Wear your lifejacket always

[SeaBelle]

It doesn't make sense to me to spend so much time talking about life jackets (our government has given up trying to convince us they are PFDs) and crew overboard procedures and so little time talking about not falling off.

It is only a small hyperbole when I say "if you're wet, you're dead". I say it for two reasons: first and foremost, to stress not falling overboard and second to recognize that in all but the most benign situations crew overboard procedures often fail.

I wear a comfortable, integrated inflatable vest and harness, I rig jacklines, I clip on, I go forward on the leeward side, and I have 2 hands for the boat and a tether for me.

Most people practice Crew Overboard during the day in light winds and use a cushion as the crew. Think about what it is like at night, in more than 3 foot seas, winds above 18 kn, in Maine waters. How likely is it that you'll get your child, wife, or friend aboard safely? Now think about it during the day, it still hard to find someone. Cold temps don't give us long for search and rescue, hypothermia arrives quickly. What if you find someone after hypothermia has rendered them helpless? How long will it take to get them aboard (if they're heavier than a cushion) while hypothermia worsens?

I also insist that everyone aboard wear shoes. I believe that when one stubs their toe (the body part, not the boat part - we geezers call a keel hitting bottom, "stubbing your toe") there is an involuntary response, increasing the chance of going overboard. Those of us who picture barefoot 'men of steel on boats of wood' should remember that in those days life was cheap, crew expendable, and owners and officers didn't worry about crew or their families.

I suggest practicing "Keeping crew aboard" drills.

Having said that, I am not always clipped on. Sailing with experienced crew, in daylight, in calm conditions, in the cockpit I feel comfortable without being clipped on. Otherwise I wear my harness and use it. These harnesses are comfortable, clipping on is easy, and you can use both hands rather than 'one for you and one for the boat'.

[Jeff Barnes]

Jack,

I think your comments are spot on, and I couldn't agree with you more. I single-hand my CD36 on a regular basis and I try to never lose sight of my objective: stay on the boat. I don't even like thought of falling off with a tether and a jack line, although I have the boat set up with an emergeny ladder system just in case.

Jeff

[Oswego John]

Jack,

I don't even like thought of falling off with a tether and a jack line, although I have the boat set up with an emergeny ladder system just in case.

Jeff

It might be worth having two emergency ladders, port and starboard. Can you picture the frustration a tethered singlehander might have after going overboard over the port rail, the emergency ladder being stationed above the starboard rail, and the boat moving steadily ahead with fixed lines.

O J

[Neil Gordon]

... I go forward on the leeward side, ...

Most people practice Crew Overboard during the day in light winds and use a cushion as the crew.

I was taught so stay to windward. If something breaks, e.g., the main sheet, leeward of the boom is a bad place to be. Isn't the high side the safer side?

As for recovering crew from the water, I was lucky enough to be in the lifeboat crew when I was in the Navy. We were all young and in relatively good shape. Our "crew" overboard was "Oscar," a humanoid fashioned from orange life jackets. Just maneuvering the whaleboat close enough to snag Oscar was a major challenge. Leaning over and hauling a relatively weightless body on board generally risked adding more crew to the water than we were retriving.

[Mathias]

I have done exercises (albeit when anchored and folks swimming in relatively warm water) in which I have attach my boom vang to the boom-bale where the mainsheet attaches, and thereby hauled aboard an adult.

I put a bowline loop in the end, in which the person sat. It wasn't the most comfortable for that person because the line digs into their thighs, but it is functional for the short time it takes to haul them up and swing them aboard.

I plan to have an additional boomvang onboard for my upcoming cruise, which would be "at the ready" and can be clipped into a horseshoe ring, so the person just needs to flop into the ring and I can haul them aboard.

-Mathias

[Oswego John]

Matthias,

It sounds like you have the plan.

I sail on a rather new two masted schooner. There are many wrinkles that have to be ironed out. Since it will become a floating classroom, the USCG has much to say about MOB and COB retrieval.

There is a system that is now being developed. Each of the two masts has its own dedicated block attached to the masthead with a line attached for the purpose of lifting a seaman up in a bos'n seat.

A bridle of sorts is made up that is attached to a horseshoe float. This tossable float is clipped to the free end of the bos'n chair lift line. We haven't had any drills with this up to now, so I really can't go into details. I am anxious to see how well this procedure works.

There is another point that we must take into consideration. How high is the freeboard. Our's is approximately five feet. The best laid plans are of little or no use to the sailor who sails singlehanded or with an untrained or physically weak crew. Retrieval methods must be customized for each individual situation and then hope and pray that they will never have to be implemented.

