My watch mate went over the side 1000 miles east of Barbados. Moon had just set, 20 knots tradewind 3 metre waves, 40 ton schooner flying down wind on a broad reach. Pitch black. Immediately put the wheel hard over shouting "man overboard" we didn't have GPS back then just satnav. Engine fires up, skipper shouts "all hands, man overboard!!" Spreader lights and crew ditch sails as we head into wind. Drive up wind search light on the water. What saved our man was him shouting "Starboard, starboard" crew relay to helm and we turn starboard and there he is! So if you go over the side, shout, direct and you also may be able to jump back on with a grin and a..."the waters very warm!" 😊
Nice to hear a good news story on this subject. My own is one where as someone toppled over the rail another grabbed them and the ship roll deposited them back on the deck.
Sobering stuff John! Lots to consider, but the takeaways for me are i) have a MoB recovery plan for the boat ii) rehearse on that boat iii) be prepared to improvise - you will need to. As you emphasised, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Keep them coming John & LIzzie
Thanks Dave, much appreciated. Good summary. Not as explicit as it could be but there is something in there about doing as much for real. The MOB button behaviour on the plotter changed slightly at the last upgrade so worth making it as real as possible and that extends to trying to be realistic with the recovery too. J
Keeping the main up does a couple of things. Stops the boat rolling which could be a hazard (especially on a modern flat bottomed boat. Also it lowers the rail on the recovery side and, as you say, keep the the end of the boom steady for the recovery
We have AIS MOB units installed in our life jackets, programmed to the boats plotter they give person’s position plus also send a DSC MOB signal to all ships and stations. Very good kit and widely available. We also recover either the lifer rinds designed for this and can be used to haul out. We deploy an inflatable dan-buoy as soon as a MOB has been called.
My watch mate went over the side 1000 miles east of Barbados. Moon had just set, 20 knots tradewind 3 metre waves, 40 ton schooner flying down wind on a broad reach. Pitch black. Immediately put the wheel hard over shouting "man overboard" we didn't have GPS back then just satnav. Engine fires up, skipper shouts "all hands, man overboard!!" Spreader lights and crew ditch sails as we head into wind. Drive up wind search light on the water. What saved our man was him shouting "Starboard, starboard" crew relay to helm and we turn starboard and there he is!
So if you go over the side, shout, direct and you also may be able to jump back on with a grin and a..."the waters very warm!" 😊
Nice to hear a good news story on this subject. My own is one where as someone toppled over the rail another grabbed them and the ship roll deposited them back on the deck.
Sobering stuff John! Lots to consider, but the takeaways for me are i) have a MoB recovery plan for the boat ii) rehearse on that boat iii) be prepared to improvise - you will need to. As you emphasised, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Keep them coming John & LIzzie
Thanks Dave, much appreciated. Good summary. Not as explicit as it could be but there is something in there about doing as much for real. The MOB button behaviour on the plotter changed slightly at the last upgrade so worth making it as real as possible and that extends to trying to be realistic with the recovery too. J
Do you keep the mainsail up so that it helps take the weight of the MOB being hauled out of the water?
Keeping the main up does a couple of things. Stops the boat rolling which could be a hazard (especially on a modern flat bottomed boat. Also it lowers the rail on the recovery side and, as you say, keep the the end of the boom steady for the recovery
We have AIS MOB units installed in our life jackets, programmed to the boats plotter they give person’s position plus also send a DSC MOB signal to all ships and stations. Very good kit and widely available. We also recover either the lifer rinds designed for this and can be used to haul out. We deploy an inflatable dan-buoy as soon as a MOB has been called.