SILVER FERN NZ 875005 YACHT OPERATIONS AND SAFETY MANUAL Silver Fern NZ 875005 operations manual 1 of 47 SECTION 1 YACHT PREPARATION 5 1. INTRODUCTION 5 2. SAFETY POLICY 5 3. TRAINING POLICY 5 4. SAFETY HARNESS AND PFD POLICY 5 5. GENERAL INFORMATION 5 6. EQUIPMENT CARRIED ON VESSEL 7 6.1 Anchors 9 6.2 Batteries 9 6.3 Dan-Buoy 9 6.4 Drinking Water 9 6.5 Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) 10 6.6 Emergency Steering 10 6.7 Emergency Signalling 10 6.8 Engine 10 6.9 Engine Spares 11 6.10 Fire Extinguishers 11 6.11 Fire Blanket 11 6.12 Flares 11 6.13 Flashlights 11 6.14 Grab Bag 11 6.15 Heaving Line 12 6.16 HF Marine Radio 12 6.17 Instrumentation 12 6.18 Jack Lines & Strong Points 12 6.19 Lifebuoy 12 6.20 Life Raft 12 6.21 LPG Stove 13 6.22 Medical Kit 13 6.23 Navigation Lights 13 6.24 Personal Floatation Devices (PFD’s) 13 6.25 Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) 14 6.26 Sails 14 6.27 Sea Sickness 15 6.28 Storage 15 6.29 Tethers 15 6.30 Toilet 15 6.31 Tools 16 6.32 Towing 16 6.33 VHF Hand Held Radios. 16 Silver Fern NZ 875005 operations manual 2 of 47 SECTION 2 RISK & HAZARD MANAGEMENT 16 7. RISK MITIGATION & CONTROL STRATEGIES 16 7.1 Abandon Ship Procedure 16 7.2 Aground 18 7.3 Boarding the liferaft 18 7.4. Boat Handling 18 7.5 Broaching, Crash Gybing & Pooping 19 7.6 Capsize 21 7.7 Emergency Steering 21 7.8 Fire Procedure 21 7.9 Flooding 21 7.10 Heavy Weather Preparation 22 7.11 HF/VHF Radio calls 22 7.12 Loss of mast: 22 7.13 Man Overboard Procedure (MOB) and search patterns 22 7.14 Medical assistance 23 7.15 Providing assistance 23 7.16 Survival Strategies 23 7.17 Towing 24 SECTION 3 CREW PREPARATION 24 8. TRAINING POLICY 24 8.1 Offshore sailing - what to expect and what’s expected of you. 24 8.1. Crew Roles 28 8.2. Crew Clothing 28 8.3. Crew Capabilities, experience and medical status 32 8.4. Crew Briefing 33 8.5. Watch Check List 33 8.6. Voyage Plan 33 9. Emergency Drills 33 SECTION 4 MEDICAL REQUIREMENTS 34 10. FIRST AID KIT STOCK RECORD 34 11. CREW MEDICAL INFORMATION SHEET 39 11.1. Crew Medical Conditions 39 12. FIRST AID OFFICERS 39 SECTION 5 GENERAL INFORMATION 39 13. RADIO OPERATORS 39 14. RACE/PASSAGE DETAILS 39 15. CREW LIST & WATCH ALLOCATION 40 16. WATCH SYSTEM 40 Silver Fern NZ 875005 operations manual 3 of 47 17. DECK LOG 40 18. NAVIGATION LOG 41 19. EMERGENCY STEERING & TOWING 42 20. PRE-DEPARTURE SYSTEM CHECKLIST 43 21. PRE-DEPARTURE SAFETY BRIEFING CHECKLIST 45 Silver Fern NZ 875005 operations manual 4 of 47 SECTION 1 YACHT PREPARATION 1. INTRODUCTION Silver Fern was originally a Birdsall 60 steel yacht, named ‘Freedom Won’, designed and built in Whakatane, New Zealand in 1983. In 2000 ‘Freedom Won’ was purchased by an Auckland couple who had her redesigned by Brett Bakewell-White, including being completely stripped back to bare hull, extended to 72 feet to increase buoyancy and speed and the addition of a pilot house. The project took from 2001-2004 to complete and yacht was renamed ‘Silver Fern’ before setting off in 2005 on an 11-year voyage around the world, visiting more than 70 countries. In 2020 David Hows purchased Silver Fern to expand is Ocean Sailing Expeditions. Silver Fern has developed a Safety Policy that is included in this Safety and Operations Manual. It is recognised that the skipper and crew are all responsible for the welfare of each other and this duty will be taken very seriously and will be reflected in the way that the vessel is setup, prepared, crewed and sailed. Following the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht race that resulted in loss of life and serious damage to many boats, the safety standards on yachts heading offshore have been increased significantly. A minimum number of crew must have passed Marine First Aid, Sea Safety and Survival and Radio Operations courses. It is recognised that sailing is a potentially dangerous sport and the safety of the crew and the integrity of the vessel are of primary importance. 2. SAFETY POLICY Everyone who sails on the boat has a responsibility for the safety of other crew members and the vessel. Care should be taken to ensure that everyone can enjoy the event and return to port safely. This care extends to all crew members who must ensure that they conduct themselves in a safe and responsible way at all times, that they wear the designated safety gear, train themselves in the requirements for sea safety and survival, and know the layout, safety rules and operation of the boat. Our aim is to take all reasonably practicable measures to control risks against injury 3. TRAINING POLICY I recommend that all crew attend an approved Sea Safety and Survival Course before completing a Cat 1 or Cat 2 Ocean race or passage. Onboard training will be conducted for all crew and these sessions are mandatory. 