Made in Santa Cruz, the sailboat is owned by Randy Repas, one of West Marine's founders, and the powerboat is the committee boat from the Santa Cruz Yacht Club. That is great explanation of an essential and useful tool, thanks
A couple of nits: 1) it might be a good practice to throw some floatation that isn't attached to the boat first, before deploying the Lifesling. Especially important if the person overboard isn't wearing a PFD, but even if they are it can make it easier to find the spot where they went overboard. A colorful Type IV PFD or even a cockpit cushion or cooler can be easier to spot than a head in the water. 2) At 6:25 the designated spotter takes his eyes off the person to look forward at what's happening on the boat. Even if you continue to point, you may not be able to regain sight of the person in the water. The spotter should only spot and should never, ever take their eyes off the person in the water until they're in the Lifesling.
Well Done! I have a SV Bella Sirena specific COB set of rules I go through with any new crew on board, this is now a link at the top of it when we are shore based to access viewing it. Situational Awareness a sailor's best friend, each condition will always be different.
Three questions after watching. One I’m not sure what to do with the tackle. Two do I need to do anything with the bitter end of the sling rope? Three is there a recommended way to put the sling away after usage to ensure it’s ready for the next time? Best video on the life sling so far, thanks!
Hi Jay. Point by point: 1) The tackle is an extra accessory. It is to assist with the recovery by giving the hoister mechanical advantage to get the person aboard. How you deploy it on your boat is really a function of your specific rig, but the standard thing is to secure the carabiner end to a bowline loop about 6' from the sling and then secure the non-carabiner end to a halyard and hoist this end several feet above the lifelines. Then take the running part of the line to a winch (using whatever fairlead makes sense if necessary) and hoist. Or just hand over hand the line and get the COB out that way. 2) The bitter end of the lifesling line *must* be made fast to the boat. Ideally it is made fast to a cleat or some other very stout hardware. If your pushpit is stout you could probably fix it to the pushpit railing (lower is better) but this is less than ideal. The reason you can get away with this is that the load on the bitter end should really be very modest at all times. When you deploy the sling, the load is the drag of the sling through the water. Once you make contact with the victim, the load should no longer be on the bitter end because you are working the line in and so the area under tension gets progressively shorter. 3) I've seen people flake or coil the line and then stuff it into the bag before putting the sling in. My preferred method is to flake the line directly into the bag, hand over hand, working from the bitter end up until I get to the sling. The advantage to doing it this way is that the first flake into the bag is the last flake out of the bag and vice-versa, so the line is all but guaranteed to run clean.
Not always Some times conditions to not allow safe recovery using a boarding ladder. or sometimes the victim could have sustained an injury preventing a boarding ladder recovery.
What if our boat has a boarding ladder? Can't the person in the water get back on the boat (with assistance) by using the ladder instead of waiting for the hoisting tackle to be set up and used?
There is no universal answer to this question. If the person is uninjured, not hypothermic, of sound mind and able to assist with their own rescue, then yes by all means use the boarding ladder. The hoist and tackle is the foolproof way by which one person can hoist another person using standard hardware. I've been the voluntary victim in live crew overboard drills using the lifesling (wearing an exposure suit, and with a rescue launch watching the whole time) and if the victim is able to climb up the boarding ladder I highly recommend this option. The lifesling is a lifesaver for sure. But when you are hanging out of it if does a number on your torso. I think we did maybe four or five recoveries of different sorts that day and I had bruises for days.
A boarding ladder is great if the person is uninjured, not exhausted, and the seas are mild. If the seas are rough (which is when you tend to have COB..) a boarding/swim ladder becomes a cheese grater, so having the option of the hoist/tackle is a great plus to this system.
Made in Santa Cruz, the sailboat is owned by Randy Repas, one of West Marine's founders, and the powerboat is the committee boat from the Santa Cruz Yacht Club. That is great explanation of an essential and useful tool, thanks
A couple of nits: 1) it might be a good practice to throw some floatation that isn't attached to the boat first, before deploying the Lifesling. Especially important if the person overboard isn't wearing a PFD, but even if they are it can make it easier to find the spot where they went overboard. A colorful Type IV PFD or even a cockpit cushion or cooler can be easier to spot than a head in the water. 2) At 6:25 the designated spotter takes his eyes off the person to look forward at what's happening on the boat. Even if you continue to point, you may not be able to regain sight of the person in the water. The spotter should only spot and should never, ever take their eyes off the person in the water until they're in the Lifesling.
Well Done! I have a SV Bella Sirena specific COB set of rules I go through with any new crew on board, this is now a link at the top of it when we are shore based to access viewing it. Situational Awareness a sailor's best friend, each condition will always be different.
A very well made video and fully explained..
Thank you for the fast response to my question.
Three questions after watching. One I’m not sure what to do with the tackle. Two do I need to do anything with the bitter end of the sling rope? Three is there a recommended way to put the sling away after usage to ensure it’s ready for the next time?
Best video on the life sling so far, thanks!
Hi Jay. Point by point:
1) The tackle is an extra accessory. It is to assist with the recovery by giving the hoister mechanical advantage to get the person aboard. How you deploy it on your boat is really a function of your specific rig, but the standard thing is to secure the carabiner end to a bowline loop about 6' from the sling and then secure the non-carabiner end to a halyard and hoist this end several feet above the lifelines. Then take the running part of the line to a winch (using whatever fairlead makes sense if necessary) and hoist. Or just hand over hand the line and get the COB out that way.
2) The bitter end of the lifesling line *must* be made fast to the boat. Ideally it is made fast to a cleat or some other very stout hardware. If your pushpit is stout you could probably fix it to the pushpit railing (lower is better) but this is less than ideal. The reason you can get away with this is that the load on the bitter end should really be very modest at all times. When you deploy the sling, the load is the drag of the sling through the water. Once you make contact with the victim, the load should no longer be on the bitter end because you are working the line in and so the area under tension gets progressively shorter.
3) I've seen people flake or coil the line and then stuff it into the bag before putting the sling in. My preferred method is to flake the line directly into the bag, hand over hand, working from the bitter end up until I get to the sling. The advantage to doing it this way is that the first flake into the bag is the last flake out of the bag and vice-versa, so the line is all but guaranteed to run clean.
Not always Some times conditions to not allow safe recovery using a boarding ladder.
or sometimes the victim could have sustained an injury preventing a boarding ladder recovery.
What if our boat has a boarding ladder? Can't the person in the water get back on the boat (with assistance) by using the ladder instead of waiting for the hoisting tackle to be set up and used?
There is no universal answer to this question. If the person is uninjured, not hypothermic, of sound mind and able to assist with their own rescue, then yes by all means use the boarding ladder. The hoist and tackle is the foolproof way by which one person can hoist another person using standard hardware. I've been the voluntary victim in live crew overboard drills using the lifesling (wearing an exposure suit, and with a rescue launch watching the whole time) and if the victim is able to climb up the boarding ladder I highly recommend this option. The lifesling is a lifesaver for sure. But when you are hanging out of it if does a number on your torso. I think we did maybe four or five recoveries of different sorts that day and I had bruises for days.
A boarding ladder is great if the person is uninjured, not exhausted, and the seas are mild. If the seas are rough (which is when you tend to have COB..) a boarding/swim ladder becomes a cheese grater, so having the option of the hoist/tackle is a great plus to this system.