Girl Overboard !

[JusDreaming]

great post, I regularly go forward with no vest, to do quick little jobs, I won't do this anymore due to your post, THANKS FOR THE POST!!
And you have trained your family well, thus never panicked just performed like trained

[Dkdoyle]

Tom - Thanks so much for the lessons shared.

[roverhi]

A working vest is a non inflatable life vest. If it's one intended for a working crewman to wear will probably have pockets and be bigger, have more flotation than a light duty recreational vest. Sospenders are inflatable life vests like you have. Suspenders probably is a safety harness.

After having nearly gone overboard in similar conditions to those in the story, I always wear a vest/harness combo on deck and clip in to the jack lines religiously. I've never come close to going overboard when it's been crappy conditions or challenging situation on deck. It's been in farily benign conditions when I was least expecting anything that got me.

The inflatable vests are comfortable to wear. On my solo Transpac, wore my Spinlock inflatable 24/7, even slept in it cause didn't know when I'd have to go on deck quickly. Luckily that only happend twice on the trip. I've got Jack Lines down both sides and a pad eye beneath the wheel. Keep a permanently mounted tether attached to the wheel padeye that hangs in the companionway so I can clip on before climbing the steps to go outside. Also carry a PLB at all times. Solo, there isn't going to be anyone to turn the boat around and pick me up. Have to hope that there is another boat somewhat close to pick me up. The only way they are going to find me is through the PLB.

Running with sails poled out, it takes forever to get the pole down and jib back under control. We tried a MOB in mid ocean running in moderate winds but at least a 5' swell. The life vest I'd thrown in as the MOB was out of sight in a blink never to be seen again. This was pre GPS and I was amazed at how quickly we became disoriented as to the location of the MOB. In a matter of minutes, we had no idea where to even look for the life preserver. The first move on any MOB should be to hit the MOB function on the GPS. It's the only chance you'll have of staying in the immediate area of an MOB once you lose sight of them. Unless the seas are flat and you get the boat turned around right now, you will lose sight of the MOB. With much of a sea running, anyone in the water disappears almost immediately.

[Starbuck]

Here's a Working Vest

Here's a Sospenders Inflatable Vest (this model is manually inflated: must pull a tab to activate)

[bangkaboat]

Welcome aboard CF, Tom, and much thanks for your post! As we're prepping to take off for our first trans-ocean(pac), I was sitting here reading the forums & trying to splice some sta-set x. Forgot where I was with the splice once I started reading your post, but realized that I'd been neglecting our prep, as I prepped the boat. Very sobering story. Again, Thanks! It may be the most valuable post you ever make here.

[Eleven]

I've previously expressed my preference for a dinghy size fender or two tied by a few feet of cordage to a bucket. I inherited three canvas buckets with 'Arfur' and lost one last week when I found it wasn't tied to the rope laid on top of it. I really wrap some armust get this done and secured with lashings over the knot.
The idea is that the fender will stand upright with a little fixed weight in the bucket, more visible that a water logged swimmer, and will not blow away down wind because of the sunken bucket which gives an active swimmer a chance to reach it, and some support when they get hold of it. The cordage is also a chance to wrap some around an arm which will allow some swimming once the boat gets close.
Otherwise this is a timely reminder that MOB procedures are actually critical when they do happen. The detail reminds us this was a calm wind situation, when the boat is pressed, and the weather is poor, then it all becomes much much harder. For one family it could have turned out very differently, just like the first bike ride without parental supervision. Everything has it's risks, it's reducing these and balancing against the joys of sailing, in any weather.

[Tam]

For a minute I wasn't sure your story would have a happy ending. Happy it did. There are people who won't boat with me anymore (inland on a river) because of my orders about safety. They say I take the fun out of boating. I say nothing takes the fun out of a day on the boat like the death of a friend. Each year at least one person dies on my little stretch of river. I'm determined it will never be one of my passengers. Here, they take for granted we are not out on open sea and don't realize being drunk and stupid in 15 feet of water is as deadly as being 1000 miles from nowhere in 4000 feet of water.

Great story and again, glad your daughter survived.

[NeptunesTrident]

So glad your daughter was ok. She sounds like a real trooper.

[Southern Star]

Extremely well written and thought-provoking. I echo everyone else in thanking you for this outstanding contribution to boating safety.

Brad

[Kindle]

Thank you for sharing your story and illustrating the situation and actions so well. I am glad all ended well. I am planning on a short sail tomorrow and after reading, I think we will practice a MOB drill before we come back in.

[Mr B]

That was a scary story with a good ending,

There is a product like the Ray marine one, It looks like eggs in a box, If you go further than a set distance from it, Like over board, It sets off a screaming alarm in the cockpit,
I am sorry but I dont know the name of it,

Probably Google it under Personal Life beacons,

Same as an Epirb, but only localized to the vessel.

[Lagoon4us]

I'm confident your retelling of that story will save other lives, well done, thanks for sharing we will certainly go down the Lifetag route as we have Raymarine equip. Many many thanks. Cheers

[Lagoon4us]

Every now and then when i had new crew onboard and they settled in to the routine, i would throw a floating object ie cushion, life-ring, empty fuel container whatever and let the boat sail free.

When someone noticed i was no longer in control and asked the obvious????? I would simply point at the floating object and say "THAT'S ME"....

They knew what to do and after three or four episodes i felt "I WAS SAFE" knowing if i the skipper fell over they would be able to save me...Conversely if they fell they also had confidence.

[Ozbullwinkle]

The MOBi-lert system is also a very good MOB system which as well as sounding an alarm when a crewmembers goes overboard it also logs the position of the MOB and provides a track bavck to that position.

East Marine - marine accessories equipment and repairs

[gjordan]

I just read through this thread and the one one MOB systems and unless I missed it, I havent seen a single reference to the old fashioned Man Overboard Pole that used to be required on almost all racing boats and was usually standard equipment on cruisers. One clearly marked emergency pull cord and a life ring,strobe light and pole with a flag on the top, that would all go into the water with one pull of the emergency cord. The person in the water has something to swim to(if not injured) and the boat has a much better chance of seeing the flag or light than of seeing a persons head. Cruisers almost always had them mounted to a life line rather than up the backstay, because of windvanes or davits. With fiber optics, I would think that a strobe could be at the top of the pole for much better visibility. Unless you have a large crew, you wont have a person able to keep pointing at the person in the water, and there is a lot of work to get a boat turned around under sail or even dropping sail and motoring. The high tech stuff on the MOB thread sounds very good but I think that the basic MOB pole is still needed. ___Grant.