Man Overboard

[Captain Jeffry]

Cat Man Do's suggestion is spot on! Practice practice practice. Always discuss safety issues. I have written the steps for MOB and taped the list, in a clear, water tight envelope, when I sail with new crew. Everyone gets to read/review it all day/night long. Be surprised how comfortable people feel when the vessel is prepared for crisis.

[Sindbad]

from Noonsite Oct 31, 2011:

French solo sailing star Florence Arthaud fell off her boat during a toilet break but was saved from the Mediterranean waters by rescuers after she called her mother by mobile phone.
Ms Arthaud, winner in 1990 of the Route du Rhum single-handed transatlantic sailing race, was located and rescued near the island of Corsica thanks to a headlamp and the GPS system on her phone.
A small wave hit the boat and knocked her overboard while she was taking a toilet break without her usual harness, she said.
"I quite simply fell into the water while preparing to take a pee," the 54-year-old told BFM television.
Ms Arthaud, alone on her 10-metre (33ft) yacht The Argade II when she fell overboard, managed to hold her phone, encased in a waterproof covering, above water and call her mother in Paris to raise the alarm. Her mother alerted a rescue team, which set off in search of the sailor.
Ms Arthaud, one of the most respected female sailors in the world, was sailing for her own pleasure when the incident occurred. She spent almost two hours in the water before being rescued, and was suffering from hypothermia.
She had bought the waterproof mobile phone just one week earlier.

[carstenb]

Everyone goes below to pee on Capri. And everyone sits while they pee. Boat rules.

Don't like 'em? Don't sail with us.

[Captain Jeffry]

Sinbad! THAT is an amazing story! Just WoW!

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by Sindbad

from Noonsite Oct 31, 2011:

French solo sailing star Florence Arthaud fell off her boat during a toilet break but was saved from the Mediterranean waters by rescuers after she called her mother by mobile phone.
Ms Arthaud, winner in 1990 of the Route du Rhum single-handed transatlantic sailing race, was located and rescued near the island of Corsica thanks to a headlamp and the GPS system on her phone.
A small wave hit the boat and knocked her overboard while she was taking a toilet break without her usual harness, she said.
"I quite simply fell into the water while preparing to take a pee," the 54-year-old told BFM television.
Ms Arthaud, alone on her 10-metre (33ft) yacht The Argade II when she fell overboard, managed to hold her phone, encased in a waterproof covering, above water and call her mother in Paris to raise the alarm. Her mother alerted a rescue team, which set off in search of the sailor.
Ms Arthaud, one of the most respected female sailors in the world, was sailing for her own pleasure when the incident occurred. She spent almost two hours in the water before being rescued, and was suffering from hypothermia.
She had bought the waterproof mobile phone just one week earlier.

For someone with two posts, that is an amazing addition to the site here. Can't wait for post 100!

[GaryMayo]

My 32' has a MOB marker flag at the helm affixed to a port mizzen stay. A month ago we had a HOB in a sudden gust of wind. (Hat overboard)

Did not mark the spot with the MOB marker. Once we lost sight of the hat in the quick aboutface turn, we never saw it again, in 20 minutes of circling.

I hope Neptune likes my hat! Second item we have donated to him this year.

[sailorboy1]

I'm more willing to believe that 80% of MOBs are alcohol related. Which would including most that involved peeing over the side.

I also would believe most of these are related to small boats that don't have real heads etc. You know, those little 10-12' boats that are out fishing in a Small Boat Advisory where there is only 1 person on the boat, standing up to cast his fishing line, not wearing a life vest, all while reaching into the cooler.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by stillbuilding

Absolutely. Devices available for women to enable this too.

Yeah. It's called a bucket .


I vaguely recall that (in UK) one of the most common times to drown is from a dinghy (going to / from a moored yacht) rather than from the Yacht itself (no idea where I got that from!).........that probably fits in with the "most car accidents happen within 1 mile of home" (no idea if that is actually true!) as folks get complacent from doing something a squillion times (whereas in the 1000 year storm likely to be very careful!).

