NSC Fleet sponsored a Sea Survival course in Ottawa for the first time on the weekend of February 1-2. It was a great success and appreciated by all 20 participants. Eric Hill, our very experienced and knowledgeable instructor, made sure that all course objectives were thoroughly discussed and well understood by all. More info is available on his web site, www.seasurvival.ca. Participants’ interest ranged from ocean racing to simply improving their safety skills and seamanship. The course covered a wide variety of subjects; I am sure we will all remember how hard it is to swim with all our foul weather gear on, and to get aboard a life raft. We all had the opportunity to fire an emergency flare and understand how important all those tools could be in an emergency. Eric’s experience at search & rescue helped us understand the importance of having all crew very familiar with all safety equipment and how to use it in an emergency.
I would like to thank all those who made this possible. Pinecrest Pool proved to be an ideal place for our in-water training, and the NSC room was excellent. The kitchen staff were, as always, very accommodating of our schedule.
Stay tuned for an announcement about a follow-on course for all those who were interested, but missed out on, this great course.
Jacques Adam
Course Co-ordinator
