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0 pointsjacquesm12y ago0 comments

Widowmaker, not widow spider. See, what you don't know could kill you ;) Spend some time in an unmaintained bit of forest and you'll get to know plenty of these things.

Five minutes to shore when the weather is good and your engine starts. Really, please heed my advice and make sure each and every one of you knows how to do basic first aid, I hope you're never going to be in a position to use it but when you do you'll be happy you took the time and trouble. First purchase: a very good first aid kit.

This is all not to piss on your parade but because I lived in a pretty remote area for 2 years and have a little bit of experience that might be relevant to your situation.

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6 comments · 2 top-level

intenex12y ago· 4 in thread

Thanks for the heads up! We'll def be sure to get on that and get some basic first aid training across the board + med kit on site. Any other advice/tips we should be aware of?

jacquesmOP12y ago

You're welcome.

Basic engine repair skills, something to patch up your boat in case you spring a leak, a basic comms kit+genny so you can call up the coast guard or a passing boat if you should need them (assuming your island is out of cell phone reach), cache of freshwater, fuel, waterproofed matches and a couple of days worth of tin cans in case you ever get cut off. Halifax coast in winter can be, how to phrase this, impressive, to say the least.

Mind you, the real kick is when you are isolated but there is an additional degree of risk there. No need to get your appendix out as a precaution just yet ;)

All of this is assuming you're on the salty side of things, if you're in a lake it's a lot more relaxed but you will still need to take basic precautions and you'll need to be extremely careful with what you do with your wastes (you'd need to be just as careful in the ocean with that for ethical reasons but there will be fewer watching eyes so you can drop the 'extremely').

npsimons12y ago

As a SAR guy, I can say the big big thing is the first aid (plus CPR). It sounds like you're relatively close to civilization, but realize that if someone has to come to help you, they're likely not going to be there within the Golden Hour (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_hour_%28medicine%29). That, and just being prepared in general (ten essentials: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Essentials and knowing how to use them), having skills, and being wary. I've seen even well-seasoned people end up in bad situations; the best way to survive seems to be to avoid the bad situations. Also, never go alone.

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notaddicted12y ago

If their boat is more of a skiff, a couple paddles and a milk jug cut in half for bailing might be sufficient.

In terms of winter storms, this is approximately as bad as it gets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Juan .

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ballard12y ago

A wildnerness first aid kit and training:

http://www.outdoored.com/community/risk_management/b/wildmed...

And an AED

tynan12y ago

Ahh, I misunderstood.

We're actually pretty close to the shore on one side, in cell phone coverage, and have the phone number of our closest neighbor. There's definitely danger there, and we're big on safety, but it's not as remote as it probably seems.

Thanks for the advice and thoughts!

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