I just spent the weekend aboard a Hunter 35 while taking a sailing course. I passed my ASA 101!! During the course we practiced the man overboard drill by falling off to a beam reach, tacking, turning downwind, and then back to roughly being in irons for the pickup. We did all this without making any sail adjustments other than pulling the mainsheet in. Is this possible to do on a boat that does not have a full weighted keel? Most of the boats in my area are in the 20 foot range and have retractable centerboards (weighted).
What you did was the "figure-8" method, which is designed to avoid a jibe, but does get you pretty far from "Oscar" before you start heading back to him.
An alternative, if it's not too windy to jibe, is the "quick-stop" method, where you head upwind immediately, then circle around Oscar, jibe in mid-circle, then head up from below to get him. This method reportedly works better with a life sling trailed astern, it closes in on Oscar as you round him, and the whole thing keeps you closer to Oscar in the first place.
I teach sometimes on either Flying Scots, or on Beneteau 25s, and try to have the students try both methods.
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An alternative, if it's not too windy to jibe, is the "quick-stop" method, where you head upwind immediately, then circle around Oscar, jibe in mid-circle, then head up from below to get him. This method reportedly works better with a life sling trailed astern, it closes in on Oscar as you round him, and the whole thing keeps you closer to Oscar in the first place...
The lifesling doesn't fit too well into a "quick stop", as there is no time to deploy the sling, and if you do, the manouver is intended to complete ONE circle back to the MOB and the sling would never get to the MOB. If you expect to need the lifesling for the recovery, hand it to him after you have him alongside.
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Last edited by sailingfool : 06-25-2009 at 07:41 PM.
Another option if you have a quick response time is to heave-to, but you need to be close enough when the boat "stops" to get a life sling to COB.
Another upwind technique is the heave-to, sail-to, heave-to.
1) heave-to and then sail on a beam reach until the COB is abeam DO NOT TOUCH THE SAILS.
2) sail dead downwind until the COB of off the quarter.
3) head up onto a close reach keeping the COB about 1.5 - 2 boat lengths off until the COB is off the quarter.
4) heave-to and drift down to the COB.
This requires no sail handling, can be done by one person and works with a life-sling. You allows maintain control of the boat. If you miss you can just sail around again.
Jack
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ISPA Yachtmaster Offshore Instructor
CYA Advanced Cruising Instructor As I sail, I praise God, and care not. (Luke Foxe)
Dave's maneuvering sounds like it would take a bit of time to do. The reaching off would definitely take the boat away from the victim, making it more difficult to keep him in view. Our club held a MOB drill during a race last month. The Sailing Instructions called for each boat to be issued a watermelon to serve as "victim". Watermelons are about the size of a person's head, and don't blow around the way cushions or other "victims" might. About half way up the first windward leg, the RC announced over the radio for all boats to jettison their melons. It was blowing about 18 knots, with a 2' chop that made keeping the victim in view realistically difficult. The first boat to retrieve theirs used the Quick-Stop method, and got it back on board in about 30 seconds.
Here in OZ 'Quickstop' is the supposed Yachting Australia official method......My wife and I do both know it, and it is what I practice on our boat.
Having said that I have some concerns over it being used on boats with less experienced crew....in a panic stricken situation I can see how your crew could easily get confused with the first tack, unsheeting the jib and stalling the manoever.
One important point to make and the main point RYA make in teaching man overboard is to turn on the engine in keelboats.....
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I prefer the quickstop method as well. But one conern i have is that when you turn downwind, it is easy to forget the exact wind direction in the excitement and accidentally jibe. With most of the methods, the cool head on the boat is the most important piece of equipment, and the accidental jibe can give that cool head a nasty knock.
