As part of my Naval Reserve duty, I participated in a Merchant Mariner safety course. Part of the training included practical training with lifejackets, life rafts, and exposure suits. We had to swim two lengths of the pool with our life jackets. Then we had to remove and put the jacket back on while in the water. The second exercise consisted of putting on the exposure suite, also known as the infamous "Gumby suit," and jumping from the high board into the water. While the board was not too high, it was not too easy maneuvering around the high-dive board wearing this huge outfit with oversized feet and a hood that has a small opening for your eyes. Finally, we had to do the jump a second time, and then get into a life raft from the water. This is much more difficult that you would think. We did that in a nice calm indoor poor. Boarding a life raft at sea in rough weather is close to impossible. All I can say is that you should pay attention whenever you are on a ship. Look around for the lifesaving equipment. Pay attention during the abandon-ship drill. Most importantly, don't depend on the crew to save your butt. With these new cruise ships carrying 1,000, 2,000, and even more passengers, you chances of survival are highly dependent on you. Just because bad things don't happen every day, does not mean you are safe. The ESTONIA sinking proved just how bad a cruise ship disaster could be. Most of the passengers and crew died.

Fun and games. Just picture yourself jumping from the deck of your burning cruise ship. Think it won't happen?

I guess that fires at sea do not happen either....

Half of the group that jumped floated up feet first. See any skin? Guess how hard it is too see out of this thing?

Deploying the life raft.

Getting out of the life raft is pretty easy. I wish I could say the same thing about getting in. The inside is not such a great place either. Most of the group was planning to get into one of these if they every need to abandon ship. So who is going to lower that lifeboat that you are supposed to be in? I intend on taking a lifeboat. They ride much better in the water and if you are lucky, they have an engine also.

I'm Gumby dambit!!

These suits protects you from cold water. If you are sailing on a US-Flagged ship, you will have one of these if you are sailing in cold waters. If you are sailing on a non-US-Flagged vessel, you may or may not have access to these suites. This is the difference between life and death. Many of the people who managed to get off the Estonia, died of hypothermia. This was a combination of not having these suites and not being able to get into life rafts and out of the water. The official accident report claims that over 400 of these suits were recovered as part of the debris from ship. I could not find any information concerning whether anyone put one on. From all accounts, nobody did. At least nobody was pulled out of the water dead in one. If you happen to have one in your stateroom, it is a good idea to try one on.

Fred Fry International