Life raft

If you are left adrift on a raft or on something that floats, your priorities are: staying on the raft, being seen, protecting yourself from sun or cold, and managing water.

First actions

• Get everyone on board; move away from the sinking ship but stay in the area: that is where they will search for you.
• If the raft has a sea anchor (a cone or cloth bag tied to a rope), deploy it: it reduces drift and capsizing.
• Check everyone for injuries and hypothermia. Tie important items to the raft.
• Set up watch shifts to look for ships, aircraft, and land.

Water

• Never drink seawater, neither plain nor mixed. The salt makes you lose more water than you take in.
• Do not drink urine either.
• Collect rainwater with whatever you have: tarp, bags, the raft's canopy. Rinse the salt off the surface first.
• Reduce water loss: shade, little activity, breathe through your nose.
• If you have little water, eat little: digesting, especially protein, uses up water.

Sun and cold

• Cover your skin and head; the glare off the water burns even under the canopy. Protect your eyes.
• At night and in cold water, stay dry, huddle people together, and use the raft floor as insulation.

Seasickness

• Vomiting dehydrates you. If you have motion sickness medication, follow the label and take it early.
• Look at the horizon, keep ventilation, and do not stay in the most turbulent part of the raft.
• Clean up vomit immediately; its smell makes others sick.

Signs

• Have your signals ready before you need them: mirror, flares, light, whistle, dye marker. Do not waste them if the ship or aircraft cannot see you.
• Use flares when rescue is in sight or clearly approaching.
• A signal mirror can be seen from a great distance on a sunny day (chapter 8).