4. SAFETY HARNESS AND PFD POLICY It is the policy of this vessel that safety harnesses will be worn and connected after dark and at all times when the wind strength exceeds 15 knots of true wind (to windward this is coincident with changing to a #3 headsail). 5. GENERAL INFORMATION Silver Fern is regularly audited by registered Australian Sailing National Equipment Safety Auditors and Yachting New Zealand Safety Inspectors to ensure we are compliant to the safety standards required for offshore sailing. Our safety audits are performed at least once annually and we are usually audited to Category 1 (Trans-Tasman / Sydney to Hobart) or Category 2 (Coastal Ocean Passage) standards each year depending on the events we have planned. Silver Fern NZ 875005 operations manual 5 of 47 These rigid safety standards ensure that yachts and crews are well prepared and trained to handle extreme conditions confidently. Many of our crew have undergone sea safety and survival, marine first aid, radar, offshore skipper, radio communications and diesel engine maintenance training courses as part of the Category 1 & 2 crew training requirements. Key safety equipment includes an Ocean Master RFD life raft sized to match the crew number on any given passage or race, an RFD inflatable Jon buoy, dual sets of navigation lights with a separate emergency set, a ICOM HF transceiver with a backup antenna in case of dismasting. A mast head VHF antenna is fitted and two ICOM VHF radios are carried, one of which is rated as waterproof and the other, a DSC compatible VHF is fixed to the nav station. A 121.5/406 MHZ EPIRB is also fitted. We also carry two satellite phones on board, one is a hand-held iSat Pro and the other is through an iPhone App which connects to the Iridium Go hardware above the nav station. We carry an inventory of up to 12 cruising, racing and heavy weather sails made from dacron, carbon and nylon. A third reef is fitted to the carbon mainsail which reduces the area to the same size as the trisail. The storm jib is fitted with hanks that attach to a removable inner forestay and its sheets are attached to the sail. A 110hp Yanmar diesel engine pushes the vessel along at 6 - 7 knots at around 2250rpm. Silver Fern NZ 875005 operations manual 6 of 47 6. EQUIPMENT CARRIED ON VESSEL Silver Fern NZ 875005 operations manual 7 of 47 Silver Fern NZ 875005 operations manual 8 of 47 6.1 Anchors • One anchor is a Rochna and the other is a CQR anchors and can be used for all anchoring situations. • The primary is fitted with 110 metres of heavy duty chain (depending on race or passage plan). • The secondary CQR is fitted with 60 metres of chain. • Both anchors are stored in the anchor well and accessible from the cabin top in front of the mast. • The controls for the anchor windless are 2 buttons on the deck at the bow. 6.2 Batteries • 1 sealed gel battery is used for the engine and located under the bed in the aft port cabin. • 12 sealed gel batteries are used for house batteries and located under the pilot house. • The rate of battery charge and current voltage is displayed on the B&G chart plotters at the helm or nav station by going to the main menu (top right button) > Instruments. • Both the engine and house batteries can be connected together by inserting the red key hanging on a string into the black socket labeled ‘parallel’ at the front of the bed base in the aft port cabin. • Turning the key 90 degrees will enable the engine to start off the house batteries and yacht instruments and systems to run off the engine battery. • The house batteries are at minimum charge when the lower of either 50% (255 amps) or 12.2 volts is displayed on the chart plotter. Batteries should be charged before levels fall any lower as long term damage to the batteries can occur. • The house batteries are at maximum charge when the lower of either 100% (510 amps) or 14.4 volts is displayed (while being charged) on the chart plotter. • Batteries are charged from; 1. Engine operation - when engine is running, charging via both alternators in the engine bay occurs automatically.