Ideally, you want a grab bag that will float and keep the water out. Several are commercially available. Alternatively, a dry-bag of the roll-top variety is a good idea, especially if you keep it around 70% full with a good amount of air-space at the top. Others, like a rigid flare canister, have advantages. Steve Callahan, who spent 76 days adrift, recommends having a 25ft floating line attached, so the bag can float free but stay tethered.

Make an account of the grab bag in your Safety Management System and assign the task to a crew member to ‘grab’ it. While your liferaft is being serviced, it’s well worth heading down to the service centre while it is inflated, to take a look and familiarise yourself with both the raft and also its contents. While you’re there, the centre will normally let you put some personal items in the raft’s survival kit – medication or a spare pair of glasses, for instance. It’s worth putting some thought and training into your abandon ship drill. In the darkness on a sinking yacht it’s easy to get disorientated, so assign each crew member a task – something to grab on their way out of the boat.

For instance, assign one person the EPIRB, another the ship’s log, or drinking water, another the flares and grab bags. Include other ‘nice to have’ items if there’s time – things like cushions, money and warm clothes. But the grab bag should contain the minimum to allow you to survive that you can still manage to manhandle in an emergency. Non-essential items can be grabbed if there is time.

1. Personal effects Include your passports, wallet, credit cards and mobile phone (pre-programmed with emergency numbers) in the bag whenever you set off somewhere. Pencil and note pad. Ideally grab the vessel log book on the way out.
2. Handheld VHF – Essential. Keep in the grab bag, along with a set of spare batteries. DSC-enabled VHF with integral GPS would be preferable.
3. Drinking water – Most liferaft survival packs contain at least some water in pouches, but take enough for your full crew for at least a day.
4. Flares –  Place a few hand flares in the grab bag as well, in case you’re separated from the flare pack.
5. Medication – Seasickness tablets are a must, as well as any other medication you need on a regular basis, such as an asthma inhaler or migraine pain relief drugs.
6. Reading glasses – Pack a spare pair of specs so you can understand the instructions on the flares – you run the risk of losing your usual pair en route to the liferaft.
7. Food – If heading further offshore, then consider army-style survival rations as well.
8. Navigation tools –  A handheld Compass and GPS will let you communicate your position accurately to a potential rescuer, as well as work out your drift rate. Don’t forget a spare set of batteries. A compact, waterproof chart might also help.
9. Knife – Most liferafts will come with a knife included – but there can be no harm in taking another
10. Foil blankets – Essential for helping cold people warm up. They are not expensive, but could keep hypothermia at bay. A couple of spare hats and gloves will help you keep warm as well.
11. Torch – A good torch is important. Something waterproof and powerful is ideal – with spare batteries, of course.

In addition have a think about keeping these items close by:

• Laser flares
• PLB/EPIRB
• Satellite phone
• Handheld watermaker Show up on radar screens
• Fishing kit
• Liferaft repair kit
• A pack of cards might help keep you entertained.
• A toothbrush and paste might help you feel better, as might a small pack-towel to dry off with.

Interesting: The Roberston family of 6 survived for 38 days in the 1950s after whales sank their yacht. They lived initially in a life raft and then in a hard dinghy. They grabbed some fresh fruit, bag of onions, a tin of biscuits, a sail, oars, empty boxes, petrol, a sewing kit, and a first aid kit. Their raft contained a fishing kit and 10 days of food rations. Read their book Survive the Savage Sea.

What do you keep in your grab bag? Do you have some suggestions and tips for others? Contact mail@oceantimemarine.com with your suggestions.

Make sure the contents of your grab bag are up to date and form part of your Safety Equipment Checklist. Ocean Time Marine provide MS Word and Interactive PDF Safety forms, checklists and resources in order to improve safety management aboard your vessel.