The deck pool is 60cm deep and the parents say it is fine, the children can stand up in it. The jacuzzi is bubbling at 38 degrees and the five-year-old has been in it for twenty minutes. It is 1330, the sun is directly overhead, and nobody has offered anyone a drink since breakfast. Three separate hazards, all of them quietly serious.
The pool and the jacuzzi
A yacht pool is still open water. A child can drown in it while adults are standing beside it.
- Non-swimmers wear a life jacket in the pool, and you stay within arms reach.
- Drain and suction entrapment is a real and fatal hazard: hair, limbs and swimwear can be held under by a pump intake. Never let a child sit on, play near or dive for a drain or grille, and never allow anyone in a pool or jacuzzi when the circulation pump is running unless the crew confirms it is safe and the covers are intact and secured.
- Jacuzzis are not for young children. Hot water raises core temperature quickly in a small body. Under-fives should not use them at all; older children stay brief, sit up, drink water, and get out on a set time.
- Pool covers are not safety devices - a child can slide beneath one.
- A pool under way is a moving body of water. Follow the crew rule: if it is out of use, it is out of use.
Sun, heat and dehydration
Children overheat faster than adults, burn faster, sweat less efficiently and often will not tell you they are thirsty. On a white deck reflecting sun off water, the exposure is far worse than it feels.
| Control | Detail |
|---|---|
| Shade | Out of direct sun between roughly 1100 and 1600; bimini, awning or below decks |
| Sunscreen | High factor, applied before dressing, reapplied every two hours and after every swim |
| Clothing | UV rash vest, wide-brim hat, sunglasses. Rash vest also protects while swimming |
| Water | Offer drinks on a schedule, not on request. Small children forget to be thirsty |
| Infants | Under-sixes months out of direct sunlight entirely - shade and clothing, not sunscreen alone |
| Watch for | Flushed or pale skin, headache, irritability, sleepiness, refusing to drink, vomiting, no wet nappy |
Heat exhaustion can progress to heatstroke, which is a medical emergency. Get the child out of the sun, cool them, give fluids if they are alert - and call for the yacht medical response rather than waiting to see.
Onboard Notes
Set a repeating alarm for sunscreen and water rounds. And treat the jacuzzi like the pool: if you are not standing next to it with eyes on the child, the child is not in it.
Preparatory study only. These lessons are not a childcare qualification and are not first aid training. Caring for children at sea requires a recognised childcare qualification and a current, practically assessed paediatric first aid certificate from an approved provider.