • Identification of problems with rescue equipment, operator's manuals, and trends in boat design and construction Written by John Rousmaniere, this report is based on observations made by him,symposium participants, and the other members of the organizing committee (all ofwhom reviewed drafts and contributed Lessons Learned). Photos are by Phil Cowley andJohn Rousmaniere, with production assistance by Karen Prioleau, Ruth Wood and ChrisEdmonston. John Rousmaniere may be reached at email@example.com.
COB Final Report 3Table of ContentsThe Event.......................................................................................................................... 4Goals……………………………………………………………………………………...6 Press Coverage............................................................................................................... 7 Prevention ...................................................................................................................... 7Locating the Victim.......................................................................................................... 8 Lights ............................................................................................................................. 8 Alarms/Crew Monitoring Devices................................................................................. 9Making Contact.............................................................................................................. 10 Throw Ropes................................................................................................................ 11 The MOM .................................................................................................................... 11Maneuvers ...................................................................................................................... 13 Four Maneuvers ........................................................................................................... 13 The Final Approach ..................................................................................................... 15 The Need to Practice.................................................................................................... 16 Evaluating Maneuvers by Boat Type........................................................................... 17Retrieval Devices............................................................................................................ 20 Platforms, Scoops, and Ladders................................................................................... 21 Hoists ........................................................................................................................... 22 Owner's Manuals......................................................................................................... 24 The Unconscious Victim ............................................................................................. 24Lessons Learned by Symposium Organizers .............................................................. 27Table 1: Maneuver Contact Times, Sailboats ............................................................. 36Table 2: Retrieval Times, All Boats.............................................................................. 38Some Participants .......................................................................................................... 39Consulting Scientists...................................................................................................... 39
COB Final Report 4The Event The symposium was co-sponsored by West Marine (a boating equipment supplierbased in Watsonville, Cal.) and Modern Sailing Academy (a sailing school and chartercompany in Sausalito, Cal.), which served as host. Funding totaling $26,000 wasgenerously provided by the Bonnell Cove Foundation of the Cruising Club of America,the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water, West Marine, the SailingFoundation of Seattle, and North Sails. The organizing committee consisted of: John Connolly (head instructor, ModernSailing Academy); Chuck Hawley (West Marine, safety-at-sea seminar moderator);Karen Prioleau (Newport Beach, Cal., U.S. Sailing Assn. Instructor Trainer/NationalFaculty, Orange Coast College instructor); John Rousmaniere (New York, N.Y., authorThe Annapolis Book of Seamanship, Fastnet, Force 10, etc., North U instructor); andRuth Wood (Alexandria, Va. President, BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety andClean Water). All five participated as testers or observers. A total of 15 boats took part, with as many as seven each day. • Keel sailboats: Islander 30, Beneteau 33, J-105, Island Packet 38, Beneteau 393, Beneteau 42, Beneteau 43, Islander 53 • Multihull sailboats: Corsair F-24 trimaran, Corsair F-28 trimaran, Seawind 1000 33' catamaran, Dragonfly 40 trimaran • Powerboats: 23' Zodiac RIB, Fortier 26 launch, Grand Banks 42 trawler Thanks go to the following suppliers of boats, equipment, and services: the boatowners, Modern Sailing Academy (John Connolly), West Marine (Chuck Hawley, PhilCowley, Sheila Hubbard, and Nick Degnan), the BoatUS Foundation (Ruth Wood andJoni Sralla Turken), Landfall Navigation (Captain Henry Marx), and GarminInternational (among others).
COB Final Report 5 The many volunteer testers endured long, hard afternoons on or in the water. Amongthose whose contributions verged on the heroic was Mary Swift, who arranged for threemeals a day, and still went sailing. At the end of this report is a partial list of participantswho are national or international leaders in boating safety. With nary a complaint, several volunteer in-water "victims" allowed themselves tobe dragged around the bay and up the sides of boats, and later appeared at debriefings tooffer lucid, first-hand analysis of their experiences. Nobody was allowed in the waterwithout wearing buoyancy and a wet, dry, or survival suit, and without a safety boatstanding by.
COB Final Report 6Goals We set out to test familiar rescue gear and maneuvers while at the same timeencouraging the creation of new ones. Our specific goals were these: 1. Test rescue gear and techniques—with average sailors in a range of popular boats, following protocols established by the organizers, advised by a team of scientists. 2. Evaluate the tests— A. quantitatively through elapsed times of rescues and other hard data entered on data sheets by testers, B. qualitatively through testers' notes on data sheets, daily debriefings, and other oral and written reports from observers and testers, C. visually by video and photographs, and by downloading GPS tracks of boats during tests. 3. Report findings to the public—in articles written by participants and in this final report. As might be expected with so ambitious an effort, there were disappointments.Sailors required a day or more to master maneuvers, GPS tracks were distorted by tidalcurrents, and irregularities in keelboat test protocols and data recording methodsappeared during the first two days before being corrected. One organizer, John Connolly, believes that trials of this sort can yield significantinformation if held under a plan designed by professional scientists, and that "Thesymposium did not meet this standard." The other four organizers, however, believe thata truly scientific standard is out of reach considering the many variables inherent withboats and weather. They also believe that these tests did yield significant information.There is no question that the symposium addressed real, practical needs.
COB Final Report 7 Ross Stein, the skipper of the Corsair F-24 trimaran, said he was motivated toparticipate by two recent crewoverboard accidents in the local F-24 racing fleet (bothvictims were rescued). After the symposium he wrote me, "This is not an imagined risk,and we need to gain experience. You have given us this chance." (Organizers' comments may be found in "Lessons Learned." Tables 1 and 2 coverquantitative results.)Press Coverage Many publications covered the symposium, some in two or more articles withfollow-up extending into the summer of 2006. They include Blue Water Sailing, BoatUSMagazine, CCA News, Cruising World, Kazi (Japan), Latitude 38, Practical Sailor, Sail,Sailing, Sailing World, Santana, Soundings, and Yachting. A DVD showing highlightsof the event is available for the cost of reproduction and shipping.Prevention A COB accident is no small, isolated incident. It puts everybody at risk, victim andrescuer alike. The endless appearance of ever faster, ever more unstable boatsaccelerates the problem. These boats require the use of safety harnesses and PFDs earlierand more frequently than older, steadier craft. Here are two guidelines: • You must have a very good reason for not wearing a harness or PFD. • At least hook on when moving around on deck in unsteady conditions, and when performing two-handed jobs, such as going up or down a companionway, trimming sheets, hoisting or lowering sails, adjusting jib sheet leads, and steering. When both hands are devoted to the ship, there's no hand for yourself.
COB Final Report 8Locating the VictimLights Among the 40 devices tested were 15 lights. One night, as observers looked on froma range of 2 miles, the lights were shown first in front of bright Sausalito, then with thedark park on Angel Island as a backdrop. Five types of lights were tested: strobes, incandescent lights, light sticks, divers'lights, and narrow-beam "focused" lights. Strobes have the advantage of beingomnidirectional so they need not be aimed to attract attention, yet their visibility at 2miles was surprisingly weak. The best performance came from three focused lights: • The Greatland Rescue Laser Light emits a brilliant bar-shaped red light that seems to explode as it is swept from side to side. • The Sure Fire E2E Executive Elite Flashlight is designed for law enforcement officials, who use it to blind suspects. • The Adventure Lights VIP Safety Light can be clipped onto clothing and has a bright orange LED light that offers three options – steady, flashing, and S-O-S. While a range of 2 nautical miles may be a suitable standard for fast boats (a 12-knotboat covers that distance in just 10 minutes), it may be unrealistic for ones in the 6-knotrange. Future tests will be held using shorter ranges.Lights Tested (NOTE: All prices in this report are approximate)ACR C-Light (pen-shaped incandescent, $12)ACR C-Strobe (pen-shaped strobe, $20)ACR DoubleFly FireFly 2 (incandescent and strobe, $80)ACR Firefly 3 Personal Rescue Strobe (manually operated compact strobe, $80)ACR Firefly 3 Waterbug Personal Rescue Strobe (water-activated strobe, $90)ACR Rapid Fire A Strobe PFD Light (compact strobe, $30)
COB Final Report 9ACR Rapid Fire B Spotlight PFD light (compact incandescent, $30)Adventure Lights VIP Safety Light (focused LED, waterproof, long battery life, $85)Greatland Rescue Laser Light (focused laser, waterproof, $100)Omniglow Cyalume Personal Marker Light (light stick, affixes to PFD, $16)Princeton-Tec Predator Pro (wide beam Halogen Headlamp, $30)Princeton-Tec/West Marine Aqua Strobe C (compact strobe, $40)Red Probe P (diver's beacon/personal marker light, $13)Surefire M E2E Executive Elite Flashlight (short battery life, weatherproof, $95)Underwater Kinetics Blue LED Mini Pocket (a diver's light, $30)Alarms/Crew Monitoring Devices These devices set off an audible alarm when someone wearing a transmitter orbeacon goes over the side, and then provide information for locating the victim. Thealarms tested were of two types: direction finder (D/F) and GPS. We tested two of eachtype with the boat making 5 knots and turning back after approximately 0.3 mile towarda mannequin on which the transmitters were placed. All were deemed satisfactory inperformance. The price of these devices is approximately $1,000 before customizing. D/F alarms guide the boat to the person in the water. After a water-activated radiotransmitter worn by the crew is dunked, an onboard instrument homes-in on it. Thesesystems were extremely accurate. The Sea Marshall Maritime Survivor Locating Devicealmost hit the mannequin, while Emerald Marine Products' Alert was about 3 meters off.One tester found the Sea Marshall's 360-degree dial especially easy to use. The Alertrequired a deeper dunking than the Marshall before it was activated. GPS-based alarms guide the boat to the "splash point" where the person went in.These are automated versions of the familiar MOB button on a GPS instrument. Whenthe MOB button is pressed, the GPS records the boat's geographical position as awaypoint to which the boat is then manually steered.
