SACRIFICE

INFLUENTIAL

Some Rescue Water Craft instructors are privileged due to their own self conceived status and these positions may not be favored by the team who knows they donā€™t have the right to question the hierarchy.

What makes instructors mature is the necessity of the goal, not protecting a kingdom of wrong.

Service as an instructor is a responsibility in saving lives, its a significant burden to bear.

WE ARE BOATERS NOT LIFESAVERS

We are a power boating community, we are to protect, I say protect and defend ā€˜Seamanship Skillsā€™.

We do not see hardly any Rescue Water Craft instructors worldwide who get this, they may have lifesaving or fire training, but this does not make them a mariner nor a boating safety instructor.

In fact, this may actually make them dangerous.

Training in the maritime community is not lifesaving. Its boating education. Lifesaving is only one function of boat operations.

This is where the fire service and lifesaving services fail our maritime community. They do not separate the two and therefore they undercut the need for seamanship skills. They are essentially killing our maritime community with this mindset.

Social media and news outlet videos do not lie.

In fact, we cringe when we see the potential of risk they endorse without comprehending its negligent or has great potential to cause harm both to their reputation and survivors.

BOATING SAFETY CULTURE

Law Enforcement and the military get it, why? Because they have Marine Units!

They are vested in our boating culture and community and boating law is scripted around the personification of their use for public service and protection.

Most of our trauma comes from fire and lifeguard services and its sadly expanding. If you are in the lifesaving or fire rescue community we implore you to join our boating community and learn about our seamanship skills.
Make them yours, but do not ignore this warning. Heed this advice now, today, this minute.

This is not about pride or ego, it is about service and competency. If I had a tooth that needed work done on it i would not go to an automotive technician, I would go to a dentist.

Lifesaving is not Rescue Water Craft Operations. It is only one facet of multi-use competencies required of a competent and qualified Rescue Water Craft Coxswain.

______________________
Posted: April 15, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the worldā€™s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

VISION IS INTENT

SOLUTION

When a program is failing it's time to sit down and review. Is there any corruption in the program design?

Admissions and training that is effective, reliable and purposeful is what the public deserves. The operational ideal needs to be destroyed in programs that are vetted on it, and not on reality.

There is plenty of negative evidence with departments and personnel names attached to the videos and photos to fill our 'what not to do' archives. These are not going to come off the internet and can be used against them in a court of law. They are essentially uploading the evidence against them.

Letā€™s focus on the positives and lend these Coxswains the proper audience as guardians against reckless and negligent predatory range.

EVIDENCE BASED

The evidence for that is the natural order of nature and its negative patterns of the following:

1. Weather
2. Floods
3. Disasters of various magnitudes
4. Human ignorance of adventure without preparation.

When exposed to something new in the training field we have drama as we call it, but itā€™s the complexity of danger and its friends. We must face this reality based monolith with courage and knowledge.

By incorporating effective training (emphasize effective) we learn how to adapt at every level of risk. This is a scale we drive and aim high for.

We train to be bigger than the chaos we are surrounded by.

Effective training is to assist and guide those to be exposed in a safe and leveled realm of the extent of our human capability in the risk we will respond to.

Its a complimentary need and oftentimes we are quite restricted.

SAFE

Safety is a determinable scale.

Risk and chaos that is determined in the different types of call outs and environments can be overwhelming. Especially if the training is not set to meet the response. Personnel are held back to their last level of attainable skills or poor instruction.
Make sure you are aiming high and remain unreasonable to some degree. Why? Nature is not concerned with your program, but you better be concerned about the power of nature itself. It's in control 100% of the time and we need to learn to work with it, not beneath its scope.

Sometimes we just don't go, or we close a program, or we upgrade our capability.

______________________
Posted: April 15, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the worldā€™s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

CHAOS BY VOLITION

CHAOS

The majority of Rescue Water Craft (RWC) operators are not RWC Coxswains. There are far too many whom are unsafe operators who believe they are doing the job appropriately, however their practices are negligent, itā€™s easy to identify.

Here are a few examples:

1. Hulls are not in the water (hulls leaving surface contact)
2. Operators are constantly jumping waves and wakes
3. Operators lack seamanship skills resulting in unstable craft
4. Operators use improper riding position and unsafe boating practices.