In addition to any MOB drills when at sea - worthwhile playing around at getting back onboard when at anchor to understand how hard it can be.....especially on own!

[jeremiason]

About 15 years ago I experienced my only MOB or what I refer to Ex-WOB (Ex-Wife Overboard) in our marina.

My ex-wife (nothing to do with this story), me and several guests had just completed a day sail on the San Francisco Bay and were returning to the marina. Because the summers winds tend to be 20-25 mph with lots of fetch, we sailed behind the breakwater and into the marina main channel to douse the main.

I started my 180 degree turn into the wind while my ex stood at the mast waiting to flake the sail. As we turned, the sail luffed and my ex started walking down the lee side of the boom thinking we were head to wind.

We weren't and the wind caught the main again. The boom crossed over and caught the ex in the stomach and launched her about ten feet into the air. She hit the water with a pop as her auto-PFD inflated perfectly.

Since I still had the main up I started to do a figure eight recovery when I realized I didn't have the sea room in the narrow channel surrounded by docks

So I headed into the wind and gave my passengers directions to lower the main. In their panic of seeing the ex go into the water they had reverted to their primary language of German and were not unerstanding my directions in English.

I decided to run the haylard and just drop the main on deck and then motor back to the ex for recovery. I opened the rope clutch and the main fell about haf way down before the slack halyard caught in the spreader and the main sail stopped.

So now I have my ex in the water, two people screaming in German and of course a very badly reefed main in 20 knots of wind.

At tht point to old crusty sea salts on a motor yacht tied to one of the near by docks, shake their heaads, walk out on their transom and pull the ex from the water.

I was eventually able to get the sail free and secured. I motored over to the dock with my head down and picked up the ex, Off course the salty sea dogs had to critique my MOB exercise, which further humiliated me.

OK the point of this story, which is all true, is:

We did MOBs drills almost evertime we went out in those days. We talked about what we would do when someone went overboard and had it all worked out, we thought!

The problem became what to do when your partner, who is responsible for parts of the MOB drill you have practiced over and over is in the water, the passengers on board are too panicked to assist with anything and then old Murphy appears and grabs your halyard...

Just remember to have more than one plan and be adaptive, because things will go wrong...

[Hudson Force]

Older men, like me, would suggest that wisdom with age causes them to head below for a seat........
but the truth in the matter is that they don't want to dribble on their feet!

[Sindbad]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

For someone with two posts, that is an amazing addition to the site here. Can't wait for post 100!

Working on it.
Cheers

[Chrisgo]

It took a while, but I found it:

Actual footage of a very, very, very, lucky guy who thought he was dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q7vT3hf6e0

[zeehag]

since 1957, i have experienced only one mob--and that was a drunk and disorderly friend falling in between dock and a crocker ketch just back from catalina. was a pita--she didnt cooperate well--i kept boat from dock in an ill advised fashion--but it worked, and we got the wannabe stiff out of the cold water safely, thank sea gods and wtf is there.....coulda been fatal had i not watched her slowly step into water instead of onto dock while we were docking boat.

was 1989.

[Lagoon4us]

I have 2 experiences of associates in 40 years of going over the side into the piss so to speak.
One was off Cairns he was drunk and was found without shorts dead, the other was in Gladstone on a calm night and he was thankfully picked up an hour later by his skipper who wondered where he went.
Two knocked off boat by boom in club races, two stepped where they shouldn't have.
So in 40 years that's the lot........Cheers Frank

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by jeremiason

Just remember to have more than one plan and be adaptive, because things will go wrong...

That's a great story because it highlights the reality of fluctuating circumstances. In one of my rescue classes (diving world) they drill it into your head that you have no idea what you'll have available, what the problem will be, and how far you'll be from safety. The first rule they put on you is "whatever you do, don't make more victims."

So in a tight channel like that or in unknown waters with a jacked up sail, figure 8's are out of the question.

It comes down to seamanship. Knowing the boat, knowing the water, knowing how much time you have to work with, and making the best decision given the circumstances. Sometimes it's a quickstop with a lifesling, could be yelling at them to swim the 50' to the beach.