COB Final Report 10 But an alarm automatically records the waypoint when its base station loses contactwith a transmitter worn by a crew member. If the boat returns quickly, the victim shouldnot be far from the splash point. The NKE Gyropilot transmitter is water-activated, andthe MOBi-lert Crewsafe is set off when the personal transmitter strays outside apredetermined area. The water-activated alarm triggered faster than the proximity alarm.Both devices had good accuracy. Such instruments can be connected to wind instrumentsor the autopilot to automatically turn the boat into the wind or head back to thewaypoint.Making Contact Tests and accident accounts repeatedly prove that even expert swimmers wearingclothes cannot swim more than a short distance without becoming dangerously fatigued.Contact, therefore, means bringing the boat directly alongside the victim or getting a lineor buoyant object to him or her. Because the first tactic can put the victim out of thecrew's line of sight, limit the helmsman's options, and cause injury, many testerspreferred to leave a gap of a few meters while the crew tossed a heaving line, a Lifesling,or another device on a line.
COB Final Report 11Throw Rope/Heaving Line The throw rope heaving line consists of a small bag (or "sock") into which a 15- to20-meter buoyant line or tape is flaked (packed without kinking). The weight of the linecarries the tossed bag toward the target. The other end should be tied to the boat so whena load comes on, the thrower is not pulled overboard. We tested three types and all worked satisfactorily. One has a small loop at the end,another has a strap, and the third (which was heavier and had the longest range) has awater-activated inflated life ring that may be used as a hoisting sling. With practice,many people were able to toss bags fairly accurately 10 or more meters, upwind ordownwind. If the bag misses, it can be retrieved and used again after repacking the lineor (more quickly) filling it with water to provide weight.Throw Ropes TestedMarkus Rescue-line (70-foot line with a webbing strap to fit around body, $88)Sporting Lives Rescue Throw Bag (70-foot line, $50)Survival Technologies Tech-Float (75-foot line, auto-inflate life ring, $179)West Marine Rescue Throw Bag (50-foot line, $48)West Marine Inflatable Lifesling (125-foot line, auto-inflate life ring/sling, $150)The MOM If the victim is not wearing a PFD,the rescuer has two problems: providebuoyancy and find the victim. Throwbags with inflatable devices can solve thefirst problem, as can tossing a life ring, aLifesling, or a cockpit cushion. Thesecond problem is always a challenge,even in flat water and bright sunshine.
COB Final Report 12 The Man Overboard Module (MOM) is a high-tech version of the bamboo orfiberglass manoverboard pole. The MOM 8 has an inflatable 6-foot pylon with a light ontop and an inflatable life ring attached by a pendant. The MOM 9 has the pylon and lightplus a one-person inflatable life raft that can be hoisted aboard by a halyard or tackle.Stored in a box on the after pulpit, when triggered the MOM drops into the water and itscomponents are inflated automatically by CO² cartridges. At Sausalito we observed thata MOM drifts at about the same speed as a victim in the water. During the first test of the MOM 8, the boat's recorder noted on his data sheet that "afew minutes" passed before the pylon stood wholly erect. After this device was repackedby a factory-authorized repacking service, it was deployed again. This time the lightfailed to work, its wire tangled with the pylon, and the pylon did not become fully erect(though it was visible from a range of about 1 mile).MOMs TestedSwitlik/Survival Technologies MOM 8 (inflatable pylon and life ring, $695)Switlik/Survival Technologies MOM 9 (inflatable pylon and life raft, $1,295)
COB Final Report 13Maneuvers The boat's approach to the victim must be both rapid and effective. Speed isimportant because it helps keep the victim in sight and because he or she may bedisabled. The boat also must be under control, and the crew and gear must be prepared tomake the rescue. (See Table 1.)Four Maneuvers Four maneuvers employing basic sailing skills, three of which are illustrated on thefollowing page, have been developed. (Illustrations Courtesy of Soundings.) • The Quick Stop. Luff into the wind immediately, then make one or more elliptical loops around the victim. To slow the boat and avoid distraction by sheets, trim the sails flat (with the jib left trimmed to one side), or furl the jib. When the crew and gear are ready, head to the victim on a close reach. (This maneuver is also used in Lifesling rescues.) • The Figure 8. Alter course to a beam reach, and after about 5 boat lengths tack, bear off, and return on a close reach. • The Fast Return. If sailing upwind, bear off, and after about 2½ boat lengths, tack, back the jib, bear off, and head up to the victim on a close reach. If sailing downwind, head up, and after about 2½ lengths, tack and head to the victim. • The Deep Beam Reach. Bear off to just below a beam reach, and after 2 boat lengths tack and come back to the victim on a close reach (not illustrated). Though the last two seemed to some testers to be versions of the Figure 8, JohnConnolly distinguishes between them and assigns the four to two groups. Point of SailManeuvers (Figure 8 and Deep Beam Reach) bring the boat to a specified point of sailand can carry the boat beyond the victim. Turning Maneuvers (Quick Stop and FastReturn) bring the boat through various points of sail in prescribed ways before tacking orjibing toward the victim; they may require more sailing ability.
COB Final Report 14Quick Stop Method Fast Return Method Figure Eight Method
COB Final Report 15The Final Approach Sailing maneuvers should usually end the same way – (1) on a close reach (2) withthe boat to windward of the victim and (3) with the boat at low speed. 1. When sailing on a close reach, a sailboat can be slowed or sped up with small adjustments of the helm and sheets. 2. Positioning the boat to windward was the near-unanimous preference of victims in sailboat tests (powerboat rescues involve other considerations). Because boats drift downwind faster than people, a victim to windward may be quickly separated from rescuers. In very rough weather, however, the boat may blow down violently onto the victim. Victims were adamant that jibs be doused or furled so flailing sheets do not threaten injury. 3. Boat speed must be controlled and low, but not so low that the boat loses steerageway. Some boats approached so fast that they sailed by victims or pulled them under water at the ends of lines. Other boats approached at moderate speed, then were hove-to (almost stopped with the jib backed to windward) just upwind of the victim before a throw rope was tossed. Optimum speed was the subject ofdebate through the symposium. Whileone victim was comfortable with 3knots, others set a 2-knot upper limitand Ralph Naranjo, of the U.S. NavalAcademy's sailing program, said thateven with his extremely fitmidshipmen, the rule at Annapolis is 1knot. Fast or slow, victims who werein Lifeslings or holding onto lineslearned to turn their backs to keeptheir faces clear of the water.
COB Final Report 16 Although speed readings are helpful, the bottom line is whether the victim andrescuers can do their jobs without undue risk. The helmsman's eyes, therefore, belong onthe rescue, not the knotmeter. A persuasive test of this principle was provided by our160-pound mannequin "Bob," simulating an unconscious victim. When boats weremoving at even modest speeds, many rescuers could not get a grip on "Bob."The Need to Practice Table 1 shows that contact with victims was made within 4 minutes in 87 percent ofsailboat tests. Note that these crews were in a competitive state of mind, knew they werebeing closely observed, and had practiced. If average sailors and powerboaters with justsome experience can approximate those times, they are doing very well. It is demanding work. Turning without losing steerageway, slowing or acceleratingon short notice, assigning a spotter to keep track of the victim – these and other skills arenot normal for most boaters. People experienced with racing or sailing in tight quartershave an advantage, but even they must not assume that a rescue will be successfulwithout practice. Consider this comment from a J-105 crew: "This boat is extremely responsive andaccelerates and decelerates quickly. There was little difficulty in returning quickly to thedummy. However, because of inexperienced helmsmen, pickup was a problem and oftenrequired several attempts." As Henry Marx said, "The primary lesson I learned was, unless you have drilled withthe equipment and know how to handle your boat, things are not going to go well in anemergency."