These operators oftentimes have the words 'RESCUE' on the side of their craft, but their actions are far from representing a water rescue mindset, more like a recreational riding PWC racing mindset.

They fail to understand what 'safe speed' underway means. It's starting to get a little bit better but not much as too many use unsafe practices from learning on video replay and ineffective training models. The good news, they can only get better! But they have to admit where their operations can cause harm first. Are they able to do this? We sure hope so!

HONORABLE MENTION

how can we help them? Being vocal about their potential for mishaps. Pointing out their errors and leading justifications of why. They may not like this, but they need to hear it before they damage their reputation or cause injury.

What else is going on? They do not understand how to maintain the boats from a maritime safety at sea mindset and have no supporting data to justify inspections.

To mediate between the two is the discovery that there is a safe place in training, and a dangerous place residing in the individual ego. Both are at war with one another as a dynamic catastrophe of limitation.

Letā€™s say it loudly.

Ego driven operators are weak, they are paralyzed by their own unknowns by not confronting danger with competency measures.

Through observation of videos online in social media posts, they hold onto their behaviors and the refusal to ask for help or critique.

ADVICE

They hide in the shadows rather than brave the flaws of learning. This is how a program collapses when this arbitrary fate of protecting corrupt behaviors is endorsed as ā€˜normalā€™.

When operators strive to protect the wrongs they endorse, they are not welcome in our maritime community. Seamanship skills were built upon the deaths of mariners, crude, hard and harrowing deaths.

Train like your life and others depend upon it, but first understand what that means.

As my mother used to tell me 'get over yourself'. Best advice I was ever given.

______________________
Posted: April 15, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the worldā€™s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

TIME IS VALUE

Time is value, and how we spend it is priceless. Let's take a look at your program motivation.

What are your top 4 standards in which you measure your Rescue Water Craft program foundation upon?

Here are a few of mine I would like to share for your consideration and review:

1. Recurring Education
2. Goals
3. Time
4. Results

CRITIQUE

In training my role is not to be anyone's friend. In fact my role is the obverse.

I am there to scrutinize behavioral choices that result in operational movements.

Scrutiny at this level helps guide the student Coxswain closer to their maritime goals of manning the helm and becoming competent at boat handling skills.

Review the training goals again:

1. Knowledge base
2. Leadership, management and critically honest assessments
3. Research and study
4. Action

REPEAT

To encourage a team member is to make them strong.

When that happens the team gains.

Lead them so they can win.

Then you know you really care for them. Monitor all the safety elements and its a double win for both you and your team members.

You have to push them to their limits to learn. Otherwise they will never attain the necessary and vital capabilities to conduct safe and sure behaviors in natural settings that are unpredictable and dangerous.

This cannot be negotiated. When the RWC community stops, slows down, discards and excuses the need to drive hard and train with purpose, a mishap is being invited and I sure will.

Thatā€™s how you lose the game. To win the game, skills are honed and taken seriously.

Don't get too comfortable, keep reaching for the next learning level!

__________

Posted 1.16.2019

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
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Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

USE IT

It's now what you know, is how you use what you know when its time to launch your Rescue Water Craft.

You may know what your operational goals are but are you capable of executing them under pressure?

Its easy to do a drill, repeat a drill, say 'good job' and close the day.

When it suddenly gets real, knowledge is only an extension of actions addressed under duress.

That's where the chaff is separated from the stalk.

It requires a lot of repetitive corrections with the unknown. Team work is essential because your teammates can remind you where you are dropping off and how to stay in forward motion. Always work with the elements at hand, not in opposition.

SECONDS AND FEET

What can you do to get ready?

I have a simple formula that will help you.

Count.

Starting counting in 'SECONDS AND FEET'.

This is how we measure our training performance of our Coxswains.

It's not about time, its about forward movement.

Are they smooth?

Is the Coxswain maintaining a level boat?

Are the keeping the Rescue Water Craft stable by using proper balance techniques?

Is the Coxswain and the Crew steady? Are they working together or opposing each others vital actions?

Be Consistent in Behaviors and Constantly Asses, Critique and Correct.

KEEP THINKING

KEEP THINKING and KEEP MOVING!

Both of these behaviors reveal the mind of the Coxswain, their determinations and the exposure of their accountable actions.

