What's everyone's kid overboard plan?
This is an assumption, and not by any means a given......As long as my wife gets to him...
If you want a real education on the subject, discuss it with your wife and have her agree to chuck a seat cushion (that you can afford to loose) overboard, unannounced, at some point. Ideally she should do so somewhat after you've had the discussion so it's really a surprise to you--and not something you're anticipating--and then sit down and keep still/quiet. It will take you a quite a few seconds--at best--to realize what's happened during which, even at a stately 4 knots, you'll cover several hundred feet. A child's head in the water, even with him/her wearing a "floatie" is only about 6" in diameter and I'll wager 10 bucks you'll have a hard time spotting it, even in small swells, to say nothing of 4' seas, just as you will the cushion. The quick stop maneuver will bring the yacht to a stop--but you'll have to take your eyes off the COB and if you do so, even momentarily, you'll likely not be able to reacquire the COB if there's any seaway at all.Good points about needing to recover two people instead of just one. We're on Lake Champlain and although we can get 4+ foot waves, we certainly would not be out in the wind that it would take to create those conditions. Even with 15-20 kts of breeze, often we're only seeing waves 1-2 feet because we'll hug protected shorelines. That said, wave action is one reason why my wife wants to go over if the kid does, since we're worried that a combination of going under in the fall, then panicking, then being tossed about in the waves might cause him to take in some water. So at least wife could help calm him and make sure he's not taking waves in the face. By 5-6 years old, maybe not an issue, but at 3 he has no concept of remaining calm in a stressful situation.
I like paperbird's reference to a quickstop within 1-2 boat lengths of the person overboard--that's impressive and I will definitely try this out myself to see if I can achieve similar results. I guess the main point is to practice and see what happens and what works.
Finally, the goal is obviously to not have anyone go overboard ever. But it's never a moot point because it can happen no matter the precautions so it's worthwhile to think about it and plan. I know some people tether, and that's about as much protection as you can get from going over, but really our kid would not like being tethered at all and I do want sailing to be a positive, fun experience. Under certain conditions I can see why you might tether, but for the type of sailing we're typically doing on the lake I think it would be overkill.
Thanks for all the tips/advice, etc!
Same here. And we always do use a spotter, but practically speaking as the driver I'm not usually relying on the spotter to find my downed skier.In Canada, it is illegal to tow a water skier without a spotter in the boat. The reason is common sense, you can't be watching behind you while also steering the boat competently.
I'm not sure how old your kids are, but the key is teaching them how to swim. I think we agree on that. The inflateables are not acceptable for children under a certain age (I cannot remember the age). The best LJ's are the mustangs for kids up to about 60 lbs, then we switch off to a more traditional and comfortable jacket.The most common drowning victims are typically adult males that don't wear life jackets and drink alcohol. Vast majority of drowning 80%+ are due to not wearing a life-jacket.
Children, especially young boys are likely to follow their fathers example -- are the second most likely group.
In adverse weather, or night time sailing a jacklined tether is advisable.
If you'd like to practice KOB, when the time comes, you have to be there.
In Canada at least, 43% of people that drowned were within 7feet of shore, i.e. on dock.
So you have every reason to be wearing a life-jacket, on boat AND on dock much like a seatbelt.
I don't agree with that. Moreso, by having the harness an intregal part of the jacket, they are more likely to be worn and used when they otherwise might not. Regular harnesses are terribly uncomofortable when also added into a offshore LJ, not to mention any other gear you would put on. I would not sacrifice safety in terms of comfort, but I believe a well made inflateable with integral harness is perfectly safe for offshore use.In terms of lifejackets, I only trust the solid kind, too many points of failure in inflatables.
No offense, but that is absolutely incorrect. I was a Red Cross certified Life Guard for six years. That was how I made my money to go to college. I have never heard of knocking someone out to rescue them. Where did you read that?? Crap, if you are going to do that, just let them drown and then go after them. One of several correct methods is to swim under them and come up behind them and place your arm across their shoulder and under the other arm. A better option is to swim to them with another life preserver and let them grab onto that while towing them back to shore. It is absolutely true that a drowning person will try and pull you under, but there are ways out of that too. I have rescued MANY drowning people, and most of them adults (believe it or not). Going into the water is a last option, but sometimes you have no choice. THere are reasonable and safe ways to do it that don't include knocking someone out. I have never heard of that in my life. I certainly can't immagine someone doing that to their child, and most children simply won't have the ability to pull down an adult unless the adult is a sucky swimmer.Jumping in after someone is potentially fatal and should be avoided,
I've heard of, and had my own personal experience, that saving a drowning person is dangerous, since they aren't swimming properly and so try to climb on top of you, thus not letting you breathe. The only way to save a panicking person by swiming to them is to knock them out first, which I would strongly discourage for children with their thin skulls and all. So the best method is to give them something to grab onto, i.e. flag-pole, boat-hook, rope-ladder, until they are safely aboard.
How do you "acclimate" for that? Do you really throw your child or adult in the water and tell them what to do? Aren't you concerned about serious medical conditions happening, like a stroke or shock? I understand talking this through with others and children, but I cannot imagine actually doing it. Seems terribly dangerous to me. Also, I thought the time to rescue was under five minutes? I guess it all depends on the water temp, the persons fat content, clothing, etc.The whole acclimitizing to water and teaching them basics of floatation and swimmiing helps reduce chance of panicking. Up here in Canada, also winter-swimming is on the agenda, in order to get over "cold-water-shock" where in the first few seconds of hitting cold water, heart rate and breathing rate increase, unexperienced people may inhale water by accident, wheras experienced people can use it to swim to surface, get to the flag, get into heat-saving position, and then can do rapid "breath of fire" tumo meditation while they wait for the boat to return and pick them up.
In cold water, it is good idea to have winching system ready, as after 10 minutes in freezing water, fine motor skills don't function, so climbing boarding ladder may be difficult. In terms of hypothermia treatment, warm dry cabin, warm blankets, warm hugs, warm water, warm fire, warm dry clothing, and encouragement on a job well done, exhileration of living. Later on another day, can go over what went wrong, and make plans to avert similar scenario in future.