fair-weather sailor looking to get serious

[sailingdog]

Now you see why I keep saying the best thing to do is to prevent people from falling off the boat in the first place. Everyone thinks that it is fairly easy to do a COB recovery, but until you've had to do one for real, you won't really understand the difficulties involved.

A lot of the newer boats have design features that can make it more difficult, like higher freeboard, greater beam, etc.

A lot of people think that a rear swim platform makes COB recovery very simple, but I can tell you it doesn't. In anything more than very light seas, the stern of a stopped boat (you did stop the boat to do the recovery, right) is rocking up and down quite a bit. In heavy seas, this turns the swim platform into a giant fiberglass flyswatter, with the COB as the fly.

Proper Jackline design is also important. A good jackline design will prevent you from falling over board and being dragged. Jakmedic relates how difficult it was to do anything when he was hanging alongside the boat. Imagine how much worse things would have been if the boat was still moving at four knots, with no one on board to assist.

If you have a properly balanced boat, that has just a bit of weather helm, a trailing line can sometimes work—provided you set it up to trip the windvane/autopilot so the boat can head up into the wind when you grab the trailing line. Otherwise, you're just going to turn into a really big surface bait for sharks.

The Lifesling needs to be tested and customized for whatever boat it is being used on. One thing my friend uses with the LifeSling is a Grab-and-Go mooring hook. It can support about 300 lbs. This is what he uses to attach the end of a block and tackle to the Lifesling if someone falls in and needs to be recovered...

Testing your inflatable PFDs should be done at least once a year. Just remember, if you have to abandon ship—don't rely on an inflatable PFD, you're much better off with a foam Type I PFD. It will provide more insulation and doesn't have the problems of leaking or being punctured.

If you travel with an inflatable PFD, always check the PFD on arrival at your destination. A friend of mine was traveling to the BVIs, and had checked her inflatable PFD. TSA had gone into her luggage and removed the CO2 cylinder from the vest (even though they're supposed to leave the damn things alone, since they're legal as checked baggage). She didn't check her PFD until she was on the boat, and by that time she wasn't able to find a replacement CO2 cartridge. But what if she hadn't checked, and had been knocked overboard... She would have been screwed.

[Cruisingdad]

Jakmedic,

That was a very nice write up and I am sure it will be appreciated by many readers.

Just a few thoughts:

1) We have tied on to our Sospenders a strobe light and knife, for reasons you obviously pointed out. We need to add a whistle too (which we had on our other gear). They do make a water-activated strobe and light by ACR. Might be worth consideration.

2) A good tether has a quick, easy release.

3) Regarding the CO2 cartridges, the airlines now have the final say on whether you can or cannot bring them aboard. It is my understanding that American and Southwest are ok with it, Northwest is a no, and US Air is still deciding. Good information to know BEFOREHAND as you are booking your flights to the out-islands.

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by Cruisingdad

1) We have tied on to our Sospenders a strobe light and knife, for reasons you obviously pointed out. We need to add a whistle too (which we had on our other gear). They do make a water-activated strobe and light by ACR. Might be worth consideration.

2) A good tether has a quick, easy release.

3) Regarding the CO2 cartridges, the airlines now have the final say on whether you can or cannot bring them aboard. It is my understanding that American and Southwest are ok with it, Northwest is a no, and US Air is still deciding. Good information to know BEFOREHAND as you are booking your flights to the out-islands.

I have strobes, whistles and knives on the crew PFDs and carry them on mine as well. The airlines may say they allow the CO2 cartridges, either as carry-on or more usually checked baggage. I would personally inspect for the CO2 cartridges, just in case an airline employee decided to remove them. Better safe than sorry.

[hellosailor]

On the CO2 cartridges and airlines, I flew with mine on 9/17/2001 and as you can imagine there were some issues with flying. Inflateable PFD's are "UN category 2 lifesaving equipment", that's an international (and US) airline classification for "dangerous goods" like CO2 bottles which are considered to be emergency equipment and very much allowed and approved in the cabin.

Your typical airline may not understand this, and there is a particular subsection that I have lost track of, but if a TSA inspector has a problem with it, you might remind them that "If this is a problem, you may want to shut down the airport, because there are some 200-300 of them already in the cabin of every aircraft that is here."

Yes, they are the same equipment--sanctioned, allowed, and REQUIRED--in the floatation vest that is packed under every airline seat before the aircraft is allowed to make an overwater flight. (Two cartridges per vest.) And that's one reason why there is an international code maintained by the UN that specifies they can and shall be allowed on board.

It's a good idea to unscrew the CO2 cartridge before flight anyway, because accidental inflations can and do happen. Replacing the "trigger" may not be possible on short notice, at least it you have the CO2 bottle separate you still have a working manual vest.

On tethers, the change from single to dual has been a good idea, but the concept it not to make a simple "Y" tether, but to make one side VERY SHORT and the other just long enough to let you get near--but not over--the lifelines. You stay clipped on with just the short tether, and use the long one only when needed to work past something, or reach something.

And still, try to stay on the boat.

[sailingdog]

Yes, the dual tether I use has a 1-meter and a 2-meter leg on it. But on my boat, even the 2-meter leg is unlikely to let me go over the side...the boat has beam of 18' or so, being a trimaran.