1st Aid is something that most of us don't take very seriously, but it is a dangerous attitude, one day we could be in a position where we are the only person that can save someones life.
I have had two situations at sea that have given me cause for concern and when afterwards I felt that I should have performed better. The first was in 1987 just before my first aid course and my lack of knowledge at that time was dangerous. I went sailing with a friend Simon Winch from Swanage down to the Solent where we spent a day watching the square rigged fleet assembling and being reviewed by the Queen prior to their sailing to Australia to celebrate Australia's 200 anniversary. Simon was a marine painter and came with me in order to take photographs of the tall ships from which he would paint pictures. As I manoevred my little 23 foot sloop under sail singlehanded through the fleet so that Simon could get some good photographs I noticed that he was becoming irritable at the fact that I was not positioning my boat exactly where he wanted to get the best photographs!
When we sailed back down the Solent, Simon complained of chest pains and said that he thought he was suffering from indigestion. As we approached Yarmouth he asked if I would mind putting in to Yarmouth as he wasn't feeling to good and would prefer to go home by train. On arrival in Yarmouth Simon took the ferry to Lymington from where he went by train to Wareham where his wife picked him up in her car.
The next day his wife telephoned me to say that Simon had had a heart attack and was in hospital. He recovered from this heart attack but with no thanks to me, I should have realised what was wrong with him and insisted that he go and see a Doctor in Yarmouth.
The next occasion was a few years later when sailing my Rival 34 from Poole to Yarmouth. About one third of the way to the Needles I decided to reef, as the wind was blowing about Force 6. This meant going up to the mast and as it was a two person job I took one of my crew with me. On our return to the cockpit my assistant said he wasn't feeling to good and he thought he would go and sit below. A few minutes later I went below to see how he was and he wasn't looking at all well. His face was covered in sweat, he was breathing very heavily and complained of a pain in his chest and numbness in his arms and tingling at the ends of his fingers.
A sat at my chart table agonising as to what I should do, whilst we were much closer to Poole we had a strong spring tide with us and would arrive sooner at Yarmouth. It would still take almost two hours to get to Yarmouth and if was about to have a heart attack (all his symptoms suggested that he was) then we might not get there in time. I decided to call the coastguard on my VHF radio and then they could make the decision and perhaps pick him up with their helicopter. I agonised for some time before calling the coastguard and as I lifted my microphone off its hook my casualty said could he have a plastic bag, I said of course he could and asked him if he was going to be sick, he replied that he was not going to be sick but the plastic bag would stop him from hyperventilating which is what he was doing. I put my microphone back on its hook and got him a plastic bag, which he began to breath into, a few minutes passed and he seemed to be much better, he explained to me that his heavy breathing was called hyperventilation and it had caused him to have low levels of carbon dioxide in his blood and too much oxygen, breathing into a bag reduced his intake of oxygen and increased the level of carbon dioxide in his blood. After about 5 minutes he seemed much better, I decided not to call the coastguard and to go on to Yarmouth.
As soon as we arrived in Yarmouth I took my crew member ashore to a Doctor, who examined him and said that there was nothing wrong with him and that he had had an anxiety attack which had brought on the hyperventilating which caused all the other symptoms. Whereas reefing the boat at sea in a force 6 and having to go up to the mast to do it, was a regular occurrence for me, but for him on the first day of his competent crew course it was a terrifying experience.
Had he not known himself that he was hyperventilating I would have called the coastguard and within 10 minutes the coastguard helicopter would have been hovering above us and lowering a stretcher to take him off. I doubt if the experience of being lifted off would have done anything to help his condition poor chap!
In order for me to keep my commercial endorsement for my Yacht master certificate valid, I must do a 1st aid course every two years, my next one will be in September of this year and I am already beginning to wonder as to how much I can remember of the last one eighteen months ago.
I urge anyone who goes to sea in a boat to do a first aid course at least every two years. We owe it to the friends and relations who go boating with us.
There are two places in the Algarve where you can do a 1st Aid Course in English.
1. Faro Sailing School at Ayemonte. Tel: 0034 959321824 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
2. Dive-Time at Lagos. Tel: 00351 937659839 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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