Safe Boating

Dehydration just one of many things to be prepared for on the water

By Roz Butziger
Posted 6/30/16

Hopefully you’ll never need this information, but how foolish not to be prepared. Your quick action can keep an incident from turning into a crisis. The sun is hot and you have been fishing for …

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Safe Boating

Dehydration just one of many things to be prepared for on the water

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Hopefully you’ll never need this information, but how foolish not to be prepared. Your quick action can keep an incident from turning into a crisis. The sun is hot and you have been fishing for hours. Your friend quenches his thirst with a beer or two. He has been getting irritable and complains of a headache. Most likely he is suffering from dehydration.

The beer does nothing to help – alcohol actually increases dehydration by stopping the body’s water re-absorption and he loses more fluid. He needs water or fruit juice or an energy drink, not coffee. That is a bit of a diuretic, too. If you know you’ll be consuming alcohol, drink water first and in between alcoholic drinks. And, of course, make sure the captain isn’t drinking alcohol at all! Dehydration may be life-threatening. A 10 percent water loss can cause mental deterioration, and death can occur with a 15 percent to 20 percent loss of water. Thirst, dizziness and headache are the three primary symptoms. Someone told me that most of the time, taking aspirin cures a headache because of the glass of water, not the aspirin. Dehydration may affect the elderly first, since their sense of thirst may be diminished. Also, watch out for the kids’ water intake. They get distracted and put off hydration.

Seasickness is another problem that may occur. It is caused by the brain reacting to conflicting signals. Your eyes see the boat stationary in relation to your body, but your body feels the motion. Your brain sends out an alarm and shuts down your natural digestion, which causes nausea and misery.

In the first place, don’t eat a breakfast that includes greasy donuts, sausage, etc. If you know you tend to get seasick, take a Bonine or Dramamine before you get on board. Drink enough water, juice or ginger ale. Do not go down in the cabin or try to read. Stay in the fresh air and keep your eyes on the horizon. Wearing an anti-seasickness patch helps also.

What about hauling up a big fish, trying to remove the hook and BAM! The bluefish chomps down on your hand. They don’t call them “Block Island Choppers” for nothing! It doesn’t look too bad and you decide to carry on. Don’t! You have a wound that could be very infected. Let this bleed a little and pour on the alcohol. Right away. Let someone else take care of the fish – get your picture later. Smear on the antibiotic gel and bandage it so it won’t get wet.

In any serious wound, if you bandage it up and it is bleeding through, don’t remove the dressing and start again. The blood may have started to clot and you will mess that up. Just add more gauze. If it is bleeding profusely, apply a pressure bandage, first with material as sterile as you can next to the wound and even small hand towels etc. on top. I am told that lacking any sterile material, the most germ-free is paper towels. Take off outer layers, and fold the inside layers to form a compress. Ideally you wash your hands carefully before you begin to treat someone, but in an emergency, pour alcohol over your hands if possible. Elevate the wound so gravity helps you, and have the victim keep still.

I don’t want to make boating sound fraught with injuries, but if you don’t give it some thought in advance, you can escalate a minor problem and go home with serious trouble. So what should you carry in the first aid kit? Those little kits you can buy often have a few tiny bandaids and some lip balm. You need something to deal with real emergencies. Make up your own kit. First, get a waterproof box to store them in. Soggy bandaids are not sterile. We found a great container in an Army Navy Surplus store years ago – an ammo box with a tight seal, and large enough for materials that will be really helpful. There are waterproof plastic containers that work well. Now go to the drug store and get some large topper sponges, big gauze pads, extra large bandaids, big rolls of gauze and adhesive tape. That’s for the bleeding. Now you need rubbing alcohol, Neosporin or Bacitracin or the like. That’s for sterilizing and stopping infection. You should add some tweezers for removing splinters or glass, and maybe pliers for fish hook removal. A triangle of cloth as a sling is good, and maybe one of those splints for fingers. Another addition would be a couple of packs you bang with your fist and it turns cold, to use for swelling. A first aid manual to consult wouldn’t be bad. Perhaps an epipen, and maybe some glucose tablets for a diabetic. Peace Corps volunteers are often in remote areas, and some have told me they use a book called, “Where There Is No Doctor”. You won’t be in such extreme circumstances, but it is possible that your sailboat is becalmed and there may be several hours before help arrives. Always a medical professional is the best option, but sometimes you may have to be in charge for a bit. Remember the old medical adage: At least do no harm.

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