The title above is one of the worse 2 words for someone to hear while on a ship or boat. While most people have some common sense and wear their life jackets, you do get the occasional yahoo who thinks that they are immortal and refuses to wear one. The life jacket is just added insurance for those who not only can't swim but those who do swim too.
Another thing that I really hate to hear is when someone has knocked or accidentally dropped a piece of valuable equipment overboard. Cameras, phones and recording devices have all seen some deep water action at one time or another. Most of them have been rescued but not all. One of our team has even gone so far as to purchase
ipad insurance for her iPad since it would cost close to $600 to replace it. She does not want to see that go in the water but she uses it on board all the time.
Water damage can be nasty to electronics but there are a few things we do. First take any batteries out of the equipment if it gets wet. Wipe as much of the moisture off of it as possible. Let the equipment air dry for a few days before trying to turn it on. Just doing those simple steps has manged to save most of our equipment from permanent damage.
