When a fishing boat capsizes, it can go over in a hurry. Guys on deck won't have time to get into their immersion suits before they're flipped into the water, and anyone in the wheelhouse will be unable to get through the torrent of water slamming through doors and windows.
The ones thrown free of the boat stand a chance if they can get into a life raft, a mayday has been picked up and the EPIRB is activated.
Anyone in the wheelhouse or elsewhere within the boat faces disorientation and drowning.
Ted Harrington, fishing vessel safety coordinator for the Coast Guard's 1st District out of Boston, found a product in Wired magazine that may give the guy trapped in a boat a chance to get out.
When Harrington traveled up to the Maine Fishermen's Forum, held the second week in March in Rockland, he brought Spare Air with him.
Spare Air is a flashlight-size, handheld, pressurized aluminum canister, a miniature scuba system, if you will, that is designed to bring "a scuba diver from depth to the surface in an emergency," says Vincent Michael with Submersible Systems in Huntington Beach, Calif., which has been making Spare Air for 30 years. It is stored in a holster that can be mounted on any bulkhead.
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The basic components of Spare Air are the air cylinder, regulator, mouthpiece and purge button. When you find yourself underwater, grab the Spare Air, press the purge button to force water out of the mouthpiece, put the mouthpiece in your mouth and breathe slowly.
Depending on how cold the water is and how calm you are, you'll have between a minute and two minutes of air.
"Just enough to allow you to control your fear and make a decision to allow you to get out of the situation you are in," Michael says.
Obviously, you don't want to waste any air due to being unfamiliar with the apparatus, so it's best to practice with Spare Air a couple of times in a pool. To refill the cylinder, you will need to take it to a dive shop, unless you have a scuba tank.
Spare Air also works if you want to drop down in the water and check your prop.
There are two basic models: 300YEL/330N, 13.4 inches long, 2.25 inches in diameter, 57 breaths; and 170YEL 8.75 inches long, 2.25 inches in diameter, 30 breaths. Both models have a suggested retail price of $299.
Contact Submersible Systems, 18072 Gothard St., Huntington Beach, CA 92648; tel. (800) 648-3483; www.spareair.com.
Source Citation
Crowley, Michael. "A little Spare Air: mini-scuba could be a lifesaver for anyone trapped below deck." National Fisherman 91.1 (2010): 42. General OneFile. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
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