Man Overboard Using The Mainsheet

[Matthew P]

I would much appreciate a demonstration of a Jason-cradle-type solution, or any alternatives, at the Swallow Boats Rally Ullswater Rally, 10th May next year.  In fact I'll volunteer as a 200Kg guinea pig, assuming reasonable chances of a successful rescue are assured.  Yes, I will wear a dry-suit!

Matthew

   

[Matthew P]

I would much appreciate a demonstration of a Jason-cradle-type solution, or any alternatives, at the Swallow Boats Rally Ullswater Rally, 10th May next year.  In fact I'll volunteer as a 200Kg guinea pig, assuming reasonable chances of a successful rescue are assured.  Yes, I will wear a dry-suit!

Matthew

Correction: make that a 100Kg guinea pig unless Christmas is unusually fattening this year.

Matthew

[Peter Cockerton]

Mathew

What a star you are, for volunteering I will buy you a couple of beers if we get you back in the boat, if it fails to get you out of the water, well, you won't be thirsty will you.

Seriously, the kit obviously works and manageable by one crew member, working on the assumption that the mob enters the loop horizontally and stays there whilst the loop is closed. The design is such that the loop does not flatten and I guess squash the mob, also the soft curves of the rib lend themselves to aiding the roll effect of the mob back into the boat. In our favour we have fairly short freeboard to consider but still enough to perhaps have enough to make a squeeze area when mob initially pulled out of the water especially if homemade design does not have the means to prevent the loop from closing. Will put some thought into making a bit of kit and trial it on the next mob on my boat (Scooby, here boy fancy a nice cool dip).

Peter

[Andy Dingle]

Have a look at this ..

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?373360-Yacht-aground-and-skipper-missing

Just a couple of days ago ...  just a simple sail from Weymouth to Swanage.. yet his boat is found washed up in France..

A major air/sea search was launched by the French but apparently still no sign. Portland are co ordinating on our side of the channel

Perhaps with a Personal EPIRB there may have been a happier outcome....  My order for one goes in today.

It seems he was sailing single handed and the weather seems to have been pretty rough too.
There are some very interesting comments on autohelms (or tiller tamers in our case?) that would most definitely ensure your boat sailed sedately away after you had fallen in the water.. instead of rounding up into the wind and stopping? Mind you, leeward drift is certainly faster than a man in a lifejacket could swim. I recall my days of racing catamarans that would often tip over, the first rule was never, ever let go of the boat as she would be off downwind like the proverbial off a shovel.


Very sad. I am sure all our thoughts go out to his family and club members..



Andy

[Michael Rogers]

It makes your blood run cold...Anyone for golf instead? (Actually, no thanks.)

The Ireland incident which sparked the previous thread I mentioned (which was called something like "anyone for a swim?') concerned an experienced sailor who went out singlehanded in his Drascombe in conditions of very little wind but quite a marked swell from bad weather elsewhere. He didn't return, and his boat was later found drifting empty, sails up, outboard in neutral, throttle partly open, tank empty. They thought he had given up on the windless conditions, started the engine, left it idling, went forward to drop the sails, and was knocked overboard by the sail swinging across in the heavy swell. And couldn't climb aboard.....  (I think he was never found.) Which, of course, sparked the discussion about climbing back.

Michael

[Peter Taylor]

While waiting for Matt to get my BC20 built, and intending to sail it single handed, I've had some time to think about this! I'll have a tiller-pilot so the boat would happily sail away from me if I went overboard, but even head to wind most boats drift faster than you can swim if there's any wind.  So when at sea (as opposed to the river) I intend to be clipped on going forward or in the cockpit in poor weather.

As a dinghy sailor I already have a dry suit (although I'd only want to use it in bad weather).  At the Boat Show I bought a PLB - the sort which transmits to satellite and has a homing signal. My lifejacket has a special pocket for it to live in. I also have a hand-held DSC enabled VHF which I can carry in a pouch on my lifejacket harness. I would use this rather than an AIS beacon.  Indeed, for my local sailing area the VHF seems the best bet for rescue - using the distress button will send a mayday with my GPS position to all DSC equipped vessels within range. From the water, VHF range is very limited but in the Solent you are probably at more danger of being run over than from drowning! It's outside the Solent that the PLB may well be more use than the VHF.

However, despite these precautions the main thing has got to be... don't fall in!
Peter

[Tony]

Hi, Peter.
Give the survival times in cold water - even with a Drysuit - and the difficulty of re-boarding most small boats,  "Dont fall in" is definitely the best policy. The increasing availability of small and (relatively) cheap PLBs  is a welcome trend and all single-handers and sailors in remote places should, out  of consideration for family and friends, take a look at them.  They will, at least, make it easier for the emergency services to find the body.
The sea is a hostile environment and we are all capable of errors of judgment and so I am quite happy to dress up like a StarWars extra (with my dry suit, life jacket, VHF, PLB, Iridium sat phone, whistle, pocket flares and safety knife) in the hope of increasing my chances of survival but only so long as I am NOT told I MUST do so, what ever the circumstances, by some career politician flying a desk in Whitehall..... and don't get me started on knee-jerk knife legislation!

 BTW  The old thread on this topic is : http://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/?page_id=17