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Boat Race
Operations
8-1-02
The Little Egg harbor Fire District #2 Dive Team participates
in Water rescue
Operations for the safety of the boaters on and off the race courses. We work
in conjunction with many other teams from Dover, Lacey, Berkeley, Point
Pleasant, Brick Townships, and our sister station at Fire District #3. We
provide surface rescue and underwater rescue and recovery. All teams volunteer
for these assignments and some participate in only some races.
South Jersey has two kinds of racing, the very expensive Offshore Boat Races
http://www.homestead.com/njoffshore/NJoffshore2.htmlthat
are off Point Pleasant
Beach or off Seaside Heights. The race is normally a 1 to 3 mile long course
1/4 mile wide with the fastest boats I have ever seen run in 6 foot swells. They
run in most weather as long as visibility is not impaired. Up to 15 laps to get
near 100 miles of racing in waters of average depth of 40 - 50 feet but as
shallow as 20 feet. Race safety is handled by Scott Blue of MONOC ambulance
service, a very professional man. Volunteer boats that want to have the best
seat in the coarse take EMT's , Paramedics, or Divers on their boats and
position themselves inside the coarse for quick response. Flags are assigned to
the boat for identification and cautions for the racers. Medic boats transport
victims and dive boats transport divers.. Divers respond into the water and
secure racers for delivery to the medic boats. State Police assist in race
traffic redirection during incidents so no race boats can run into the incident,
usually! the US Coast Guard is always onsite for outside the race course for
positioning and security.
Volunteer Boats :
Turn Boats - The largest and tallest of the volunteer boats that
mark the
turns.
VIP Boats - VIP Boats are generally sport cruisers that carry
VIPs and
members of the Press.
Medical Boats - Usually 30ft fast boats that carry paramedics.
Dive Boats - Fast utility boats that carry SCUBA divers.
Sweep Boats - Boats from 24 to 45 ft used to keep the course
clear and
safe.
Marker Boats - Usually sail boats that mark the spectator area
Issues that arise during Off Shore racing... boat accidents
collisions,
flips, ejection of occupants
Also, involved in race control and rescue are 1 or two helicopters with
specially trained divers for helicopter deployment. Divers are usually planning
for surface work as most accidents include ejection or the harnessed and
canopied crafts operators get out once the boat comes to a rest. Most boats
designate a surface swimmer, no weights or bc for initial response, with a
backup diver ready to go with full gear incase the boat should go down, or if
there is entrapment of a capsized boat. Rescue swimmers started a few years ago
rigging pony bottles to their rescue harnesses so they can work on capsized
boats. Recently we purchased Brownies Third Lung Rapid deployment system that
includes 13 cuft Pony, Regs, Light weight BC with emergency CO2 inflator and
manual inflation and oral inflation capabilities. System also has weight
pockets similar to LGS recommended weight harnesses. System is light weight for
rapid deployment of swimmers with diving capability. This system is only for
initial RESCUE responses. When divers are required to go into the water the
lead diver directs the operator to deliver to a location with hand signals,
calls for a motor neutral, deploys into the water, gives a hand on head OK
signal as he swims to the victims. The operator backs off and goes into
blocking mode as the secondary diver spots the lead diver. Blocking mode is
putting your boat between the diver and any oncoming vessels for the diver's and
victim's protection. Hand signals between the diver and the dive boat can allow
for another diver to be called into the water, as well as following the delivery
of the victims to the medic boats, pick up and directions for approach. Race
boats flip in corners and straight aways, ejections can occur, most racers
remain in their boats until they release the harnesses. Boats can break or
not, float or not, some capsize and some not. Entrapment can be simple as
pulling the buckle and guiding the racer out, others require cutting harnesses
with either seatbelt cutters, rescue shears, or a knife. On occasion, boats
can go down with racers entrapped, canopies can get jammed and rescue can be
required. Often following accidents boats can go to the bottom in seconds,
mostly racers release their harnesses and extricate themselves, and all we have
to do is a surface rescue and dive for a line on the boat. Sea Tow boats will
pull the race boat off the bottom and off the course.
This sort of rescue diving does not lend itself to rope tended diving, and is
very hazardous with so many vessels moving at such high speeds in such close
proximity to the victim and divers. We often do not see the accidents, but are
radio dispatched by other boats on the course. With boats containing 2 or 3
people, you don’t know if someone is in the boat still until you check with the
first victims you find or until race control calls to verify the number of
racers in the boat.
