Safety Gear for Greenland Trip

Open offshore sailing in high latitudes demands good gear for safety and crew comfort while in a potentially hostile environment. 

First chosen is Gill’s top-end foul weather gear. Waterproof, breathable and with a good base and mid layer beneath - warm. These jackets and bib trousers are built for this. If necessary, one can literally sit in water in the cockpit and still stay dry and warm. Fortunately, sv Polar Sun has a full cockpit enclosure to help keep us out of the weather as much as possible. 

Next is the best inflatable PDF we can find - a Spinlock Vito. Designed specifically for the Volvo Round The World Ocean Race, these life jackets are hydrostatically auto-inflated and have a harness that attaches to the boat by a shock absorbing tether to help prevent a man overboard situation. Should the worst happen, an Ocean Signal AIS MOB1 beacon attached to the lifejacket automatically deploys and initiates a loud distress signal on the boat. The GPS navigation computer display shows exactly where the MOB is located allowing the crew to return to and retrieve the MOB.

Spinlock PDF

Tether

AIS Beacon

Crew MOB training will take place.

A double-floor life raft is fitted on the boat with the crew donning drysuits should the ultimate disaster occur. An EPIRB (Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon) would be deployed in the raft to alert rescue authorities via satellite link.

Drysuit

EPIRB

Ultimately, the best safety considerations are a good, well found boat, an experienced crew, careful lookouts, weather routing services, good gear and careful planning.

By the way, the maximum water temperature in the Labrador Sea near Nuuk in June is 35f.

It’s gonna get cold.