The February meeting of the Vancouver BCA Fleet of 2019 was held at the Scottish Cultural Centre on February 26 with David Sutcliffe presenting on Safety at Sea. The presentation revolved around a main theme: staying on board. It is well known that the chances of survival are greatly reduced after falling overboard.

David provided several examples to illustrate this theme. In the order of least to most safe, he presented different tethers with several types of hooks. He also discussed jacklines, attachment locations, and the operation of different types of self-inflating life jackets and their maintenance.

He encouraged the group to practice rescuing a person overboard, maybe using a fender, so that it can be clearly understood how difficult it can be to see a person, even in a low sea. He also highlighted that even if the person overboard can be seen, they can easily slip out of a lifejacket when they are being retrieved if it does not have a crotch strap.

The next meeting of the Vancouver BCA Fleet will be on March 26 and it will feature Jeff Cote discussing Electrical Systems.