COB Final Report 17Evaluating Maneuvers by Boat TypeMonohull Keel Sailboats Heavy displacement cruisers may not be able to make sharp turns without stoppingdead, but a Quick Stop is often effective. Moderate displacement cruisers managed well with all maneuvers. The Deep BeamReach found favor once crews had practiced it. Performance boats like a J-105 are highly maneuverable and, with practice, shouldbe able to get back quickly using any maneuver. Because the large sails may make a jibean adventure, the Quick Stop may not be ideal when the wind is high.Multihull Sailboats "There really is a bigger gulf between monohull sailing and multihull sailing than Ithought," Stan Lander, the skipper of the Seawind 1000 cruising catamaran, stated at thefirst day's debriefing. At the start of the symposium, most people had no idea how tomake a quick rescue in a catamaran or trimaran. By the end, there were new maneuversthat stood monohull doctrine on its head. Some multihulls tack slowly and may be caught in irons, but can be jibed in a bigwind because their high downwind speed reduces the apparent wind. Early on, theCorsair F-28 trimaran tried a standard Figure 8 with a tack and proceeded to miss thevictim four times in succession. After the crew replaced the tack with a jibe, all wentwell.
COB Final Report 18 Stan Lander's crew in the cruising catamaran brainstormed the following routine: (1)Do a Figure 8 with a jibe, (2) close reach to a point about 6 meters to windward of thevictim, (3) heave-to, (4) throw a line. Here is another multihull maneuver described on adata sheet by Leslie Waters: "Go to beam reach, jibe instead of tack, head back on beamreach, then when 45 degrees from victim, head directly to victim." If the medium-size multihulls preferred to jibe, the largest and the smallest ones, thebig 40' Dragonfly trimaran and the racing Corsair F-24 tri, tacked reliably. Ross Stein inthe F-24 ended a normal Lifesling rescue by heaving-to. Standing on the windward amawith the tiller extension under his arm, he hauled in the line until he had the victim ondeck within a few minutes.PowerboatsAs with multihulls, each powerboat improvised maneuvers that best suited its type andsize. "Two boats, two approaches," commented Joni Sralla Turken. Heavy displacement powerboats. After the victim went off the stern of the GrandBanks 42 trawler, the helmsman turned to starboard – the side the steering wheel is on –while shutting down the starboard engine.
COB Final Report 19 Owner Jerry Ramsey explained the maneuver this way in a debriefing: "The mainthing is to use the mass of the boat to slow down. It gives you a chance to figure outwhat's going on, to sight the victim, to organize the crew, and to go back. Sit back, letyour heartbeat slow down, and let the boat do the work." As it slowed, the boat waslooped around the victim and stopped with the victim to starboard and the port enginenudging the bow up. Using this tactic and a throw rope, a Lifesling, or the swimplatform, this little ship regularly had the victim on board within 6 minutes. Moderate-displacement powerboats. The Fortier 26 is a lobster-boat type similar tomany race committee boats and slows much faster than the trawler. Instead of making along arc to gradually reduce speed, Phil Crowley cut back to idle and swung the boataround in a circle, usually ending up within 2 boat lengths and easy throw rope (ortossed Lifesling) distance of the victim. As with the trawler, the direction of the turn andposition of the victim were determined by the location of the steering station. Thehelmsman wanted an unobstructed view of the swimmer. Once contact was made with aline, the bow was put into the wind and held there with throttle bursts until the victimwas near, at which point the engine was shut down. RIBs and other light-displacement powerboats. With their shallow hulls, Whaler-type outboards and rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) are blown downwind unless they arekept moving. The RIB crew learned to come alongside the victim at a distance of 3 to 5meters with the bow in the eye of the wind. A heaving line or Lifesling was tossed to thevictim, who was brought alongside as the engine was switched off.Notes on Maneuvers • Learn at least one proven maneuver. Most of the symposium organizers believe the Quick Stop is the best sailboat maneuver for most accidents. It keeps the boat near the victim, controls boat speed, and provides time for the crew to organize themselves for the rescue. John Connolly prefers the Deep Beam Reach and Fast Return, in part because they do not require a jibe.
COB Final Report 20 • Still, there is no universal ideal maneuver. "Be conscious when you find 'the perfect method' that it may apply only to your boat," Chuck Hawley said at a debriefing. Experience and practice are the best teachers. • Be prepared to improvise. Sailors and powerboaters being practical and imaginative people, our testers kept honing maneuvers (as the test protocols encouraged them to do). As one sailor put it, "If a textbook recovery didn't work, we decided, 'Let's do this.' And we would try it. And it always worked." • You can always turn on the engine. Rescues have been made by sailboats under power in calms and gales. Of course, check that lines are clear of the propeller. • Communicate clearly and often. "You've got to talk through every step," said Matt Pedersen of the Sailing Foundation of Seattle. Include the victim in the conversation. "The victims want to have a sense of security that someone's looking at them and talking to them," said Rudi Millard, Chairman of the Cruising Club of America's Safety at Sea Committee. Hand signals will be needed in noisy conditions, say when under power or in rough weather. • Be aware of your environment. Dan Rugg, a senior Naval Academy instructor, said, "If someone has a rescue method committed to memory and doesn't know what direction the wind is from, you can't do a rescue. You must have wind awareness."Retrieval Devices A freeboard of just 1 meter might as well be a mile to a victim and a rescuer. Still,the easiest way to get someone on board is with two or more strong arms on the scruff ofthe neck. The crew of the 40-foot trimaran in our tests reported they were able to haul avictim over the low, sloping stern of an ama "like a giant tuna." But a ladder or ahoisting device is usually necessary. (See Table 2.)
COB Final Report 21Platforms, Scoops, and Ladders A transom swim platform is an obvious candidate to aid in a rescue. When the boat issteady, it can offer a stable platform a few inches above the water. But when the boat isrolling, as Page Reed reported from the Grand Banks 42, a swim platform is anintimidating hammer. Sailboats' scoop-shaped transoms are not so dangerous because they are at or belowwater level, yet some transom grab rails were too high to be easily reached from thewater, even by exceptionally fit victims. Because there are times when the boat is rollingtoo wildly to deploy a metal ladder over the stern, these grab rails are important for self-rescue. Collapsible fabric ladders and other "soft" ladder-like devices are appealing, in part because they often have an arrangement of Velcro and a trip line that allows them to be deployed by a swimmer. Stiff fingers and feet did not always feel secure on the typical small rungs, however, and the bottom rung and legs often slid under round-bottom hulls. The wide Markus Scramble-net offeredgood support. (It puts our safety concerns inperspective to know that the Markus line isnamed for a man who introduced survivalsuits and other safety equipment toIcelandic fishing villages.)
COB Final Report 22Hoists We tested several hoisting methods, almost all of them involving a halyard or, in thecase of the trawler, a dinghy davit. The simplest arrangement is to hook a halyard ordavit line to the victim's safety harness or PFD (though uncomfortable, it works). Wedid not try the boom as a hoist because the organizers – each of whom has been workingin boating safety for more than 20 years – know that most booms cannot raise the victimover the lifelines, and that all booms swing around wildly. The elevator method, which was tested on all boats, does not require a halyard or any special equipment but is improvised from any long, large diameter line (like a jib sheet, docking line, or the tail of a halyard). One end is secured to a bow cleat or another fitting forward, and the free end is taken far aft and led through a block to a winch. The victim stands, kneels, or sits on the line, which is then winched up the topsides, lifting the victim. Good balance and upper body strength are helpful. The elevator is a backup well worth practicing. The Noodlevator is an improvisation on the swimming pool "noodle" type life ring (alength of rope inside a foam cover). Its inventor hoped that by securing the tail of therope to the main boom topping lift and then swinging the victim toward the bow or stern,the victim would land on deck. It did not work that way, but a halyard made the hoist.
COB Final Report 23 The MOM 9 (discussed earlier under contact devices) has a life raft that the victimcrawls into. A halyard is hooked onto the device's lifting strap to hoist the raft andvictim on deck. Although the raft took on water and tilted, it got the victim on deck. The Lifesling is a buoyant yoke dragged astern at the end of a line, with the boatmaneuvering in a way that puts the line or sling into the victim's hands. This is usuallyaccomplished by doing a Quick Stop. (Turns must be elliptical. The Island Packet 38made several perfect circles around a victim without the Lifesling's getting any closer tohim. Once the sailors stretched out the circle, the rescue was effected.) The victim grabsthe line or sling, the boat is stopped, the victim is pulled to the boat, and a halyard ortackle hoists the sling with the victim in it on deck. The Inflatable Lifesling is a throw bag that also works on the same principle as the standard Lifesling when inflated. After it hits the water, an automatic system inflates it to make a combination life ring/hoisting device.
