Now the whole story is starting to come to light

[Connemara]

<<The news media are a bunch of jackals not concerned with the truth only with the 'story.' They need to sell their rags or get ratings to be sure the paycheck keeps happening.>>

Aargh.

You are rude, insulting, and worst of all wrong.

If you plan to make vast generalizations about the practitioners of a craft, do TRY to be relatively civil.


Connemara

[slomotion]

I don’t know anything about sailing vessels this size either, and maybe the rules are different. But, I agree with rebel heart and roverhi about life jackets not being enough.

On our 34' boat the rule was no one goes forward while under way without a tether even in benign conditions. The reason was a lesson that my grandfather’s buddy Phil taught me and my sister. Old Phil taught my sister and I to sail on his 30' wooden sloop in Narragansett Bay a long time ago. We were required to wear life jackets and we hated that part. One day he took us out about five miles, threw a life preserver overboard, waited awhile, and then told me to take the helm. It was a man overboard drill and it was my job to find the life preserver. We had 2-3' seas, moderate winds, and it was a bright sunny summer day. I easily brought the boat about, my sister trimmed the sails, and I sailed us back on a broad reach ........ and couldn’t find it. Phil took the helm and told me to go forward to the bow and see if I could find it. I scrambled up to the bow and - nothing . Then he sent my sister up to the bow to help - still nothing. At that point Phil shouted, "Hey kids, if you go overboard, do you think I’ll be able to find you? Why don’t you come on back here and I’ll tell you guys all about tethers."

[Ex-Calif]

That doesn't sound like a very effective MOB drill. Unless it was just a demonstration of how not to search for a missing crewman.

I do MOB drills by surprise. I'll throw the ring without warning. Sometimes depending on location and sea state I will jump in myself for a real one. In the beginning they were terrible and they hated the drills. We even had our ring run over by a tug and barge! Now they are fun because they have had successes.

Throwing a ring in the water and "waiting a while" is not very instructive or a way to build MOB skills. Also not finding the ring in 2-3 foot swells seems pretty impossible. Was it ever recovered or is it still floating out there somewhere?

At that point Phil shouted, "Hey kids, if you go overboard, do you think I’ll be able to find you? Of course I will. Let me tell you about MOB search patterns."

[GordMay]

David Jack, a crewmember aboard the Clipper “Glasgow: Scotland with Style” was rescued after being swept overboard during a headsail change in the early hours of the morning of November 28/07 (Wed).
See the full story at:
Crew praised after 'man overboard' rescue ~ by Brian Ferguson
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1868322007

The Clipper Round the World race left Durban, South Africa, on Sunday, Nov. 25 and should arrive in Fremantle, Australia in mid December.
For more info, visit:
www.clipperroundtheworld.com

[cooper]

Life Jackets and life lines. Your Life jacket should have a light and a whistle. Its an amazing theory, but apparantly if you dont wear them , they dont work...... as for cold, sure but the difference is a small chance and bugger all.....ask yourself that question as you are about to be pushed off a twenty story building. For some reason the risk is not percieved on a boat.

[GordMay]

Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey has praised the findings of a Transportation Safety Board investigation into a tall ship accident that killed his 25-year-old daughter.

"Everyone in the sail training industry should be reading closely, so they can apply the lessons learned at the cost of a life," Gainey said Thursday.

The TSB report identifies seven areas as contributing factors related to Gainey being swept away, including:

* The decision to sail despite the long-term forecasts of an adverse weather system.
* Insufficient communication between the officers and crew.
* Fatigue and loss of alertness among those onboard.
* Safety nets not being rigged in some areas of the ship.
* Safety harnesses not being worn.

Goto the full report:
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/en/reports//mar...4/m06f0024.pdf