Laurent Marion, founder of Escale Formation Technique, describes the main training courses that he provides to candidates for departure, before their big sail. The main training courses that long-distance sailors take are the Grande Croisière Safety and Survival at Sea courses, and the Grande Croisière Medical course.
Safety and Survival at Sea Grande Croisière
This course covers all the notions of safety on a boat, from the reminder of the checkpoints, the preparation of the boat and the crew for heavy weather, the management of the weather and the state of the sea, the process of triggering the rescue, the man overboard maneuvers, the methods of abandoning the ship or the use of the pyrotechnics of alert.
"It's a great family trip approach. We explain how to rest the notions of safety in cruising: limiting the sail, calming the game, managing the watches on board, the role of skipper, sleep management. It is an educational approach. We go from a safe life on land to a life at sea where there are dangers. We are not used to the risk. We play down the situation, reassure them and make them accept this notion of risk."
Grande Croisière Medical Course
At sea, we may have to consult a doctor (CCMM Toulouse) but at a distance. It is therefore one of the crew members who will have to make a diagnosis, or even provide care. It is therefore important to follow a medical training.
At the end of this course, the boater will be able to deal with a life-threatening emergency and perform the necessary first aid procedures. He will be able to carry out the different assessments according to the injury (drowning, hypothermia, fracture, wound), to take charge of a trauma, to decide on the interest of a medical opinion, to carry out technical gestures or to prepare an adapted on-board pharmacy.
"The medical course is important. You can end up performing medical procedures that are forbidden on land: pricking, suturing, putting in a tourniquet. You have to be able to transmit a diagnosis by satellite phone, to make decisions based on the means of rescue in the sailing area. These are decisions with far-reaching consequences. This training is the same as that followed by the skippers in the Vendée Globe
Offshore Marine Weather (2 levels)
With this training, the yachtsman acquires a global understanding of meteorology, from theory to forecasting, with tools that will facilitate the work. The objective is to go beyond the simple reading of a grib file or a pilot chart which must be interpreted according to the external conditions.
"The weather box is fundamental. The storm is scary. Weather has been reduced to grib files, but it's not just that. You have to interpret them and there are different levels of mesh size and precision. Routing is useless without a lot of preparation work on the boat's polars. Weather is not just about the wind. It's also the sea and the waves."
Training to navigate independently
Numerous training courses allow you to manage your autonomy without the need to call on the after-sales service or professionals: mechanics, electricity and marine energy, seamanship, marine weather, sail making and rigging workshop.
"Diesel mechanics are a big carrier. We don't want to have to deal with engine failure. But if you leave with new sails, there is less interest in the sailmaker's workshop. Electricity and energy autonomy are important when you go offshore. At sea, there is no energy and we teach them how to recover it: wind turbine, hydrogenerator, solar panels, etc. You have to understand the whys and wherefores according to the comfort of what you want on board. Boaters usually take this training either pre-purchase or at the beginning of the refit to make sure they don't make a mistake."
Alone or in couple
Not all the training courses are to be followed by all the members who will make up the crew. Some areas do not need to be mastered by the whole crew, while some on the contrary allow to reinforce the mutual confidence of the crew on a long trip.
"Individualized training courses such as mechanics or energy autonomy or anything technical are still very gendered, and typically male. Everything related to electricity, seamanship, and sail making is often done by a single crew member. Weather, survival and medical training are done by two people. It requires a cohesion of crew or couple to realize this project of departure. More and more sailors are taking the whole course but on average, we are on 4 to 5 courses. Some already have skills in areas such as mechanics, computers."