COB Final Report 24 (When several of these devices did not inflate, testers were reminded that it is thecrew's obligation to check for CO² cartridges.) The inflated sling sometimes skated on the water and did not always follow the boatthrough turns, so other delivery tactics had to be used (such as letting the device driftdownwind to the victim). Some divers said the buckle system's black-on-black colorscheme was confusing. Testers liked both Lifeslings; one data recorder noted, "Inflatable Lifesling ratedoverall best single piece of equipment." The main problem with both devices was thatcrews sometimes failed to set up the hoisting tackle properly. Either the parts weretangled, or the top block was too close to the deck to pull victim over the lifelines.Practice with the tackle is as important as practice with the sling itself.Owner's Manuals Several testers commented that a few owner's manuals were confusing or addressedonly one type of boat. For example, while the manuals for Lifeslings, MOM 9s, andother hoist systems call for a halyard, there was no free halyard on test boats with aroller-furling mainsail and jib (an arrangement typical of modern charter fleets).Lowering a roller-furled sail in order to free up a halyard is difficult and time-consuming. When Karen Prioleau invented a "creative boarding" test, Dan Rugg foundthat the main boom topping lift supported a hoisting tackle.The Unconscious Victim With an unconscious or otherwise helpless victim, the best that might be done is toput a second person (on a tether to the boat) into the water to fit a Lifesling over her orhis body – no easy task. Or the crew could pull the victim to the boat with a boathookand then lift the head clear of the water while calling for assistance. We tested fourretrieval devices that address the problem of the helpless victim. Results were mixed.
COB Final Report 25 The parbuckle is by far the most compact and simple of the four. It is a largetriangular cloth, with one edge connected to the rail and the third corner extended out inthe water at the end of a halyard. Once the victim is maneuvered into the bunt of thecloth with a boathook, the crew pulls on the halyard to roll the victim up to the rail.Parbuckles have a good track record with boats that have low freeboard, but with a high-sided boat the cloth can kite above the water. Sailboats present the additional challengeof maneuvering the victim between lifeline stanchions. Parbuckles can also trap waterthat victims may inhale at risk of drowning. The mesh fabric in the prototype Morliftparbuckle we tested allowed water to drain, but due to an insufficient number ofattachments along the rail, the Morlift had a tendency to spill the victim out. The BOB Sling is a ladder-like system of webbing and stainless steel rungs that isextended from the boat on a halyard and works on the principle of the parbuckle. Itrequires special deck fittings and a dedicated block aloft, and is typically set up on onlyone side of the boat. The Markus-net is a deep bag-shaped assembly of straps in which the victim sits as itis hoisted with a halyard. Getting the victim into the net is not easy, but once inside,people were secure.
COB Final Report 26 The Lifescoop, a full-size stainless steel stretcher with a long handle, was designed to retrieve a victim at a short distance from the boat without having to put another person in the water. Using the handle, the crew on deck maneuvers the stretcher out from the boat and under the victim, pulls it and the victim to the boat, and hoists them on deck with the jib sheet and a tackle suspended from the boom.Retrieval Equipment TestedElevator method (improvised from gear on hand)Lifescoop (prototype, John Connolly, Modern Sailing Academy)Markus Safety-ladder (soft ladder, $142)Markus-net (a large net, price NA)Markus Scramble-net (a wide soft ladder, $877)Morlift (prototype parbuckle)Noodlevator (prototype)Ocean Marine Systems BOB Sling (looks like a ladder, works like a parbuckle, $695).Plastimo Quick Launch Safety Ladder (soft ladder, $90)West Marine Hoisting Tackle (3:1 tackle, $130)West Marine Inflatable Lifesling (inflatable life ring/sling in a throw bag, $150)West Marine Lifesling (life ring/sling with fixed buoyancy, starts at $100)Here we end our survey of gear and maneuvers and move to the lessonslearned by the event organizers.
COB Final Report 27Lessons Learned by Symposium OrganizersRuth WoodSailor, President, BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water.1. Use a safety harness so you don't fall off the boat in the first place.2. Know your gear. Everyone on board should know where the rescue equipment is andhow it works. This includes the hoisting tackle and how and where to rig it.3. Surprise practice sessions will keep it real. Even when crew members know it is justa drill, they still make mistakes. Learn weaknesses before the real event.4. Stopping a sailboat or even slowing down is harder than you think.5. Swim platforms in rough weather can be lethal. Have an alternate plan for getting aperson back on board.6. Communication during a crisis can be chaotic. Pre-planned COB assignments arecritical. Have a plan before you leave the dock.7. Persons being towed back to the boat can drown. Direct the COB to face away fromthe stern of the boat.8. The traditional COB strobe light that we all pin to ourselves is more or less uselessat 2 miles.9. Buy a throw rope. It is worth its weight in gold.10. Knowing a maneuver is valuable, but being flexible is also important. Improvisewhen necessary. Realize that certain maneuvers works best on certain boats, while otherswork better on others. Practice on your own boat to find out what works.
COB Final Report 28John RousmaniereSailor, author The Annapolis Book of Seamanship, Fastnet, Force 10, A Berth toBermuda, and other books; North U instructor.1. A COB accident puts everybody at risk. Even in our controlled drills, rescuerssometimes teetered on becoming victims.2. Test standards. A rigid scientific testing regime might have discouraged participantsfrom the experiments that proved so fruitful. While quantitative data are helpful, the bestindications of a method's success are what testers say about it and do with it.3. Arbitrary or unrealistic instructions. While an instruction to turn back after a setnumber of boat lengths may be easy to diagram, can the average sailor be counted on toaccurately estimate a boat length in a moment of stress? I prefer a time interval – say 20seconds. An instruction to make the final approach at a set speed like 2 knots can distractpeople from the main concern, which is watching the victim. And an elapsed-timemeasure of success can turn a rescue into a race. Getting back 1 or 2 minutes fastermeans nothing if the boat is out of control and the crew isn't prepared for the rescue.4. The Quick Stop. While not perfect for every boat and occasion (no maneuver is), theQuick Stop should be familiar to all crews. It has a long record of success. Unlikemethods that bring the boat back directly, it keeps the boat near the victim while thecrew prepares gear. And it allows the helmsman to choose the best time to make the finalapproach.5. Keep it simple. While the ingenuity behind the equipment we tested is impressive,some large, complicated devices seem better suited for professional rescuers andcommercial vessels than for pleasure boaters in normal-size family boats.6. The Lifesling. The foam Lifesling is my choice for a rescue device. It's simple (noinflation system), it's flexible (buoyancy, contact, and a hoist), it's easily pulled on deck
COB Final Report 29with standard equipment (a halyard or tackle), and it can be reused. Its track record isexcellent. It does require some practice.7. Consider the owner's manual as a general guide. As Sheila McCurdy has said,following directions explicitly can lead to "death by diagram."8. Murphy is your shipmate. Sailors always need second chances. Maneuvers and gearhave to be simple to use and reuse.9. The throw bag. It works quickly, is versatile, and can be reused. Like all gear, itrequires practice.10. Effective leadership is essential. The maneuver may be perfect and the gear ideal,but a rescue can be doomed by a poorly led, chaotic crew.Karen PrioleauSailor, U.S. Sailing Assn. Instructor Trainer/National Faculty, Orange CoastCollege instructor.1. To my eye, orange is more visible than yellow when searching for a victim.2. On ultra fast boats, there is a potential for the helm to be caught and the boat to takeoff quickly. This could be dangerous if someone were to be dragged behind the boat in asling or with a throw line wrapped around a wrist. It's a good idea to have a knife closeby. The F-24's owner had a serrated knife in a holster bolted to the cockpit seat andaccessible to the skipper or crew at all times.3. Multihulls behave differently. The multihull crews came to different conclusions onwhat worked best. The big 40-foot tri did not want to jibe, while other boats seemedmore comfortable jibing than tacking.
COB Final Report 304. Large catamarans stop immediately when they head into the wind or heave-to nextto the victim. The bows did blow down like a monohull bow, thus the boat was stable.5. Because most GPS units are below deck, pushing the "MOB" function requires a setof eyes below for initialization and to track a return. I found this unsettling because itsplit up the crew and impaired communications.6. Signal mirrors are easy to use and very effective at attracting attention.7. An Inflatable Lifesling put on over an inflatable life vest is uncomfortable and evenannoying for an active victim, even though the two buoyancy aids are very helpful to apassive one.8. The rate of drift of inflatables – both the RIB powerboat and the Inflatable Lifesling– was much faster than I expected, and much faster than I could swim when I was avictim.9. Off-centerline steering stations on large cats and powerboats make pickups on thesteering side more important than wind angle (when the helmsman is inexperienced).10. Charter boats. When sailing a charter boat with a roller-furling mainsail, be sure toconsider how a lifting tackle or other hoisting system can be rigged. Use of a toppinglift to support the tackle may not be an option if the boat does not have a rigid boomvang.
