Man Overboard

[sailingdog]

I would highly recommend, if you've just lost the only crew you had on-board, hitting the MOB button on the GPS ASAP, just in case you lose sight of them.

[Gryzio]

This something I like to practice regular and it something to do on the boat for others besides sitting around.

I done various scenarios from using the boom pole to get a person on board the boat (One person to save).

To my falling off and having to get on board alone!
(This I practice with someone on the boat, but, they are not to intervene unless I call for help).

So, practice is best I know and different ways as mentioned; Figure 8, Engine Power etc.). But, in my opinion we need to practice and try various ways of doing it. On a calm day, maybe the Engine work great. But, in rough water with the boat raising up and slamming down in the water, maybe a boom pole to keep them from the boat more until they up. It a hard call to make until we in a particular situation. But, practicing other alternatives before we need them is best to be prepared for the situation.

I wanted to add; the MOB Button can help. Once my Niece's miniature Doberman fell overboard. I guess the waves were around 5 feet. I hit the button and went right to the dog. He was swimming his heart out. Scooped him up with a small crab/fish net on a pole I always keep handy.

[soulesailor]

For me and my boat using the motor is extremely inconvenient. I have an outboard in the lazarette so to employ it I would have to:

Open the lazarette hatch
Un-wingnut the plug
Put the plug on the cockpit floor
Raise the motor out of the resting position and install in the hole
Tighten both turn screws
Get out the gas line from the cockpit locker
Hook up the motor to the gas tank
Prime the gas line
Start pulling the starter cord
Engage motor in gear and go after swimmer

Sailing back to the MOB really is the only option for me in most scenarios. I like the figure 8 method. I don't think I could just stop and let the wind push me back in a straight line, my bow always falls off the wind and I have no steerage unless I'm moving a little faster.

[Sasha_V]

Well, yeah, that does change things.


Sasha

[sailingdog]

sasha-

I'm going to send you a big treble hook, that your wife can use during the time she's dragging you in the water... She might just catch a shark using you as bait.

[speciald]

We were having a discussion in the marina one night years ago and the question came up as to what a wife would do if her husband fell from the boat. One woman gave a very detailed account of how she would start the engine and motor the boat home. We had to ask her -" What about your huband, Jim?" OOPS!!!!

[tenuki]

Good posts everyone, especially Sasha - I'm planning on taking my wife and son over to lake washington this summer and make them recover me from warm water. I'm pretty confident I can recover somebody else with my life sling and tackle and prefer the quick stop, but I'm worried about my own ass if I ever fall into the puget sound freezer.

[Robby Barlow]

Sorry to say that I wouldn't want to be the MOB sailing with most of you guys on a 40'-50' yacht, in 35+ knot wind and a 12' swell. In these conditions you can't see the MOB in under 2 minutes even when you're looking straight at him.

Tenuki - before you jump overboard - let them practice with something else.

[sailaway21]

I would emphasize a point that Sasha has made also. In a for real MOB situation the only thing that is essential is keeping an eye, preferably eyes, on the MOB. I favor the quick stop method, but each situationis different and the sailing conditions and boats do not lend themselves equally to set procedures. What must be a set procedure though is that everyone, absolutely everyone, keep their eyes on the MOB. If there is shiphandling or sail handling to be done it can be effective to pass off lookout duties to each other, but it must be absolutely a certainty that the relief lookout actually has the MOB in sight, and as soon as possible all crews eyes should be trained again on the MOB. Regardless of how you return the vessel to the MOB, hoist him on board, etc... it is all futile if you lose sight of him.

He may well freeze to death alongside the boat while you're trying to hoist him on board, but it is far surer that he'll do the same alone if you lose sight of him. I do not believe in anyone going below for lifesaving gear, blankets, lines, and the like. There will be time enough for that as you come back upon the MOB. That one person you send below may be the set of eyes that keeps the MOB in sight. Of course, this will be the time that your lookout gets smacked by the boom during a crash jibe as well, and if you're steering and your two other crew are making up lines, you've just lost sight of your MOB. It's very important that the person who sees the MOB make sure that the others on board do as well. The tendency is for people, when they hear, "I see him, I see Him", to assume that the lookout function is fulfilled. what they should really be saying is, "Where away?" Especially in weather there's going to be a degree of panic and mistakes made. The one man that sees the MOB suddenly will get his foot fouled in a line and look down losing you your lookout if other's are not spotting the MOB as well.

I prefer to send a bowline on a bight to the MOB, but it's surely preferable to send a simple bowline if that's what can be reliably tied by the person handling the line. Getting a bight around the MOB is going to go a long way towards calming the MOB and, I believe, is more important than passing a life jacket. Once he's secured to the line about his chest, or the bowline on a bight can have his legs slipped through, it's fine to pass a flotation device-you're not going to lose him now. There are so many ways to bring him back on board, and the boats and conditions so varied, that it's difficult to attempt to suggest one of broad applicability. It certainly is of great help should the water be not too frigid as the vessel can be brought under control and even manoeuvered to make landing the MOB easier. In those cases, more often than not, the MOB's strength will be the prime mover in getting him on board. If hypothermia is not an issue, and the MOB has been exerting himself, little is lost by allowing him to float, rest, and recover his strength. In a heavy boat, in a running sea, it may prove beneficial to move the MOB towards bow or stern. As the boat scends the MOB may find himself on a level with or above the lifelines and be able to grab ahold. This is a good time to have a crewmember get the medical kit out as well as a blanket and bandages. The likelyhood of injury during boarding is not slight, with head injury being the most likely.

[Omatako]

It's interesting that (I think) all of the scenarios sketched above use the "running downwind" description. You could of course be beating hard and then it's a case of quickly heaving to and drifting back to the MOB .

As far as dropping the sails, I (partly) disagree with that for two reasons. First, when you get back to the MOB with at least the main still up, the boat can be heaved to and will be a lot more stable and second, in a hove-to attitude, the leeward rail will be deeper in the water (much less freeboard) as you drift onto the MOB.

Of course,the second advantage is not there for the multis because remember, they are always level .

Whenever we do these drills we immediately luff the boat, furl the headsail, sheet the main up hard and motor back to upwind of the MOB, heave to and drift back. For a practise MOB, a horseshoe life ring tied to a bucket to stop it drifting too fast.

Andre