You can evaluate these behaviors in a step by step method of risk.

1. Are they maintaining a watch?
2. Do they use effective helm management?
3. Is their throttle modulation accurate and safe?
4. Are they making a safe contact approach with the survivors in the water?
5. Did they secure their stop appropriately?

If you answered a hearty 'no' to any of these, you have some good work ahead of you!

The good news is you just modernized your program!

We thank you and your survivors will be eternally grateful for your safe management and professionalism.

Remember: A moment for safety will save a lifetime of regret.

____________________

Posted 1.13.2019

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

BE GREAT NOW

Be Great Now.

It's a choice. Your choice requires of you to gain understanding.

The best route for you is to know mariners and surround yourself with those who are true Captains.

The rescue part is easy, anyone can do that, it may not be as special as you think if you are a professional Responder. Not when hundreds of rescues are performed by recreational operators all over the world every year.

Rescue, well that's the idea but its not the target, its not the essential element, but being a mariner, there is your greatness!

NO MYTHS HERE

COXSWAIN

Your goal is to become a Coxswain in the maritime community using a Rescue Water Craft. Anything less is dangerous.
You operate a boat, you maintain a boat, you launch a boat, you are a boater. But not all boaters are created equal.

Some try harder and give it their all. Because they are genuine and they care.
They care about themselves, their crew and the survivors they will serve.

This is great love, because taking care of your business first is thoughtful, its not distracted. It's not just a
paycheck, its your way of being. Your calling, your occupation!

Slow down your learning on the front side so you can wind up on the back side. Scaling your education is the endurance
of competency.

Posted 1.7.2019

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

FLOOD WATER SELF RESCUE

Dangers of Rising Floodwaters

Flood water rescue is not an easy subject to discuss due to so many variations of risk and locale. If you are a citizen and find yourself in a hurricane or torrential downpour, you have to take care of your personal safety first.

The dangers of rising floodwaters are as varied as the location and surrounding surface objects, vegetation and waterways.

In floodwaters there is not one way to say how a rescue can be performed. Self rescue has tended to be improvised by those in distress by the direct situation, many more positive ones are executed than tragic but its better to prepare in your mind now, instead of just winging if it ever occurs to you.

Rescue may not come to you immediately or for days, there is no rationale for this, its all subjective to the precise incident.

Oftentimes it depends upon the assets and training of Responders and their staging areas. Most will not be deployed if the risks could take their lives. This can also go for nightfall or hazardous weather conditions, upstream hazards or secondary imminent disasters.

Most often it will be you, your neighbors or your family conducting the initial rescue.

One thing to be mindful is moving current in water. This is exceptionally dangerous:

Look downstream.
Look upstream.
Look for a landing.
Look for debris.
How cold is the water?
How fast is it moving?
Are you a strong swimmer?
Are you alone or do you have people you are responsible for?
Will your pets stay or go with you and how?

How well do you know the surrounding area you are in? Do you recall any areas you could get to or that would be dangerous to move towards? Is there a chemical plant or waste water treatment plant?

Think about this and concentrate on what your intuition will tell you to do next. Your decisions are vital. Once placed in motion you cannot go backwards.

Will you be able to get onto a roof from the water line if the water rises quickly? Can you help others and pets? Do you have a ladder for water with no current? Is it wood or aluminum? Can you prepare and haul up water and survival items in advance in case of?

Do not go into the attic. You will find yourself trapped with no way out. This is not a good option for you.

Moving Water is Strong Water

If you have a lifejacket grab it and put it on, or find something that can assist for flotation. You will have to act fast, think clearly and strategize. Breathe, relax your thoughts so you can focus and keep moving. One task at at time by conserving your energies.

If you must go into the water or break free from holding onto a fixed object there is only seconds to set up action.

The best way to move from one area to another if it is determined to be safe in current - is to think how far downstream you will drift and what is that path.

Swimming should be done towards the shore anticipated, the angle of your body (ferry angle) will draw you much further away from where you are downstream. Keep stroking by setting an even pace, slow and easy. If you get a muscle cramp its okay, stay calm and you can work with it, just don't start any kind of struggle.


Do not swim into strainers (objects where water can pass through but not objects).