Now, "Garvey" races are the common mans dirt track style racing for boats.
Check this site, http://www.eastcoastboatracing.com/
Garvey Races are local
small events for smaller 80 mph boats with two racers in each. The Garvey boat
is a flat bottom boat with a chevy 350 or larger engine, and the skiffs that run
http://www.eastcoastboatracing.com/
http://www.manufacturerschallengecup.com/
http://www.homestead.com/njoffshore/NJoffshore2.html
8-2-02
Our team, Lee's Summit Underwater Rescue and Recovery (www.lsur.org)
provides rescue and recovery services for drag boat races for the Central
States Drag Boat Association (http://www.csdba.net/).
We have been doing
this since 1989. The association holds races with other sanctioning bodies
(Saint Louis, Southern Drag) who have their own rescue teams. We provide
services to three of the races relatively close to us: Herrington, Kansas,
Ponca City, OK, and Oklahoma City, OK. Granted, we are in Missouri, but the
farthest race is about 5.5 hours away travel time.
Drag boats are very similar to street drags. They use a timing clock with a
Christmas tree, and race 1/4 mile against each other and the clock.
Driver's can "break out" if they pass the start line before the light goes
green, thus disqualifying them.
Equipment: We provide our own rescue boat at the races. It is one of our
aluminum flat-bottom dive boats. The rescue crew consists of a minimum of
four personnel: the boat captain/pilot, medic/fire, and 2 surface
rescuers/2 divers (primary and safety). Many of the other dedicated rescue
teams (i.e., they don't use their equipment for anything else other than
race rescue) have a small crane on the bow of their boat that will lift a
floating stokes basket into the boat, or raise a sunk capsule with driver.
Since we use our boat for other dive operations, our method involves the use
of a removable/stowable aluminum ramp that hooks onto the inside of the
boat, over the gunwale and out onto the water. Kind of like an ATV ramp for
pickups, but upside down. Since our boat has a low amount of freeboard,
this lets us slide the injured driver in the stokes basket up onto the bow
of the boat fairly easy. It is a very effective system. Prior to loading,
the driver is stabilized in the water and secured in a floating stokes
basket. Dive gear is standard with AGA and wireless OTS comm units, . Each
diver is equipped with cutting tools (knife and shears) and pry bars. On
sunk capsule boats, the primary diver will take a search line with him to
the boat and connect it to the hardpoint on the capsule, then extricate the
driver. If the driver can't be extricated, the capsule is brought to the
surface with the "capsule retrieval boat." This is a club-owned boat
that
is made with 2 pontoons and has a winch to lift the capsule or the boat
wreckage up between the 2 pontoons.
Our "rescue system" is designed for the two types of crashes we can have:
surface rescue and underwater rescue. In either type of crash, our rescue
boat is continuously running with the captain keeping the boat's bow in line
with the drag boats so that if a crash occurs, he just throttles the motor
straight to the crash.
Surface rescues can occur with what we call the "open-cockpit" boats, or
those boats that do not have the protective, reinforced capsule. These
boats are limited in the speed/time they can do. Usually, when something
breaks, these boats will either stop suddenly on the water, or cut sharp
right, throwing the driver out the boat like a rag doll. The driver is
required to wear a specific type of integrated life jacket and helmet.
Injuries can be simple bruises to broken bones and spinal/neck injuries.
The two surface rescuers are equipped for rescuers just like a swift water
rescuer: Helmet, wet suit, fins, mask, life jacket, cutting tools. The
victim is loaded as described above and taken to shore at a predetermined
spot where an ambulance crew is stationed. Our only medical job is basic
first aid. We are in constant communication with the race tower and the
ambulance crew. On surface rescues, we can be on the crash site, have the
victim assessed, safely loaded and back to shore in less than 3 minutes.
For underwater rescues, the job is more complicated. These boats have the
ability (depending on class--Top Fuelers, Top Alcohol Hydros, etc.) to
exceed 200 mph on the water, thus requiring the use of a protective capsule
for the driver. They are designed like a the cage on a race car, but they
break away from the hull of the boat. If they do, the will float for some
time to where we can either extricate the drive on shore, or leave him in
and bring him to shore for proper medical care. But sometimes they don't
break away due to cables not breaking, or just the way the boat crashes.