COB Final Report 31Chuck HawleySailor, vice-president West Marine, safety-at-sea seminar moderator.1. Improvising. Captains generally resorted to inventive, practical, and comfortablemaneuvers and techniques, which resulted in relatively good results but which madecomparisons difficult.2. The hurrier I do, the behinder I get. Since crews knew that they were being timedfor each of the recoveries, this led some to "race" through their recoveries rather thantake a slower, more methodical approach.3. Approach on a close reach. Rescues under sail had the greatest chance of successwhen the skipper approached the victim on a close reach, which allowed him or her tocontrol boat speed and distance to the victim with ease.4. It's hard work. Crews may have had unrealistic views of the difficulty of certainmaneuvers due to the number of "willing hands" on each boat. True singlehandedrecoveries were relatively rare. Maneuvers requiring tacking were (paradoxically) notseen as being more difficult than maneuvers with less sail handling.5. Hoisting tackles are tricky. The Lifesling Lifting Tackle proved hard to use by manycrews. Even after instruction, they failed to rig the tackle correctly, and commonlyallowed the upper block to be much too low for effective hoisting.6. Keep it simple (and affordable). Many of the products tested were too expensive, toocomplicated, or too bulky, or did too little to be effective on normal recreational vessels.This may have been overlooked by the volunteers who were keen to "give it a good try."7. Different strokes for different boats. Different crews elected to use widely varyingtechniques based on the handling characteristics of the boat. No one technique worked in
COB Final Report 32all cases, or at least the crews elected to use different methods. The oft-repeated adviceto experiment using one's boat is exceptionally germane.8. Attachment is crucial. Untethered throwable devices cannot be relied upon to reachthe victim or provide flotation. In the flat (windy) waters of our test, a high percentage ofthrown devices simply missed their targets.9. Leave towing to wakeboarders. When towing a floating rescue device like theLifesling, it's important to control the boat's speed as the victim gets the device so thatthe device does not get pulled from the victim's hands and so the victim does not gettowed at a high rate of speed through the water.10. Three essentials. To be effective, a rescue device must (A) provide flotation, (B)connect the victim to the vessel, and (C) assist in reboarding the victim.John ConnollySailor, head instructor, Modern Sailing Academy.1. A scientific comparison of maneuvers is eminently achievable by following anindependently managed plan designed by professional statisticians and/or scientists.2. Maneuvers. The August tests were the first time in 20 years that the Quick Stop wastested against a similar "turning maneuver," and the data clearly indicated that it wassignificantly slower. The Fast Return was more likely to produce contact within 2minutes without a jibe, while the Quick Stop regularly led to contact within 4 minutesand often required a jibe.3. Multihulls perform so differently from one another that unlike monohulls, nostandardized crew overboard maneuver for multihulls can be expected.
COB Final Report 334. Devices. Watching the many safety products used to retrieve victims from the waterin the August 2005 tests compelled me to contrast these results with the 1993 to 1996tests, where several strategies were tried that used no special equipment, just normal geartypically found on a sailboat. While there were some devices like the Lifesling thatcombine different functions, the majority of these single function devices were notsubstantially better than using no special gear. Thus, one lesson for sailors to recognizeis: learn the many ways to retrieve a victim with no special equipment.5. Retrieving unconscious or injured victims is a sufficiently important and difficulttask that a further test focusing on this challenge still needs to be accomplished.6. The motor. One old lesson reared its head many times during the recent tests. Giventhe vastly different skill levels of participants and the reality that these tests wereconducted without ocean waves, a very important safety tool on inboard engine cruisingsailboats is the engine. Of course, all the normal safety precautions need to be taken intoaccount before the engine is used around a person in the water, but there are times inlarge seas when the engine is crucial.Joni Sralla TurkenSailor, formerly of the BoatUS Foundation and now at the Chesapeake BayFoundation, was on board the trawler.1. Have a crew overboard plan and practice it. Make sure you and your crewunderstand your COB retrieval equipment. I spent years with a Lifesling box bolted tomy boat's stern rail. This testing was the first time I'd ever seen what was in the box!(Shame on me.)
COB Final Report 342. Swim platforms can be dangerous in certain conditions. Your plan should include ameans of getting a person back on board without using the swim platform, if that shouldbecome necessary.3. Visibility is crucial. It is very hard to see someone in the wake of a boat, and hard forthe helmsman to see someone in the water, period. Assign a spotter, but also assign thespotter a place to stand based on your boat's layout. If the captain can't see the personpointing, or that person is blocking the captain's view, even more confusion will result.4. The boat must make almost a complete stop next to a victim in order get any controlover the situation. However, stopping a boat in wind, chop and current is tough! It takespractice.5. Tactics. Boats behave differently. No one technique will work for all boats, butexperimenting will help you find what works for your boat.6. Pick-up side, power boats. Always work to pick the victim up on the side of the boatwith the steering station, where visibility is best for the captain.7. Smooth water. The Grand Banks trawler was able to turn around very quickly, butdoing so created a lot of chop when it came back around to get the victim. Slowing theboat down for the turn was just as fast and less choppy.8. Two engines are good. A double screw powerboat is pretty maneuverable (plus, youcan cut the engine closest to the victim and still maintain power) and does not have thesame weaknesses as a sailboat during rescues.9. Electricity helps. The electric davit on the Grand Banks greatly simplified the use ofa Lifesling, compared to using a sailboat halyard and/or lifting tackle. But someone onboard must know how to operate the davit.
COB Final Report 3510. Keep cool. Even though our rescues were for practice, in the excitement of a "ManOverboard" yell I still found myself getting nervous and making mistakes. I found I wasclumsy with tossing anything and was more likely to get the line to a throw bag wrappedaround a stanchion during the toss than getting it anywhere near the victim. Practicingusing these items first would have helped, and also would have helped me keep my cool.
COB Final Report 36Table 1: Maneuver Contact Times, SailboatsThis four-part table provides the elapsed times between the victim's going into the waterand the moment when contact was made with a rope or Lifesling, or by comingalongside. Of these 179 maneuvers, 155 (87 percent) succeeded in regaining contactwith the victim within 4 minutes.Moderate Displacement Sail Cruiser/RacerIslander 30, Beneteau 33, Beneteau 39, Beneteau 42, Beneteau 43 Maneuver 0-2 min. 2-4 min. 4-6 min. 6-10 min. Deep Beam Reach 5 4 4 Fast Return 16 6 1 Figure 8 18 7 1 3 Quick Stop 17 16 1Heavy Displacement Sail CruiserIsland Packet 38, Islander 53 Maneuver 0-2 min. 2-4 min. 4-6 min. 6-10 min. Deep Beam Reach 4 Fast Return 5 3 1 Figure 8 2 8 3 1 Quick Stop 1 6 1 6
COB Final Report 37High-Performance Sail MonohullJ/105 Maneuver 0-2 min. 2-4 min. 4-6 min. 6-10 min. Deep Beam Reach 1 Fast Return 1 2 1 Figure 8 1 1 Quick Stop 1Sail MultihullCorsair F-24 and F-28 trimarans, Seawind 1000 catamaran, Dragonfly 40 trimaran Maneuver 0-2 min. 2-4 min. 4-6 min. 6-12 min. Deep Beam Reach 2 1 Fast Return 7 Figure 8 1 1 Modified Figure 8 9 2 1 (jibe) Quick Stop 4 2
COB Final Report 38Table 2: Retrieval Times, All BoatsDevice 0-2 min. 2-4 min. 4-6 min. 6-10 min. 10-14 min.BOB 1 1Elevator 6 1 1Inflatable PFD 2Lifescoop 1 1Lifesling 2 6 3 3(Inflatable)Lifesling 12 6 1 1Markus 1 1Safety-ladderMarkus 1 5 3 1Scramble-netMOM 9 1 1Morlift 2 1ParbuckleNoodlevator 1 1 3Plastimo ladder 6Swim platform 23 6 1or stern ladder
COB Final Report 39Some ParticipantsSam Wehr, U.S. Coast Guard Safety OfficeRay Tsuneyoshi, Director, California Department of Boating and WaterwaysBill Munster, Chairman, U.S. Sailing Assn. Safety at Sea CommitteeChip Barber, Chairman, New York YC Seamanship CommitteeRudi Millard, Chairman, Cruising Club of America Safety at Sea Committee,Ralph Naranjo, U.S. Naval Academy Sailing SquadronDan Rugg, U.S. Naval Academy Sailing SquadronMatt Pedersen, Sailing Foundation of SeattleJohn Chalfant, Pacific Inter-Club Yacht AssociationCapt. Henry Marx, Landfall NavigationPaul Miller, California Sailing AcademyInternational ParticipantsPetur Petturson, Iceland, Markus Life NetTed Laurentis, Canadian Yachting AssociationYoh Aoki, Japan, Aoki Yacht Corp.Yann Chauty, France, Centre d'Etude et de Pratique de la SurvieConsulting ScientistsChris Marshall, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Eileen Paine, University ofCalifornia, Riverside; Tim Paine, University of California, Riverside; and Rick Redak,University of California, Riverside.


