NEWBURYPORT — About three dozen boaters and fishermen found themselves Tuesday morning floating in red and yellow safety suits in waters along U.S. Coast Guard Station Merrimack River.
Although state police safety divers were also swimming around, they weren’t handling an emergency. Instead, their presence was part of attendees learning hands-on lifesaving techniques used on the high seas.
“I think it’s good to train like something’s actually going on,” recreational fisherman Kevin Kelly said. “So, the more reps of this the better. This really should be an every year sort of deal.”
The free, two-day safety training course was put on thanks to a partnership between the city’s Harbormaster Department, the Coast Guard and the Fishing Partnership, a Gloucester-based support services organization that trains professional and recreational boaters/fishermen in lifesaving techniques.
“They learn either how to prevent an emergency or to stop one,” said Dan Orchard, Fishing Partnership executive vice president.
The Coast Guard hosted the event at its Water Street station, while Fishing Partnership made use of about 10 of its staff instructors to train the boaters. Newburyport Harbormaster Paul Hogg also provided his knowledge and support.
As part of the training, the boaters stuffed themselves into colorful neoprene immersion suits designed to keep them alive in the open ocean while safety divers from the state police helped them get into a nearby life raft.
Recreational fisherman and retired state police Trooper John Reilly used an immersion suit for the first time. After jumping into the river and swimming over to the life raft, he said he was surprised how hard it was to move around in the suit.
“It wasn’t cold in there at all but it was really tough to move,” he said. “Hopefully, I won’t have to get wet again or put this on ever again.”
Kelly said Tuesday was the first time he’d ever gotten into an immersion suit, calling it “a very eye-opening” experience.
“I felt like I went way further down than I did when I jumped in,” he said. “I got a mouth full of water. But as soon as I got up and was floating, I was able to kind of get it all together.”
Fishermen also got a chance to use signal flares, as well as an industrial water pump for bailing out a sinking ship. Then, they got to put out a raging propane fire.
Thomas O’Brien, 18, of Weymouth owns the 42-foot lobster boat Perseverance. He and his 17-year-old brother, David, took turns using a fire extinguisher to put out the controlled propane blaze.
Approaching the flames one in front of the other, the O’Brien brothers quickly put out the fire.
“This was new to me, definitely,” David O’Brien said. “I really didn’t know what I was doing the first time I went up there. I was trying to pull the pin but it didn’t work. Once I got to the fire, I realized I had to shoot it. But it was pretty fun.”
Thomas O’Brien said he learned a valuable lesson.
“I would never have known what to do if I was ever in a fire like that. I would have just run in alone. But they sent us at it in pairs,” he said. “I tell you, training like this is crucial. Anything can happen out there.”
Prior to Tuesday, David O’Brien said he didn’t know how to shoot off a signal flare.
“Knowing all that stuff now really helps a lot,” he said.
The training, according Hogg, was scheduled to conclude with two Alaska Marine Safety Education Association-certified drill conductors giving lessons on cold water survival, helicopter rescues, stability, liability as well as emergency procedures.
He added his department last partnered with Fishing Partnership about four years ago. This week’s training, he added, was going extremely well.
“This is great,” he said. “It was nice for us to partner up with these guys and help some locals.”
Fishing Partnership, according to Orchard, provides training in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. It often works with the Coast Guard, which he said is an excellent partner.
“The Coast Guard has to enforce the rules on the ocean but they also rescue people,” Orchard said. “This is an opportunity for them to put themselves in a positive light with the fishing community and help us provide training that helps everybody.”
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.