Do not put your feet down, swim on your belly head above water. Keep your body on plane with the surface, kick your feet in a steady slow pace, don't race unless its an emergency.

If you have to floatation device such as an ice chest, hold onto these objects in an upright position. If in the water and you can, float on your back with your feet up on the surface. OR await rescue in a safe dry place, high up away from threats and downed utility lines. If you see a line dragging in the water from power poles or utility poles, do not grab onto it.

When helping others the old quote was 'REACH-THROW-GO'. Now the new quote is 'REACH-THROW-ROW-DON'T GO". This mainly applies not during a disaster flood event, however the principles may apply in some situations and are noteworthy:

1. REACH: Hold on to the dock or your boat and reach your hand, a boat oar, a fishing pole, or whatever you have nearby, to the person

2. THROW: If you can't reach far enough, toss things that float for the person to grab

3. ROW: If you're in a boat, use the oars to move the boat closer to the person in the water, or call out to a nearby boat for help. Don't use the boat's motor close to a person in the water, they could be injured by the propeller

4. DON'T GO: Don't go into the water unless you are trained. Call out for help

Remember, even a strong swimmer can drown trying to help others. If all else fails, go for help!

Prepare for Survival

Remember your clothes and shoes can be ripped from your body. When take a step in water going towards shore, walk surely and place each foot securely before your shift your weight. You may trip or have debris knock you from behind, and you don't want to fall into the water. Take your time!

For our Safety Behavior it is very important to monitor risks first. If you don't know how to identify risks you need to educate yourself. You can go online and search for videos and articles that can help you.

Trainer responders are certified in water rescue for a variety of disciplines, you can take similar courses. You can get certified by a course provider for swiftwater or flood rescue from a company like Rescue 3

Posted 1.6.2019

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

Safety Mindset for Tsunami

Remembering 3.11.2011

Tsunami is a serious threat to all coastal and low lying areas. As citizens being prepared in the USA means to be ready. However we do not have tsunami drills and you may only see the tsunami blue and white warning signs but may not pay much attention to them. But you should.

The Great Tohoku Earthquake had struck 20 minutes earlier at 9.2 on the Richter scale. This country suffered a volcanic eruption, nuclear disaster, multiple earthquakes and eleven tsunami waves including subduction (where the land mass drops below its normal elevation).

You are witnessing below a revised video of the first Tohoku tsunami wave. There were 11 waves total that struck throughout the night.
We can observe the timelines on the water rise and current draw.

You will have to bench press 500 lbs., to move yourself off a fixed object in 12 mile per hour of flow.... however with tsunami that goes out the door, because these currents are not normal river or water flow currents.

They are layered and sustained with increasing draws, rises and debris flow behind them as the waters surge forward. Each time the tsunami wave begins to recede, the debris pile increases and moves inward and outward of the water draw, fire, explosions and electrical shock risk increases and the intersection of outgoing current/waves/debris with incoming current/waves/debris is more than deadly.

Japan has an incredible emergency service response built in for earthquake and tsunami incidents. Their government focuses on emergency response for their responders and citizenry. Even so, catastrophic events such as these each person must be prepared for self rescue and self survival for a period of two weeks or more.

Notice how much valuable time their tsunami sea wall gave their residents to seek high ground in the video. Perfect! You can do a lot to save yourself in a mere few seconds. Even more so if you prepare your mindset in advance so you do not go into shock and second guess your actions or others.

Imagine you are at home, asleep, traveling or at work. Suddenly without warning an Earth event occurs! How will you respond with your location? Will you pull your vehicle over and stop, will you put on shoes at the foot of your bed, or is the bed fallen over, is there glass on the floor, will you lost all contact with loved ones, will your phone go dead?

If the phone services are still operable your phone should light up if you registered for alerts. Save your battery don't text people at this critical point, do some research quickly. Find out what is going on by monitoring the weather, or links you are subscribed to. Phone lines will clog up rapidly and access may diminish or not exist at all. Electricity can be shut down and a total black out occurs.

Remember you may have the emergency notification system go into effect, you can expect a Presidential, NOAA, FEMA, ALERT system update or multiples at one time via text. You may also hear very very very loud sirens going off. It's unnerving but designed to wake us up and get us moving now!

