On Feb 20, 10:32*pm, Two meter troll wrote:

all right Bob!
have fun and be safe.

State of the Art Review of GOM Mariner Training.

I spent 3 hours in a classroom learning about water safety and the
other 5 hours in a pool doing practical water safety/survival stuff.
During the 8 hour Morgan City training I compared it to the 4 day Life
Boatman and 5 day Basic Safety Training (STCW-95) held at Clatsop
Community College, Astoria, OR. This is what I learned:

1) The Astoria training stressed the absolute importance of Immersion
Suit (IS) proficiency. We spent at least 10 hours demonstrating in-
pool Immersion Suit skills.

2) My GOM Morgan City Immersion Suit training totaled maybe 15 min
with the instructor teaching four unsafe practices. the over all
attitude was, ya these things are important but ya really dont needed
em in the GOM cause none of the boats or rigs have them besides the
SAR protocol plans on a 1.5-3.0 hour rescue response.

I asked what the water temp was in the GOM. Instructor reply was, " 40
F to 80 F." ****, the GOM water temp is colder than it is in the
PNW ! ! ! I wonder why nobody uses (IS) down here when the water temp
gets that low and ya might have to spend 3 plus hours in 40 degree
water?!?!?!?? Oh ya, its the gulf and they dont give a ****.

3) The highlight was the helicopter ditch simulator. The simulator was
lowered into the pool. It held 4 mariners and 2 instructors. We got to
escape through four different windows. So imagine this. Your buckled
into a seat sitting there in coveralls and shoes. The helo drops into
the water and now the cabin is completely filled with water. Then it
inverts and goes turtle. Now there you are hanging upside down in a
cabin filled with water. Your task is to remove the window, unbuckle,
and swim out. We did that 6 times from different seats. Of course each
seat had a different type widow to remove. This was by far the best
event of the day.

In summary, I learned several things.

A)When taking survival training find the most badass weather area you
can find and attend only the highest quality instruction available in
that region. The “cold water” survival training in Morgan City was a
dangerous joke.

B) For all the recreational mariners….. get off you sedentary ass and
take in-water training from somebody who offers top notch USCG
courses. And NO I don’t mean USCG Aux Boater Safety courses. You may
have to drop $1000 but it will be well worth your time.

I have “Safe Gulf” later. Will advise.

Bob Arrgg!