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Man Overboard

18K views 107 replies 34 participants last post by  SailNet Archive 
#1 ·
Having taught for a local US Sailing school, one of the biggest debates was always Man Overboard (MOB) rescues. Of course, US Sailing has their preferred method but I found it was not always the best for beginners or even intermediate sailors. Speed on approach seemed to be the most common issue. What are your thoughts and what is the drill you prefer to teach your sailing crew?
 
#99 ·
He didn't say drills, Dog, and he alluded to the possibility of not having the engine so one could presume he implied practising under sail as well. He did say though that MOB's should always be recovered under power unless the power fails. Otherwise, your post has much illumination.
 
#101 ·
If he's advocating always recovering MOBs under power... wouldn't it follow that you'd have to practice doing MOB recoveries primarily under power.

Personally, I think you have to make the call each time...depending on the boat, the sea state, and the wind conditions. If you practice both... you'll have more options. Assuming that you'll be doing it under power is a bad idea-especially given how many sailboats are underpowered, and even if their capable of running the engine, it may not allow them to make the recovery quickly.
 
#100 ·
Another point: suppose it's a sport boat, with an outboard auxiliary. If you are in a heavy sea, half the time, you're cavitating and overspeeding the engine.

So you may have to pick "Oscar" up by sail alone. That's when the figure-8 versus "quick-stop" methods (which we discussed two months ago on this old, revived, thread) become important.

One other point (and this is probably repititious too): Whether you use motor, figure 8, or Quick-Stop, when you get close to Oscar, roll up the jib. It seems most of the complaints from both victims and rescuers come from flailing jib sheets, they can get in the way, and they really hurt..
 
#102 ·
We practise under sail first and more often, because we sail more often than we motor, and because there's just two of us. A sailboat stopped or moving very slowly, with the COB in the lee, can handle itself for a short period, whereas a motoring sailboat needs a helmsperson. If the COB is injured, that means abandoning the helm to deal with the COB.

We use the method of chucking a fender or a hat or something semi-floating over the side without warning, and then start a cheap stopwatch. The idea is to see a) can the chucked "crew" be seen, and b) how long and how readily can the boat be brought alongside without losing sight of them or mowing them down.
 
#103 ·
Obviously what i said didn't register with some people. You Will have to practice under sail incase the engine fails for anyone who has taken a Yachtmaster exam in the U.K you will know that unless you have no engine then that's what you will pick them up with.
On high powered motor boats it may be a while before you notice that an MOB has ocured this is when a loop is most usefull. It was discovered that if you find you have an MOB and it happened some time ago you head off at 60 degrees turn back on yourself and somewhere down the line the casualty will be in your wake.
also people must remember that tide is negligible as it is affecting the MOB aswell

p.s In future i will try not to look like a wanker
 
#104 ·
I'll stop soon

The main objective which people are missing is to get alongside the casualty as quick as possible whichever way you do it that's fine.
I'm not sure what the climate is where you are but here i can assure you the crew will be wearing full oilys, boots the lot so lets change the question to how would you get him out of the water?
I personally have no prefered method the only i've had an MOB it was flat calm and he was contious.
 
#105 ·
This is a long thread and perhaps I have not read all the postings properly, but it seems that one point is missing, the trace-line in the chartreader/plotter. Fortunately I have never had a MOB-situation. But an opportunity to do a simulation presented itself. It happened on a trip sailing from the south-coast of Norway towards the west-coast of Denmark. I had already asked the crew to give the dinghy a longer line as the wind speed increased to 30 knots.

By some freak accident the crew had tied the rope in such a way that the rope came in a squeeze between the rudder and the stern and the rope was cut of. Suddenly I discovered that the dinghy was no longer tied to the ship (I check the behaviour of the dinghy from time to time).

I use a portable computer with electronic chart and I always use the trace-function. Partly for checking that I am on the course as previously planned, but also for fine-tuning the autopilot according to the weather to see that the autopilot is making a straight line not a zig-zag course. (as I use 7 sails, it is easier to keep the trim and change the course if the wind changes direction, when sailing at night, instead of leaving the steeringhouse and trim the sails)

In this case I returned and followed the traceline. I added 10° for drift and luckily found the dinghy after 5 min. of sailing.
 
#106 ·
Sailing in Galveston when I was 24 on a hot day I thought a nice dip would be good i had a line tied off and jumped in, there were two other people onboard at the time. i was in pretty good shape at the time and thought hey no problem grab the line and back to the boat, I had never been drug that hard when water skiing. At 50 now i would never have made it back to the boat let alone been able to climb onboard, i barely made it then. I will always have short tethers and some sort of ladder on my boat. Just a thought, what about using the main halyard to winch aboard a mob? lower the main when in position, or using the engine, line to winch and up. presuuming the mop can attach the shackle? as a newby i am probably all wet.
 
#107 · (Edited)
Our last overboard situation was almost comical. We were motor-sailing Westbound in the Intercoastal coming up to the Corpus Christi bridge when a cushion blew overboard. Barry reached for it, leaned out too far and bloop - into the drink.
One of the other guys threw him a floatation cushion - almost hit him in the head, then dropped the swim ladder. We were passing a tug with a tow and I couldn't turn into the channel, so I turned Paloma hard to starboard to return to get Barry. Being in the Intercoastal and being close to the edge of the navigatable channel, we ran hard aground. While we were arguing about what to do, Barry - oh yes Barry our MOB - we forgot about him in all the confusion - swam over to the boat with both cushions in tow, came up the swim ladder and shook water all over everyone else.
We tried all the usual methods for ungrounding - backing up in the direction we came in, heeling and kedging, etc - we weren't just aground, we were hard aground. As we were thinking that the best way to get out of this mess was to have a couple of beers and wait for high tide, a guy driving a flat bottom bass boat with twin Johnson 150's, his wife and two dogs aboard, pulls up and says, "need a tow". After affirming that we did in fact need a tow, he proceeded to u-turn around our stern to come around from the starboard side and promptly ran aground. He hopped out to push his boat back into the channel and it was so shallow, his shorts didn't get wet.
After several more trys, he finally got us unstuck and we were again on our way.
As we continued motor-sailing along our way to Freeport, our conversation was not about Barry going MOB, but the little 300hp bass boat.
 
#108 ·
One thing I have not seen mentioned is training the crew and passengers to be visible targets and good oscars. Teach them what to do when the life sling is thrown. Teach them to splash water up with their hands to improve visibility from a distance. Things like that. Do any other parents here have the overpowering urge to jump after any kids that may go in the drink? In the ChesBay in the summer, if I have another competant sailor with me, I brief that one of us (pre-determined and wearing a PFD) goes over with the kid and the life sling goes right after him. I know, I know, one more MOB to deal with, but in those conditions, I feel better knowing that I am with my youngster and can work with them on water survival until the boat gets back.
 
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