Tsunamis waves

2011 Tohoku Tsunami

Take a CERT course and be involved in your local community:

Community Emergency Response Team

Sign up for digital alerts on your phone by following this link:

Ready Gov Alerts

US Tsunami Warning Centers

Warning Centers

Prepare for Survival

For our Safety Behavior it is very important to monitor all the Pacific Ocean surrounding continents for Volcanic and Earthquake activity. If a large land mass shears off into the ocean, expect a tsunami.

Tsunami water height may not be a wave height per se, but energy released that is pushing trillions of cubic yards of water through molecular structure of fluid dynamics.

We see this in simple ways in our bathtubs or while washing our dishes by dropping an object into the water with the surrounding rings/waves of water pulsing outwards.

What we can do is monitor these incidents. Have our emergency contact plan worked out in advance with family and employees/ers. Have our animal evacuation plan ready to be put into effect.

Have your 2 week supply of rations/water ready, and a stash in a vehicle. Use dehydrated foods like Mountain House to protect the food supply in foil packages.

Get yourself a solar powered charging system.

Have a place to meet, such as a surrounding high ground elevation zone.

Keep at least 50% fuel capacity in your vehicle tank at all times, cannot help you with electrical cars, don't own one, but figure that out. Roadways in highly populated areas or one way roads may be severely congested and not move at all, so think about alternative escape routes and locations.

Be prepared to live simply and with gratitude during catastrophic events. Reality will change in one second, be ready to adjust.

Remain positive. This is the most important ingredient is your behavior towards disaster. Your positive is a rabid increase of good.

Now that you have viewed this, play in your mind how you would have responded in this location with the news you had and resources.

What would you have done?
How would you emotionally deal with the reality in front of you as witness?
How would you manage casualties, fatalities and rescues?
How would you manage your mindset and thoughts for those who perished or you could not help?

Prepare yourself now by playing movies or reruns in your head on how your safety behavior is going to be.

Some day you may have to rely upon your personal training.

After the disaster you will need a basic survival plan for the next two weeks, one month, or 3 months. You will have to shed a lot of fears or manage the process one hurdle at a time. Hope will be your strongest ally.

Continually give yourself hope and focus on your wins.

And the hard aspect of recognizing nature as its own life force is it really doesn't show us its absolute might and potential. We do have a lot to be thankful for, as catastrophic events are another level unimaginable altogether. This is a power stroke of earth and water we witnessed in our lifetime.

These catastrophic events affect the entire ecosystem and humanity on many levels. We have plenty of alerts and warnings in the past 20 years that have given us ample time to prepare and be focused on our behaviors. But is it happening? Have you done it yet?

A safety behavior begins with an evaluation of where you are currently and what you can do to be as ready as is reasonable when disaster strikes.

It may not be a perfect road map, but better to practice now and be ready as none of us will escape tragedy in our lifetime.

Be the person in the room that everyone can depend upon.

Tsunami History Review

Four ancient tsunami deposits were identified in a trench excavated on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan. Three of the tsunami deposits (T-I, T-II, and T-IV) consist of calcareous sand beds, whereas the other (T-III, located stratigraphically between T-II and T-IV) consists of boulders.

Paleotsunami Research

Deposit T-I was caused by a tsunami in 1771. 14C dating, together with the elevations of the landward margins of these sandy tsunami deposits, suggests that tsunamis II and IV were similar in size to the 1771 tsunami, although the influence of local topographic features on the magnitudes of tsunamis has not yet been examined. This study reconstructs the local topographic features by comparing the molluscan assemblages incorporated within the tsunami deposits with those in recent beach deposits.

The presence of species that inhabit the intertidal zone in lagoonal settings in all the assemblages indicates that the present-day shallow lagoon has been present off the study area since the occurrence of tsunami T-IV, which supports the previous hypothesis that the magnitudes of the 1771 tsunami and tsunamis II and IV were similar. These molluscan assemblages also suggest that a high relative abundance of large, heavy mollusc shells is a feature of the paleotsunami deposits in the coastal lowlands found along the shallow coral lagoons.

Posted 1.6.2019

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
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Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

CHECK YOUR MEDICATIONS

BECAUSE WE CARE

WHAT MEDICATIONS WILL PREVENT FIELD TRAINING PARTICIPATION?

