RYA Basic Sea Survival for Small Craft Course Syllabus
The purpose of the RYA Basic Sea Survival for Small Craft Course is to give you an understanding of how to use the safety equipment carried on small boats, including a practical session on launching and boarding a life raft.
The course is 1 day in duration including a 2 hour pool session with a life raft in the water.
Pre-Course Experience
- Nil
Course Syllabus
1. Preparation for Sea Survival
- Survival difficulties
- Survival requirements
- Equipment available
- Actions prior to abandonment
2. Life Jackets and Life Rafts
Lifejackets
- Design and construction
- Correct donning procedure
- Purpose and use of life jackets
Safety Harness
- Purpose and use
Life rafts
- Stowage and containment on board
- Types, design and construction
- Launching
- Abandoning the vessel and boarding the life raft
- Righting a capsized life raft
- Life raft equipment
- Initial actions to be taken in a life raft
3. Principles of Survival
- Methods to increase chances of survival
- Signs, symptoms and treatment of hypothermia
- Symptoms; method of treatment for sunburn, heat exhaustion and heatstroke
- Survival routines to aid location
- Correct use of pyrotechnics and other location aids
- Water rationing – procedures
- Dehydration and preventative measures
- Food rationing
- Sources of food
4. Survival-craft Ailments
5. Raft Management
6. Search and Rescue
- Rescue by helicopter or vessel
- The role of national Search and Rescue (SAR) organisations
- UK and international SAR organisations
- Other services
Dates & bookings
For dates and bookings please visit the RYA Basic Sea Survival for Small Craft Course page.