Anyone Used A Sea-scooter?

[simon43]

So, having just attended a training course on life-saving, I have been thinking about how 'equipment' could help/speed up the rescue of someone who is in difficulties in the sea.

I'm a strong swimmer, (got my medals!), and I've seen jet-skis used to assist in the rescue of tourists at Ozzie beaches. But I don't want to carry a jet-ski in my pick-up!

So what about sea-scooters? These are not too expensive and allow the user to travel through the water at about 3 or 4 km/h. I'm talking about using the sea-scooter on the sea surface, not for assisting diving.

Tourists often get into difficulties in relatively calm seas, but where maybe there is a strong current, or the tourist is drunk or a weak swimmer.

So what about the rescuer donning a life-jacket and rapidly deploy the sea-scooter to allow the rescuer to reach the tourist quickly and without the rescuer expending energy in swimming out to the tourist? When the rescuer reaches the person in difficulties, they can apply standard rescue techniques, and then return to shore with the victim, either by swimming or by using the sea-scooter (can it be controlled with one hand?).

Just thinking aloud here, and I cannot find anything on Google about using sea-scooters to assist in rescues. So has anyone got experience with using sea-scooters (in general), and can comment on their pros/cons etc.

Thanks

Simon

[steveromagnino]

I'm a strong swimmer, (got my medals!), and I've seen jet-skis used to assist in the rescue of tourists at Ozzie beaches. But I don't want to carry a jet-ski in my pick-up!

So what about sea-scooters? These are not too expensive and allow the user to travel through the water at about 3 or 4 km/h. I'm talking about using the sea-scooter on the sea surface, not for assisting diving.

Tourists often get into difficulties in relatively calm seas, but where maybe there is a strong current, or the tourist is drunk or a weak swimmer.

So what about the rescuer donning a life-jacket and rapidly deploy the sea-scooter to allow the rescuer to reach the tourist quickly and without the rescuer expending energy in swimming out to the tourist? When the rescuer reaches the person in difficulties, they can apply standard rescue techniques, and then return to shore with the victim, either by swimming or by using the sea-scooter (can it be controlled with one hand?).

Sea scooter moves at 3-4km????? what exactly is a sea scooter; you mean a jetski that you sit on or what?

Clearly the best single thing shown by the use in tow in surfing is the jetski motorcycle seating style, with a tray dragged behind.

If you want something to just help out others in surf, the surf lifesaving style bouy that you can tow out and let them hang onto. Fins are a bonus, you can plow into rips and whatever with high speed ;_0

but best still....signs telling idiot people who cannot swim not to swim in big surf is probably the best. Seen too many morons at places like Kata who don't realise that even those waves have some punch.

[andyadam]

Don't you need 2 hands to operate/hang on to it?? How would you tow a casualty? If they need rescuing what are the chances they will have the energy to hang on to you??

[simon43]

OK, this is a sea-scooter:

It is lightweight and rapidly-deployable. It's usually used to assist diving under water to depths of about 20 metres. But the model illustrated is designed for sea-surface use, or down to about 3 metres under the sea.

You basically hang onto the handles and get pulled along...

Andyadam may be correct in that you ALWAYS need to use 2 hands to operate it. I don't know, so that's why I want to hear from someone who has used it.

Even if you need to use 2 hands, the sea-scooter could still be used to allow the rescuer to reach the victim rapidly, and without wasting their own energy in swimming. They can then bring the victim to shore using standard rescue techniques etc.

If the scooter can be controlled using one hand, then the rescuer could also use the scooter to bring him and the victim to shore.

The model shown only costs a few hundred dollars.

Also, prevention is certainly the best approach. But it seems that some tourists like to ignore warnings. How many Koreans drown in Phuket each year? I seem to read of a Korean drowning every few weeks!

Simon

Edited March 25, 2008 by simon43

[pampal]

I bought a couple of those and I am not happy with it

In perfectly calm water they work fine, but if there is any kind of current, forget about moving. It simply lacks the strength for towing two people, specially in any current or surf situation.

[HarryHacker]

Why not ask the professionals?

Australian Professional Ocean Lifeguard Association

email - [email protected]

[simon43]

Hi Pampal, that's the sort of feedback that I need - thanks

Simon

[jdinasia]

You'd need 2 hands to hold it straight etc .... not a good option. A good safety float on a rope is far better!