Prior to each race, our crew visits each capsule equipped boat and records
in a checklist the boats features: type of capsule (Kassee, Denver), how
does the capsule open (push-pull pins or a lever and where located),
location of hardpoints, drivers air system (breathing apparatus, air supply,
equipped with special "t" fitting), battery status of the "pinger"
(small
device that pings when submerged; located with a special sonar gun that
picks up the signal; great for crashes where we lose the LSP), type of
seatbelt release, info on driver, and much more. All this info is kept in a
binder on the boat and when a particular capsule boat is on the line ready
to race, the info is called out to the divers to allow them to
re-familiarize himself with the boat (especially the location of the
pins/lever, hardpoints, and driver's air supply and seat belt release).
Primary diver will take the inside lane boat; Secondary diver will take the
outside lane boat first.
There are three ways the capsule driver can be rescued from underwater: He
extricates himself, we extricate him, or he stays in the capsule on his air
and we raise him to the surface with the capsule retrieval boat. Since he
may have the ability to extricate himself, we are very cautious on
approaching a crash site so as not to run over the driver who may surface.
We look for the tell-tell signs of air bubbles. It we have to extricate
him, we will first attempt to bring him to the surface with his air bottle.
If the bottle can't be released, we have the ability to either provide him
another air bottle off his "t" fitting while we bring the capsule to the
surface, or extricate him tied into our air supply. This is only done if
the driver can be freed, but his tank cannot. Or, we leave the breathing
driver in the capsule and raise him to the surface with the capsule
retrieval boat.
About every 2 - 3 years we have a capsule orientation class that gives
capsule drivers (new and old) orientation on their breathing system, our
rescue procedures, and then actual pool time where they are sunk in capsule
and rescued in the three ways described above. Our team also practices in
open water prior to each race to reinforce our techniques.
It is a great alternative to what we do as PSDs. The team is paid for our
services. And, it gives us a fantastic view of the race, being on the front
row of some really great racing. So close that the alcohol exhaust fumes
burn your nostrils!
I know there are a lot more boat rescue teams out there. California's
International Hot Boat Association has a very good dedicated rescue team
composed of volunteers. So does the St. Louis Drag Boat Association and
Kentucky Drag Boat Association. Perhaps one of their rescue team members is
on this list and can provide info about their procedures.
Tim McClellan
Training Officer
LSURR
www.lsur.org
8-13-02
I have to say that the piece done on the PT. Pleasant boat race
was
interesting. This year the Brielle Fire Company ( of which I serve as
1st Asst. Chief) will have three craft providing rescue coverage for the
racers. Though this assignment is new for us the team's looking forward
to it as we may bring a unique spin to the rescue efforts. Brielle Fire
Company's Water Rescue Team specializes in surface rescue for all types
of water conditions and climates. Meeting the NFPA's standard for water
rescue technicians we have created a hybrid by taking firefighters, who
are EMT, or First Responders, and getting them trained in all forms of
warm, and cold water, Ice and swift water, as well as rope rescue. Our
equipment is designed for rapid rescue and recovery, retrieving and
packaging a victim and preparing them for extraction. While their skills
may be used in a different capacity our line tenders are expertly
trained in all types of rope rescue and riggings, aiding our swimmers in
safely extracting the victim from what ever hazard they may be exposed
to.
Surrounded by water fronts we provide surface support to Manasquan, PT
Pleasant Beach, and South Wall dive teams, as well as coverage for water
front structure fires in these townships where a firefighter may
unexpectedly fall into a water hazard. Most recently Perth Amboy's paid
fire department asked us to train their special services unit in water
rescue techniques and principals. Perth Amboy has already gone through
the warm water training, and looking forward to the cold water and ice
training. Our team is grateful to help them, it's not every day a
volunteer organization is asked to train a paid department, especially
one with an outstanding reputation for courage as Perth Amboy displays.
If this gets posted I would like to wish all the rescues teams involved
in the up coming Pt Pleasant Boat race this Friday the best of luck, and
if their services are needed I may they get the job done and go home
safe.
Thank You,
Shawn Martin
1st Asst. Chief
Brielle Fire Company
& Water Rescue Team.
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