While most medications don't affect driving ability, some prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines can cause reactions that may make it unsafe to drive. This includes operating a Rescue Water Craft (RWC).

These reactions may include:
ā€¢ Sleepiness/drowsiness
ā€¢ Blurred vision
ā€¢ Dizziness
ā€¢ Slowed movement
ā€¢ Fainting
ā€¢ Inability to focus or pay attention
ā€¢ Nausea
ā€¢ Excitability

Please discuss with your doctor or pharmacist what medications could prevent your participation during training days.
Driving or operating a RWC while on medications can also be a legal issue. State laws differ, but being found driving under the influence of certain medications (prescription and OTC products) could get you in the same kind of trouble as people caught driving under the influence of alcohol.

Products That Require Caution

Knowing how your medicationsā€”or any combination of themā€”affect your ability to drive is clearly a safety measure involving you, your passengers, and others on the road.

Products that could make it dangerous to drive include

ā€¢ Prescription drugs for anxiety
ā€¢ Some antidepressants
ā€¢ Products containing codeine
ā€¢ Some cold remedies and allergy products
ā€¢ Tranquilizers
ā€¢ Sleeping pills
ā€¢ Pain relievers
ā€¢ Diet pills, "stay awake" drugs, and other medications with stimulants (e.g. caffeine, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine)

Responsibility

Products that contain stimulants may cause excitability or drowsiness. Also, never combine medication and alcohol while driving.
Medical marijuana and cigarette smoking are prohibited during training hours.

We may working with flammable or combustible materials nearby and smoking is therefore not allowed. Please limit alcohol content after hours.

There will be no buzzed or drunk driving during the course training dates. This is to ensure not only your safety and reputation but that of the program and other students as well as the host agency.

Operations should be similar to your general work duties and requirements. Reading the warning labels and paying attention to your body's response to medications will help you greatly. Training is a demanding requirement for professional development. There are a lot of external stressors that take place as well as mental focus required.

The more we know, the better we can go after our goals.

Thank you for your participation and understanding.

Reference
https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm107894.htm

_____________________

Posted: 10.27.2018

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

DEAD ZONE

Rescue Water Craft Dead Zone

The 'Dead Zone' is an area astern of the third seated position of the Rescue Water Craft (RWC). It incorporates the stern eye area, stern deck and the re-boarding handle and is referred to when using a TAD.

This area is one to observe for safety due to the range of motion between the Rescue Water Craft and the Towable Aquaplane Device (TAD-Rescue Board). This area is a location that we are aware of regarding a variety of movements and therefore have termed it the 'dead zone', meaning this is an area we try not to make physical contact with our hands and are mindful of body placement. It is a 'no go' area.

We utilize a developmental attitude of behavior regarding body placement on a TAD and try our best to minimize contact areas and hazards with a concerted awareness of possible strike zones, both from using a TAD and on board the RWC.

Be aware that not all operational situations will be possible to maintain efficiency in body placement or range of motion. These are best determined by the Coxswain training level, instructional content and familiarity with weather, vessel, TAD and not limited to being able to define the forces of action and range of motion and the objectives of training.

This requires of Coxswains and Crew members to have professional understanding and behavioral training regarding this risk area.

Items to consider during training with a TAD:

1. Type of RWC and TAD
2. Conditions of water and weather
3. Communications between Coxswain/Crew and training goals
4. Review, correction and counseling of supervisor and/or Coxswain/crew operations
5. Speed of the craft and turning radius applied with associated weight distribution on the TAD
6. TAD connectivity

It is impossible to cover everything we would normally prescribe in our training program for student candidates. We can give you some ideas to ponder and size up against common sense and water safety. Let's dig in!

Rescue Boards rest on the top transom stern deck and centerline connection point from the bow of the Towable Aquaplane
Device (TAD-Rescue Board) is typically affixed to the RWC stern eye.

We do not add any additional hardware to the upper RWC deck due to vessel and passenger safety. We would not advise
agencies or personnel to drill holes through the RWC hull and add additional bow eyes to the top deck. Especially if
working in flood environments or drawing bodies over these areas.

These could become strike points, facial contact, create entanglement or entrapment, wrap long hair (scalping) or garments and cause breaks/fractures/amputations of fingers if rings are worn.

