Are you ready for man overboard - True story

[puffcard]

I sailed with this crew for about 15 years, several offshore races including Bermuda (4), Newport (2), Nova Scotia. Very seasoned crew. Things change when the someone goes over. Good read, makes you rethink your gear. I'm planning to upgrade my gear this year. I've also been overboard twice, but never lost sight of the boat.

https://www.spinsheet.com/racing/chi...verboard-night

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by puffcard

I sailed with this crew for about 15 years, several offshore races including Bermuda (4), Newport (2), Nova Scotia. Very seasoned crew. Things change when the someone goes over. Good read, makes you rethink your gear. I'm planning to upgrade my gear this year. I've also been overboard twice, but never lost sight of the boat.

https://www.spinsheet.com/racing/chi...verboard-night

Thanks for posting the link.
He was lucky.
Good lessons in that story.
Even Experienced sailors can go MOB.
One can fall through or under lifelines in an instant.
Hard to breathe at surface level in high winds. This is why spray hoods are recommended.
buckle your PFD.
Battery powered PFD Lights can fail.
Whistles can be lifesavers. Some don't work well when full of water.

[Paul L]

It would be interesting to know what methods the boat used to navigate back to the MOB region.

[Kenomac]

LifeSling, Lifesling, LifeSling.

It works. I've used it to recover an idiot and his dog.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

LifeSling, Lifesling, LifeSling.

It works. I've used it to recover an idiot and his dog.

Not sure if you were responding to my question or not. My question was navigating back to the MOB area, not how to recover once you found the MOB. The boat went 1.5 miles away while dousing sail at night.

[Kenomac]

No I wasn't, but now that you mention it... using a Lifesling properly and according to the directions... you don't douse the sails.

Deploy and immediately turn into the wind, allow the jib to backwind, then sail a circle around the MOB without touching the sails.

There's no need to waste time dousing the sails, then attempting to navigate 1.5 miles back. That's the beauty of the Lifesling system.

[Cormorant]

They were flying a spinnaker, sailing NNE with SW winds. (Wind speed 30-40 knots, boat speed 18 knots -- yow!)

"I knew it would be a while before my teammates could return to look for me since they were travelling away so fast and would not be able to turn without dropping the chute. In fact, afterwards we estimated the boat ended up more than 1.5 miles from me."

We met a couple in the Bahamas who had a similar man-overboard situation. Sailing downwind, the husband reached back to fiddle with the dinghy davits, slipped and went overboard. The wife couldn't round the boat up into the wind. Luckily there was a quasi buddy boat a few miles behind them, who she radioed, and they picked up hubby. If not for them, who knows how it would've ended.

[UNCIVILIZED]

It's helpful to tuck 2-4 chem lights inside of the cover of your life vest, along with it. And tied onto the vest itself. Along with a military type strobe light if you've room. And be sure to change them out regularly, along with the battery on the strobe.

FYI military pilots have a patch of velcro glued onto the tops of their flight helmets, in back, to mount the strobe to, so that it's as high as possible. Something worth thinking about. Especially if you already wear a headlamp at night.
The mount is in back so as to lessen the degradation of their night vision via the strobe.

Strobes are great at attracting attention, even from great distances. But it's hard to locate them exactly, due to how human depth perception works. Which is where a constant on light source, such as chem lights come in handy. Plus unless accidentally activated, chem lights don't have any parts which can go bad, or batteries to go flat.

[Lionelsole]

Originally Posted by Paul L

It would be interesting to know what methods the boat used to navigate back to the MOB region.

Don't know about this one but a MOB from a clipper racer was found using a personal AIS beacon. We now have automatic ones in our life jackets. Hopefully, we will never discover how good they are. (Another good feature is that they also trigger a DSC alert to wake the off watch).

[MikeHedge]

Thx for sharing your story. Glad you can! Reading it sorta takes your breath away. Good wake up call that yes, it does happen. Time to invest in a couple of personal AISs and recheck the gear.

[zedpassway]

Where I sail going overboard means a good chance of dying because the water even in August never gets above 53F.

And so, granted I'm in a small craft, I put down the sails and motor when the wind speed gets into steady 18knots with 22knot+ gusts.

At 16 knots(regardless of any other conditions or the lack there of), everyone gets harnesses under their PFDs and tethers to the boat.

Its all a out not falling out because 15 minutes in 52 degree water will incapacitate you. You lose heat 25x faster(2500%) in water than air.

And then there is the difficulty in a small boat with only 2 or three people even getting the soaking wet heave person who cannot move his/her fingers or extremities back on board if you get to them.

[TomLewis]

I credit my ASA training with an incident that happened with my son. I was lake sailing and pulling the kids behind while sailing. All was good until my son, who is diabetic, got low sugar and let go of the rope. I recognized what was going on with him and heaved a floating cushion to him. The motor wouldn't start (yes I know, wth) so I had to sail back to him. Thanks goodness he had a float to hang on to while I had to plan my approach to pick him up. Got him back aboard and something to eat. I took a different view of things after that.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by TomLewis

I credit my ASA training with an incident that happened with my son. I was lake sailing and pulling the kids behind while sailing. All was good until my son, who is diabetic, got low sugar and let go of the rope. I recognized what was going on with him and heaved a floating cushion to him. The motor wouldn't start (yes I know, wth) so I had to sail back to him. Thanks goodness he had a float to hang on to while I had to plan my approach to pick him up. Got him back aboard and something to eat. I took a different view of things after that.

You were very lucky that day, You need to get a Lifesling and learn how to use it.

Throwing a float and hoping the MOB can get to it and then hold onto it isn't the best solution.

[TomLewis]

Thanks Kenomac. You are right on. I have one for the big boat, but do need to rehearse with it.

[Moontide]

Personal AIS is a great invention. If overboard it alerts both your boat and any others within range. These are the closest rescue assets. Personal EPIRBs are good, but the rescue assets are hours or days away with them. I do a lot of single and double handing and IMHO this is the best solution. If double handing the VHF alarm will wake up the other person and if single handing it would notify any other boats in the area.

Since most people run plotters most of the time thesedashitting the MOB button or dropping a waypoint is a no brainer. Won'tbe exact but gets you in the immediate area.

My first rule, if anyone else is on deck, is stop the boat. That means turning quickly and obviously could be a problem if it is blowing hard, but in most conditons the most that will happen is you might tear a sail. Small price to pay to stay within a few boat lengths of the MOB.

Absent the personal AIS the old school horseshoe ring with attached MOB pole/flag is next in line. A person in the water is very hard to see if there is any sea state and the pole/flag can be seen at a much greater distance.

Bill