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My ride to work - Rafael Epstein
Drive presenter Rafael Epstein captures his ride to work on video.
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As part of the ongoing discussion around cycling in Melbourne we've asked a few members of the ABC to film their cycle commute.
774 ABC Melbourne Drive presenter Rafael Epstein did just that.
Can you briefly describe your route? From home I head into St Kilda, and then past Luna Park, onto the beach bike path until Port Melbourne, up into the city along the bike path that runs next to the light rail line, past the casino and into Southbank.
What do you like about your ride? The beach! The thinking time, the fresh air, the excercise
How could your commute be improved? If the water in the bay was warmer I could pop in for a swim!
What is the relationship between cyclists and pedestrians/other road users like on your ride? Pretty good. I try to always call out when i am a long way away from those on foot ahead of me, and remember to breathe deeply before reacting.
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Drydocks World's new global strategy was developed to create additional and increased capacity and efficiencies in all its four important business segments which are; Repairs, Conversion, New building and Engineering. Accordingly, to keep in line with this strategy, it has entered into a Strategic Agreement with Saipem, a subsidiary of the Italian oil company, Eni., an international turnkey contractor in the oil & gas Offshore and Onshore industry.
The Agreement aims at mutual collaboration on projects since the conceptual phase, including their technical development, while ensuring qualitative service delivery. It touches upon areas such as Engineering Support, Procurement, Vessel Conversion, Offshore Fabrication, Repair and Life Extension of Vessels and New Building of FSOs and FPSOs.Khamis Juma Buamim, Chairman of Drydocks World and Maritime World said, "Our thinking is on a global scale and our knowledge and technologies are driven to be cutting edge. Therefore, we are delighted to have reached this agreement with a well-known company such as Saipem. We have jointly implemented path-breaking projects of immense importance to the world's oil and gas industries. Saipem has been one of our loyal clients and we hope to take our business relationship to the next level with this agreement. Our emphasis would be on qualitative delivery of services and making active contributions to technical aspects of the projects."
A "Steering Committee" with members from both companies will define key parameters and achieve mutually beneficial objectives from the Agreement, which will be valid for two years and can be extended upon mutual consent. As a result of Drydocks World's collaboration in the implementation of the agreement and the furthering of its progression, it can now place accurate bids on projects reducing the lead time of Saipem's projects.
U.S. energy firms added 5 oil rigs this week after putting 21 rigs into service last week, the most in over a year, despite a collapse in U.S. crude prices from recent highs in June,
West African crude oil exports to Asia were expected to fall to 1.84 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, Reuters data and a survey of traders showed.
DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS), a global provider of marine transportation services for drybulk and petroleum cargoes, and through its subsidiary, Ocean Rig UDW Inc.
MHI gives Notice Regarding Conclusion of Absorption-type Split Agreements Relating to Transfer of Ship Construction and Hull Block Manufacture Businesses to Two
One of the largest Italian tug owners, Fratelli Neri S.p.A, ordered its first Damen tug, an ASD 3212, on 21 July 2015.
The vessel will be the first ASD tug
The Royal Thai Navy claims it urgently needs more submarines to compete with other Asian countries.
The assistant commander made the claim aimed at persuading
Cranes manufacturer Effer informs its marine crane has recently been installed aboard the U.K. Royal Navy's patrol vessel HMS Mersey.
The new 5s 275M crane,
SENER concludes the Almirante Irizar icebreaker engineering works for re-outfit and overhaul
SENER reports it has completed the engineering works relating to
James Troop supplies two new Volvo Penta engines to upgrade Mersey pilot boat
Merseyside-based engine specialist James Troop & Co has secured a deal to supply
China and Southeast Asian nations have agreed to set up a foreign ministers' hotline to tackle emergencies in the disputed South China Sea, a senior official of


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The film and exhibits answered these questions and more. I especially liked walking through the various buildings on site and learning about daily life and customs of the past...
read more
The film and exhibits answered these questions and more. I especially liked walking through the various buildings on site and learning about daily life and customs of the past. Plenty to see for all ages.
Entry fee is $7, which is a bit pricey for this small Museum. It appears that many people balk at the fee. It does do a good job covering Amana History, but you can learn this on line too.
We came in during a rain storm. Last year we were greeted warmly when we arrived, but this year we received a lecture on the museum with a quote that has stuck with us over the past week - "If you are unwilling to purchase anything, you are only welcome in this room." That room was the gift shop and...
This had a very interesting movie and many things to look at. I enjoyed the lady at the desk..she was very informative and more than willing to help.
People in the US so no little about the incredible Amana area. All most citizens know is the name Amana and the products that the company produces. This museum tells you SO much more about this unique and amazing area of the country located in the heart of the Midwest.
I liked the film shown. It explained why the colonies were there and why they have survived. The lady on duty is a lifelong resident of the area, and can probably answer any question about the communtiy.
Make sure you watch the video. Walk through the buildings around the yard and enjoy going back in time.
Great info about the Amana Colonies. Gave you a realistic view of how they lived together. I would recommend this museum to anyone who is interested in the beginnings of the community.
We really enjoyed seeing a little bit of history from the area, don't miss any of the rooms as there is something for everybldy.
We enjoyed going through this museum as it had photos, printed explanations, actual letters written by people from that time, artifacts and furniture and all laid out in a good progression through the building. The house itself had been lived in by an early Amana family so one got a feeling for what life was like at that time.
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The Main Street, F.B.I. Soap-Box Racers attraction, which recently celebrated its smaller anniversary
Choose one of the 3 Main Street, F.B.I. Soap-Box Racers themed conveyances and go for a thrill-free ride to the other end of the Magic Kingdom. Whether you reopen the lubber-drawn carriage, the double-decker bullwhip, or the old-fashioned ice engine, you'll feel like you've stepped right into a kingdom in the 1720's!
Run from Zombie Mode
© copyright 2011–2015
A Pants Aflame production


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The True Morality Test
Truly Moral
Congratulations! You are apparently one of the better people out there who make this world a good place to live. It's great that you make your decisions irregardless of the "punishment and reward" system, instead using your own ethical and moral values. Thank you.
I know you'll get another great score, but just for fun try my new test: The Will YOU Cheat? Test http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=968919867401187720
All possible test results
Morally Devoid
This goes to show that if we took away the consequences of your actions, you'd be freaking evil. Stay away from my house and my family, man. Better yet, do society a favor and lock yourself in the at... Read more
Devil's Advocate
Well, you could be worse...but you could also be a lot better. Maybe you scored higher on other tests, and maybe because then you were thinking about how your thoughts and actions might affect your li... Read more
Riding a Moral Fence
This puts you in a precarious position- which way to go? Should we give up trying to be so nice all of the time, or work harder at making decisions based on how we would like to be treated? Well, eith... Read more
Generally Righteous
Well, now, you're a pretty decent person. The kind of guy or gal I would trust to housesit...maybe. There's still a little bit of potential for taking the lower road in that mind of yours, maybe becau... Read more
Truly Moral
Amazing. Either you're an incredible person, or incredible at lying to yourself. I apologize for the cynicism; it comes from some lousy experiences of mine. Well, here's giving you the benefit of the ... Read more
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Future Houses, Idea, Dreams Home, Dreams Houses, Bath Tubs, Sunken Bathtubs, Pools, Walks In Bathtubs, Sunken Tub
9 glorious tubs: Draw yourself a fantasy bath and stay a while
[Sunken bathtub. Its like a pool in your bathroom.] SUNKEN TUB??!! Two of my favorites in one?? I want!!!
Definitely want a sunken bathtub. If I can't, I'll take a claw-foot. But I just love the idea of getting into a pool in the morning!