Port and Starboard side rescue board tether points generally are affixed to the trailer tie down eye points underneath the RWC top deck bond line. The trailer tie down eyes are actually a very strong tow point, but rarely is there direct load on these two points. Generally there is a giveway or slack and shock effect depending upon the style of board, the interface of connectivity and the amount of weight pushing downward with gravitational force.

Rescue boards are not floating per se, they are dragging, pivoting, rising and lowering. They are a towable aquaplane device that rests semi forward on the stern deck of a Rescue Water Craft.

There is a pitch upward and downward at the fulcrum point of interface between the rescue board bottom deck. There is also interface of the bow tether point that can crease the topside of the rescue board if too much force is applied or if pinned against a fixed object or rolled such as in waves. Always touch check and visibly inspect your rescue board and retire when needed.

When in a training environment we coach our students as role players to understand the risks to bodily injury using a TAD such as placing their head when lying in a prone face down position to port or starboard astern of the craft and to monitor survivors body positioning or changing positions while underway.

When underway in the same fashion changes of body position will occur with the interface between water movement and Coxswain helms control and trim. There is not a lot of deck space however we have studied the most practical methods by observing RWC, board, water and human movements and have determined that the 'dead zone' is a clear reminder for personal safety.

It's easy to say and clear to remember. This is a non-operative area. No hands should be in this area between the board and the boat, these are pinch points due to the lifting up and downward motions between the two leverage points.

This takes some time for students to incorporate into their training skillsets, this does not happen as a behavior during their first rotation. It takes many reminders and self assessment to correct and enable the safety behaviors. These corrections can be mere inches and change while underway due to vessel movement or body positioning.

It is important to consider anchor points, handheld points, foot wedges (not entrapment) and the pivot or sway of the rescue board. This does not mean they are gaining any visual capabilities. This is a measure to protect the head from either lifting and rising, or dropping and striking the ā€˜Dead Zoneā€™ area in case of mishap.

There are a lot of contributing factors. Video review of incorrect and correct methods may assist you in understanding the risks and determining what would be the best course of action with the make and model of RWC and board. This is a difficult discussion to harness without proper coaching, so do not use all of this as a set in stone way of operating. There are many contributing actions that apply, such as operator and crew knowledge, Rescue Board inspection, RWC inspection and a firm understanding of the waterway you will be training and working under. And then, add pressure of a real life situation.

This is also a safety consideration during transport of survivors. Another rule we would like you to consider along with the 'dead zone' is a safe speed transport set at about 25 miles per hour. There are many technical needs, so don't fixate on just one, we teach hundreds of variations that enable the operators to select their underway options.

Don't forget that wise saying 'where the head goes the body follows'.

Use Common Sense, Evaluate, Study, Learn and Correct

REVIEW YOUR PROGRAM USE

Let's recap:

1. Do not add hardware to the RWC top deck where bodies come in contact
2. Observe the Dead Zone area astern and be mindful of points of contact
3. Safe Speeds Underway (25 mph rule), crew communicates with Coxswain is speed is determined unsafe
4. Coxswains maintain a level, steady and stable RWC at all times, Crew maintains the efficiency use of survivor loading and
underway security and secures the final stop measures
5. Observe counterbalance measures between the RWC and TAD and Persons on Board (POB).

We spend a lot of focus time to work with rescue boards to gain understanding in simple physics, vessel/board type, water dynamics and operator technical abilities. We want our Coxswains and Crew to be 100% responsible for their underway actions. We believe this is possible with a strong mindset, knowledge base and policies that work for success of the mission.

The Dead Zone is a reminder that this area is not a safe zone for us, to respect our board and rescue board use, and we must be mindful of potential impact or strike zones when operating in dynamic conditions other than calm water.

Speed is a critical component of professional marine units, safe operations mean Safe Coxswains and Crew who maintain a safe and successful program!

There are typically three ways of operations for crew to consider and train under until familiarization occurs:

1. Laying prone face down on a TAD
2. Layering weight and body positions on a TAD (multiple persons on board)
3. Kneeling-bracing position on TAD as Crew
4. Sitting position on RWC stern seat

Please consider taking a class and find out what you do not know!

It's far less expensive than the long rough road of mishap review and repair.

We hope to see you in a class!

Posted: 10.27.2018

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Content Creator: Shawn Alladio cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.