This is serious business, not to be taken lightly.
O J

[Mathias]

OJ,

I am anxious to hear the results of those trials. I have two things in particular that I wonder about:

1) Using a single purchase block at the masthead. Is that enough purchase? One consideration I always keep in mind that it might be someone far weaker than I who has to haul ME out of the water. To that end, I had a small-ish woman haul me out with the boom vang. And it worked reasonably well.

2) The attachment of that system to the masthead. I assume this will create an "angle of haul" that drags the MOB up along the freeboard. In the old days, didn't we enjoy that as part of keel-hauling? But seriously, that means that the MOB has to bounced along the hull and then entangled in the lifelines before finally being on board. This method seems prone to causing discomfort to the MOB at best but at worst, possibly aggravating injuries.

Please keep us posted on how this works. I am very interested.

Thanks,
-Mathias

[Neil Gordon]

>>Using a single purchase block at the masthead. Is that enough purchase?<<

It would be the same as hauling someone aloft using a halyard. You get the benefit of the winches on the mast but it still might not be enough. A combination of halyard plus the vang might work... haul the COB as high out of the water as you can with the halyard and winch; finish the job with the vang. The key is getting the COB alongside and attached to the boat. From there, you get a little more time to solve the problem.

>>The attachment of that system to the masthead. I assume this will create an "angle of haul" that drags the MOB up along the freeboard.<<

Unless you just pull the COB aboard, which we conclude is nearly impossible, you need to rig your recovery device somewhere. I'm thinking it goes something like this:

Crew goes overboard.
You toss a Lifesling or buoy, which is tethered to the boat.
Once the COB has the buoy, you haul to the boat at the location of your lifting gear.
Attach the tether to the halyard or vang and haul away.

In any case, with a sea running, the COB gets bounced against the hull in the process. A small price to pay for getting back on board.

[SeaBelle]

Neil Gordon wrote

I was taught so stay to windward. If something breaks, e.g., the main sheet, leeward of the boom is a bad place to be. Isn't the high side the safer side?

Neil is correct. I misspoke , I go forward on the windward side, the high side, as Neil does. I havn't thought about something breaking but Neil's point is well taken, I use the high side so that if I fall it will be downhill and I'll run out of tether before I run out of deck.

[Oswego John]

OJ,

I am anxious to hear the results of those trials. I have two things in particular that I wonder about:

>>1) Using a single purchase block at the masthead. Is that enough purchase? One consideration I always keep in mind that it might be someone far weaker than I who has to haul ME out of the water. To that end, I had a small-ish woman haul me out with the boom vang. And it worked reasonably well.<<

I checked today on what our setup is. We have a 4:1 set of blocks on each mast for a bos'n chair. We have never yet went out shorthanded. We usually have two deckhands hauling and a third snubbing the slack on the fall.

It is good to realize that a smallish person can haul a person out with a boom vang.

>>2) The attachment of that system to the masthead. I assume this will create an "angle of haul" that drags the MOB up along the freeboard. In the old days, didn't we enjoy that as part of keel-hauling? But seriously, that means that the MOB has to bounced along the hull and then entangled in the lifelines before finally being on board. This method seems prone to causing discomfort to the MOB at best but at worst, possibly aggravating injuries.<<

I brought up the thought of the "angle of haul" and the preliminary idea was that this had to be looked into farther. One of the early points mentioned was that the beam was about 12 feet at the location of a mast which results with about 6 feet between the center of the mast and the toe rail.

The point of attachment of the 4:1 tackle is about 44 feet above the deck. After some quick sketches with an adjustable compass and straight edge were made, as well as some of the members who rememberd their high school math did some computations, it was informally agreed that the lift line over the side would be about 6 to 8 degrees off perpendicular. (Correct me if we're wrong, please). Since the weight of the MOB/COB is so far away from the point of suspension, it should prove to be easy to fend the body off while being raised.

Upon farther thought, I think that I will mention the idea of using a temporary boom or spreader, with maybe a yoke on one end to rest against the mast, and a roller on the opposite end for the lift line. The purpose of the spreader would be to position the lift line a foot or two outboard of the hull.

>>Please keep us posted on how this works. I am very interested.<<

Thanks,
-Mathias

I will make a special effort to keep you and the board posted on future developements.

O J

[Neil Gordon]

I havn't thought about something breaking but ...

It's not always something mechanical. Sometimes, it's simply your brother-in-law releasing the main sheet. Keeping to windward is really a good idea.