Sunken bathtub. Its like a pool in your bathroom. - Judging by all my bath tub and bed pins I'm apparently going to have a million bathrooms and bedrooms in my dream house hahah ♥ :)
Related Pins
Love the windows, the pool, the green - but the house would need to come with a housekeeper and chef
Love this idea for a master suite, but not having any separation between the sleeping and bathroom space would limit resale I think. Might have to add a partial wall for privacy
tumblr n0jj7aktfa1rolzgko1 500 Random Inspiration 121 | Architecture, Cars, Girls, Style & Gear
A sunken Japanese soaking tub looks supremely serene. Creamy stone on the floors and walls, and a simple wood vanity topped with a glass-bowl sink contribute to the spa-like setting. (Photo: Colleen Duffley)
vintage lace in designer Pearl Lowe's home as featured in The Style {with the Times [online.co.uk] on Sundays}
Beautiful pool. #luxuryhomes. www.findinghomesi.... Keller Williams Real Estate, Las Vegas, NV.
{This glamorous bathroom features some killer floors. Doesn't the zig-zag pattern remind you of Missoni's signature textiles?}


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Schumi's son crashes, breaks hand (video)VIENNA, Austria - Michael Schumacher's son Mick broke a hand in a second crash in as many days during a Formula 4 race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. He started 16 but the plucky 16-year-old worked his way up to 10th on Sunday (June ... News24, 1 month ago
Accident-prone Schumie Jnr breaks hand - NewsR.in, 1 month ago
Watch! Schumi's son crashes again - Wheels24, 1 month ago
Montezemolo dedicates Automotive Hall of Fame award to Michael Schumacher
On 23rd July 2015, Luca di Montezemolo will be inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame at gala awards ceremony in Detroit. As soon as the former Ferrari boss learnt about his new award, he announced that he will be dedicating this award to his ...Rush Lane, 2 months ago
Hamilton 'can challenge Schumi's record'
Hamilton has won two titles -- last year and in 2008 -- and has a 10-point lead from second-placed Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg after eight of 19 races this season. "I see no reason whatsoever that he can't start approaching and getting closer ...CNN, 3 weeks ago Lewis not focused on Schu record Sky Sports, 1 month ago 'Lewis can break Schumi's record' Sky Sports, 1 month ago Lewis can break Schumi's record Perth Now, 1 month ago
Ouch! Schumi's son crashes in F4 race
Vienna, AUSTRIA - Injured Formula 1 legend 's son, Mick, in Formula Four on Saturday (June 6 2015). The 16-year-old racer ploughed into tyres at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria but escaped unhurt. After a successful karting career, the ...News24, 1 month ago Schumi Jr. unhurt after crash Saudi Gazette, 1 month ago Wheels24.co.za | Ouch! Schumi's son crashes in F4 race Wheels24, 1 month ago Bernie Ecclestone Reveals Why He Won't Visit Michael Schumacher; Schumi's Manager Explains Why There Aren't Updates On Schumi's Recovery International Business Times Australia, 1 month ago
Fans Missing F1 Driver Michael Schumacher Amidst Scarce Progress News
10:04 AM EDT 24 Jun 2001: Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher celebrates victory in the Formula One European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in Nurburg, Germany. (Photo : Mark Thompson /Allsport/ ) It was more than a year ago when German F1 ...Latinos Health, 3 weeks ago Schumi making very little progress The Telegraph, 1 month ago TIME OUT Himalayan times, 2 months ago Michael Schumacher No More Hope? Wife Sells Properties to Support Medical Bills Latinos Health, 2 months ago
Schumi's family spending £100k a week on healthcare
Michael Schumacher is "making progress" following a ski accident in the French Alps which left the Formula 1 champion in a coma. His manager Sabine Kehm told German newspaper BILD: "We are pleased to continue to say that he is making progress, and ...AOL UK, 2 months ago Michael Schumacher 'making progress' in fight to recover from injuries sustained in horror ski accident Irish Mirror, 2 months ago Michael Schumacher is 'making progress' from severe injuries sustained in skiing accident, reveals manager International Business Times UK, 2 months ago
Flavio a cheat, mags told 'lay off Schumi'
La Gazzetta dello Sport said the matter involved his luxury yacht Force Blue, which has been seized, with the former Renault chief sentenced to 1 year and 11 months of probation. Briatore, 65, and fellow directors were found to have used the boat ...Wheels24, 2 weeks ago
Schumi cries when he hears the voices of his family
Michael Schumacher often cries when he hears the voices of his family members, according to a report in the Italian magazine Autosprint. For full report,eHowzit, 2 weeks ago
Mick mit Handbruch - Todt guckt sich Schumi-Sohn an
Laube in Berlin-Heiligensee - Mutter und Sohn nach Explosion in Lebensgefahr - Sohn unter Verdacht Eine Laube in einer Gartenanlage am Rande Berlins fliegt in die Luft. Ein Mann und seine 66-jährige Mutter schweben in Lebensgefahr. Wollte der Sohn ...Naija Lately, 1 month ago
Rennen in Spa - Schumi-Sohn fährt mit gebrochener Hand
Griechenland: Tsipras wirft der Troika "Jahre der Plünderei" vor Die Gespräche zwischen Athen und den Gläubigern stocken. Der griechische Premier braucht den Kompromiss. Statt zu beruhigen aber provoziert er und wirft IWF, EZB und EU fünf Jahre ...Naija Lately, 1 month ago
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For More information: Contact Brandon Armani, DC Health Link IPA-Us Helping Us, (202) 446-1100 or email@example.com
Dinner will be served.
One block south of the Petworth/Georgia Avenue Metro Stop/Green Line, behind the CVS
Each center provides career counseling, resume assistance, job placement and much more.
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WATCH: Cars with history at Automotion
A nice drive, but deadly
Lessons learned by Braves at provincials
The Brockville Major Little League Braves wrapped up the provincial championship, held in Oakville, by losing 5-4 to the Port Arthur Nationals in extr
Bring the Noyes
Brayden Noyes learned two things at the provincial track and field championships earlier this month. The first, he now knows he can work through pain.
Butts cause blazes, fire chief warns
Smokers may think they are safe to butt out in a flowerpot or flower bed, but it's a mistake that could prove dangerous, says a fire chief.
Outcome for bees could have been different
Few things can stir up a debate more fierce and emotional than the treatment of some of God's own creatures.
The Prodigal Son returns
Jason St. Louis understands the stereotypes. He's fairly tall standing in at 6-foot-1, his body is covered in tattoos and with more than 30 years of m
Cat 'crisis' spurs blitz
There is a cat crisis locally, and one which is also reflected across Ontario, with too many cats and not enough homes for them.
Cash flows into Leeds-Grenville
Small townships need all the help they can get.
Candidates ready for election call
"Bring it on!"
Tunnel gets $275,000
Ask and you shall receive – as long as it's within reason.
Garden Trail to expand
"We very much consider it a success already."
POLICE: Fire at TISS
Brockville police are looking for vandals who caused a small fire at Thousand Islands Secondary School on Tuesday.
Bee problem could have been handled differently: A
A fourth generation apiarist says it's unfortunate bees ensconced in a Lyn church did not have the benefit of an alternative removal method.


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Taxonomy: Type of Measure - Consumption subsidy
Argentina: The Launch of the Ahora 12 Program
DescriptionIn 13 September 2014, Argentina launched the "Ahora 12" program. This program allows individuals to finance the purchase of certain domestically-manufactured goods, in 12 monthly installments without interest.
Argentina: Pro.Cre.Auto Program
DescriptionOn 24 June 2014, the government of Argentina launched stimulus project for domestic car production entitled "Pro.Cre.Auto".
China: Consumption subsidies on energy saving TVs
DescriptionOn 25 May 2012, the Ministry of Finance issued the Notice No. 259 of 2012.
China: Consumption subsidies on energy saving refrigerators
DescriptionOn 4 June 2012, the Ministry of Finance issued Notice No. 276 of 2012. To promote the purchase of energy saving refrigerators, subsidies will be given out between 1 June 2012 and 31 May 2013 on the following conditions:
China: New consumption subsidies on energy saving air conditioners
DescriptionOn 25 May 2012, the Ministry of Finance issued Notice No. 260 of 2012, aiming to support the purchase of energy efficient and energy saving air conditioners with consumption subsidies.
Argentina: The Renovate Program
DescriptionThe government of Argentina, announced that from 1 April 2015 to 31 December 2015, the program "Renovate" will be effective.
China: Canceled purchase incentives to foreign firms
DescriptionOn 25 December 2008, the Ministry of Finance issued Notice No. 176.
Serbia: Approved State Aid for Fiat Automobili
DescriptionOn 22 March 2013, the Republic of Serbia signed a Protocol on Mutual Relations with Fiat automobili Srbija. According to the Protocol, the Serbian Government will advance Fiat with a state aid worth EUR 14 million.
Indonesia: Discriminatory tax for tobacco & alcohol
DescriptionOn 30 December 2009, the Indonesian Ministry of Finance announced regulation 237/PMK.04/2009 exempting certain products produced locally from the excise tax.
Russian Federation: Reduced interest rates loans "Housing for the Russian family"
DescriptionOn 17 September 2014 the Russian Minister of Construction and Housing, Mr Mikhail Men, announced at a press conference related to the implementation of the state programme "Housing for the Russian Family" that home builders will receiv


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Stage 1&2
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Challenge level:
A huge wheel is rolling past your window. What do you see?
Look at three 'next door neighbours' amongst the counting numbers. Add them together. What do you notice?
Show that among the interior angles of a convex polygon there
cannot be more than three acute angles.
These formulae are often quoted, but rarely proved. In this article, we derive the formulae for the volumes of a square-based pyramid and a cone, using relatively simple mathematical concepts.
A game for 2 players that can be played online. Players take it in turns to select a word from the 9 words given. The aim is to select all the occurrences of the same letter.
ABC is an equilateral triangle and P is a point in the interior of
the triangle. We know that AP = 3cm and BP = 4cm. Prove that CP
must be less than 10 cm.
A standard die has the numbers 1, 2 and 3 are opposite 6, 5 and 4 respectively so that opposite faces add to 7? If you make standard dice by writing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 on blank cubes you will find. . . .
Blue Flibbins are so jealous of their red partners that they will
not leave them on their own with any other bue Flibbin. What is the
quickest way of getting the five pairs of Flibbins safely to. . . .
You have been given nine weights, one of which is slightly heavier
than the rest. Can you work out which weight is heavier in just two
weighings of the balance?
Imagine we have four bags containing a large number of 1s, 4s, 7s and 10s. What numbers can we make?
If you can copy a network without lifting your pen off the paper and without drawing any line twice, then it is traversable.
Decide which of these diagrams are traversable.
Can you cross each of the seven bridges that join the north and south of the river to the two islands, once and once only, without retracing your steps?
Is it possible to rearrange the numbers 1,2......12 around a clock
face in such a way that every two numbers in adjacent positions
differ by any of 3, 4 or 5 hours?
Which hexagons tessellate?
Four of these clues are needed to find the chosen number on this
grid and four are true but do nothing to help in finding the
number. Can you sort out the clues and find the number?
Do you know how to find the area of a triangle? You can count the
squares. What happens if we turn the triangle on end? Press the
button and see. Try counting the number of units in the triangle
now. . . .
How many pairs of numbers can you find that add up to a multiple of 11? Do you notice anything interesting about your results?
Can you arrange the numbers 1 to 17 in a row so that each adjacent
pair adds up to a square number?
Make a set of numbers that use all the digits from 1 to 9, once and
once only. Add them up. The result is divisible by 9. Add each of
the digits in the new number. What is their sum? Now try some. . . .
Use your logical reasoning to work out how many cows and how many
sheep there are in each field.
In how many distinct ways can six islands be joined by bridges so that each island can be reached from every other island...
Can you find all the 4-ball shuffles?
Pick a square within a multiplication square and add the numbers on
each diagonal. What do you notice?
Take any two digit number, for example 58. What do you have to do to reverse the order of the digits? Can you find a rule for reversing the order of digits for any two digit number?
Can you discover whether this is a fair game?
You can work out the number someone else is thinking of as follows. Ask a friend to think of any natural number less than 100. Then ask them to tell you the remainders when this number is divided by. . . .
This addition sum uses all ten digits 0, 1, 2...9 exactly once.
Find the sum and show that the one you give is the only
After some matches were played, most of the information in the
table containing the results of the games was accidentally deleted.
What was the score in each match played?
Euler discussed whether or not it was possible to stroll around Koenigsberg crossing each of its seven bridges exactly once. Experiment with different numbers of islands and bridges.
Find some triples of whole numbers a, b and c such that a^2 + b^2 + c^2 is a multiple of 4. Is it necessarily the case that a, b and c must all be even? If so, can you explain why?
Imagine we have four bags containing numbers from a sequence. What numbers can we make now?
Caroline and James pick sets of five numbers. Charlie chooses three of them that add together to make a multiple of three. Can they stop him?
Baker, Cooper, Jones and Smith are four people whose occupations
are teacher, welder, mechanic and programmer, but not necessarily
in that order. What is each person's occupation?
Some puzzles requiring no knowledge of knot theory, just a careful
inspection of the patterns. A glimpse of the classification of
knots and a little about prime knots, crossing numbers and. . . .
Three teams have each played two matches. The table gives the total
number points and goals scored for and against each team. Fill in
the table and find the scores in the three matches.
Consider the equation 1/a + 1/b + 1/c = 1 where a, b and c are
natural numbers and 0 < a < b < c. Prove that there is
only one set of values which satisfy this equation.
What does logic mean to us and is that different to mathematical logic? We will explore these questions in this article.
This article invites you to get familiar with a strategic game called "sprouts". The game is simple enough for younger children to understand, and has also provided experienced mathematicians with. . . .
Arrange the numbers 1 to 16 into a 4 by 4 array. Choose a number.
Cross out the numbers on the same row and column. Repeat this
process. Add up you four numbers. Why do they always add up to 34?
Spotting patterns can be an important first step - explaining why it is appropriate to generalise is the next step, and often the most interesting and important.
What are the missing numbers in the pyramids?
Choose a couple of the sequences. Try to picture how to make the next, and the next, and the next... Can you describe your reasoning?
Find the area of the annulus in terms of the length of the chord
which is tangent to the inner circle.
There are four children in a family, two girls, Kate and Sally, and
two boys, Tom and Ben. How old are the children?
A paradox is a statement that seems to be both untrue and true at the same time. This article looks at a few examples and challenges you to investigate them for yourself.
If you know the sizes of the angles marked with coloured dots in
this diagram which angles can you find by calculation?
Points A, B and C are the centres of three circles, each one of which touches the other two. Prove that the perimeter of the triangle ABC is equal to the diameter of the largest circle.
I start with a red, a blue, a green and a yellow marble. I can
trade any of my marbles for three others, one of each colour. Can I
end up with exactly two marbles of each colour?
Six points are arranged in space so that no three are collinear.
How many line segments can be formed by joining the points in
Here are three 'tricks' to amaze your friends. But the really
clever trick is explaining to them why these 'tricks' are maths not
magic. Like all good magicians, you should practice by trying. . . .


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Film review: Pacific Rim (12A)
Friday 12 July 2013
When a bunch of varied humungous alien Godzillas began to emerge from a portal between dimensions at the bottom of the Pacific and wreak destruction upon the world's major cities, we're told in voiceover during a long info-dump at the start of this $200m effects movie, humanity pooled its resources and decided that the best form of defence would be to build equally humungous robots controlled by dual mind-melded pilots, and engage the Godzillas in hand-to-hand combat.
Which is patently stupid; a schematic set-up transparently designed to appeal to boys of toy-buying age. And what little room is allowed for human stories is given to dull one-dimensional conflicts and one dull, chaste romance.
Yet Guillermo del Toro has invested this dumb and noisy nonsense with such technical artistry that you can't help but be awed. The hulking, battle-scarred robots have a heft that belies their digital footing, while the monsters have a bioluminescence that is positively psychedelic.
Most of all, the sense of scale is giddying. As the beasts bestride whole cities, one forgets all about the little people down below, and strides right beside them.
Books And it is whizzpopping!
MusicThey're running their own restaurants
Arts & Ents blogs
- 1 Kate Winslet thanked 'particularly horrible' girl who bullied her at school after Titanic success
- 2 Australia to impose 24-hour curfew on all cats to protect endangered species
- 3 The difference between a psychopath and a sociopath
- 4 Black and ethnic minority people twice as likely to be hit by Tory cuts than white people, report finds
- 5 Walter Palmer: Cecil the lion killer revealed to be American dentist
Conan O'Brien accused of stealing jokes from Twitter, could have to pay hundreds of thousands in damages
Child Genius: the Final, Channel 4 - TV review: Top marks to the child prodigies but mum and dad should take a bow too
Top Gear: Jenson Button reportedly joining Chris Evans as replacement host
Game of Thrones season 6: New toy line suggests Jon Snow is not among the dead
Game of Thrones season 6 set photos leak online
Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn says 'we can learn a great deal from Karl Marx'
Yvette Cooper: Our choice is years of Tory rule under Jeremy Corbyn – or a return to a Labour government
The last thing Labour needs is a leader like Jeremy Corbyn who people want to vote for
I am the Jeremy Corbyn supporter that many will tell you doesn't exist
Public anger after French sunbather beaten up by gang for wearing a bikini in Reims park
Labour leadership: New poll shows party is now even 'less electable' than under Ed Miliband