Man Overboard with Auto Pilot Engaged!

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by d design

...Id rather drown than have computers take over my life...

Worthy of a quote.

Originally Posted by Sailormantx

...If you fall off the boat you are dead!...

Not so fast.

I have sailed with a really great older guy, Bill Forrest, who had fallen off his boat (naked) and swum an estimated 16 miles (IIRC) to land, saving himself. It helped that he had been a lifeguard. But it is nevertheless a remarkable feat. His boat later washed up on a beach in Mexico. But he persevered, eventually bought another boat, and continued to sail.

Originally Posted by Therapy

...Maybe if your long trip line just pulled out a parachute...

This is what I had decided upon when I came across your post. A drogue in a quick release on the stern pulpit, coupled with the customary trip of the wind vane rudder.

[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

....

<<If you fall off the boat you are dead>>

Not so fast.

I have sailed with a really great older guy, Bill Forrest, who had fallen off his boat (naked) and swum an estimated 16 miles (IIRC) to land, saving himself. It helped that he had been a lifeguard. But it is nevertheless a remarkable feat....

Well, we could fill a book with counterexamples like this from the real world,

(like, for one, middle-aged Beryl Smeeton, who swam some distance back to a dismasted boat despite having her tether, and her arm broken when she was hurled overboard by the wave which pitch-poled the boat ... and the first thing she says when she gets back onboard the boat, which no longer has a cabintop, is along the lines of "well, don't just stand around gawping boys, we need to get bailing", suiting the action to the word with her remaining good arm ....)

but we're not up against the real world, we're up against one of the memes of the www, which is in the process of developing a life of its own.

"Fall overboard, and you're dead" is as true as most truisms found on the internet.

It's a pity Beryl didn't have access to the internet.

She could have saved herself a lot of trouble.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Coops

Correct, it is not pretty, nor acceptable. Posts have been deleted and as stated above, it will be closed if it continues.

Coops.

Well, I missed some of them because I've been away for a bit.

If someone is going to test this on the boat and report back. I hope that they will use the original question that has been presented. And that is, there is a rope hanging from the boat and it's not connected to any kind of fancy mechanism. The bottom line is at 5 to 7 kn. Someone grabbing a rope with handles or no handles says they can pull themselves back up and into their boat. If that doesn't work for them and they want to make other arrangements on their boat and cleats, lines to cam–cleats, lines to autopilots, or my fantastic parachute, then that's fine. But the original question is only about a rope behind the boat and you grab it and get back on board.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Andrew Troup

Well, we could fill a book with counterexamples like this from the real world,

(like, for one, middle-aged Beryl Smeeton, who swam some distance back to a dismasted boat despite having her tether, and her arm broken when she was hurled overboard by the wave which pitch-poled the boat ... and the first thing she says when she gets back onboard the boat, which no longer has a cabintop, is along the lines of "well, don't just stand around gawping boys, we need to get bailing", suiting the action to the word with her remaining good arm ....)

but we're not up against the real world, we're up against one of the memes of the www, which is in the process of developing a life of its own.

"Fall overboard, and you're dead" is as true as most truisms found on the internet.

It's a pity Beryl didn't have access to the internet.

She could have saved herself a lot of trouble.

Love your stuff Andrew. Just love it. Absolutely the coolest stuff. Makes me think. Makes me think of a parachute.

[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by Therapy

...

If someone is going to test this on the boat and report back. I hope that they will use the original question that has been presented. And that is, there is a rope hanging from the boat and it's not connected to any kind of fancy mechanism. The bottom line is at 5 to 7 kn. Someone grabbing a rope with handles or no handles says they can pull themselves back up and into their boat. If that doesn't work for them and they want to make other arrangements on their boat and cleats, lines to cam–cleats, lines to autopilots, or my fantastic parachute, then that's fine. But the original question is only about a rope behind the boat and you grab it and get back on board.

Actually, Therapy, someone has reported back (StuM) to your question.

But would you mind explaining why the question is even worth asking?

I may have missed it, but i don't recall anyone suggesting that as a worthwhile setup for MOB self-rescue.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Oregon Waterman

I doubt this will find any agreement but...when out singlehanded, I trail a line 250 feet out with a float at the end. I first started doing this on a little boat way back when (much shorter line). If I went over or fell off, I only had to swim sideways to get to the line and back to the boat. I don't have to keep up to the boat, just swim fast enough to catch the line. Never have used it mind you but I think its better than watching the boat sail away.

Originally Posted by Andrew Troup

Actually, Therapy, someone has reported back (StuM) to your question.

But would you mind explaining why the question is even worth asking?

I may have missed it, but i don't recall anyone suggesting that as a worthwhile setup for MOB self-rescue.

And it goes on from there.

[Terra Nova]

Original post. OP's only 2 posts are in this thread.

Originally Posted by Collingwood5

I do a lot of solo sailing and use my autopilot (Navman / wheel type)
on occasions. Is there a remote control that can be fitted to your
lifejacket to switch the autopilot off if u hit the wet stuff? Alternatively,
can a similar remote switch be carried that turns the boats power &/or
engine off in the case of an unexpected MOB???? Regards George......

These threads sometimes take on a life of their own--a good thing--with contributors taking the ball and running far with it, after the initial hand-off, regardless of how well or how poorly an OP might have phrased the general idea. Any progress we might make towards safer single-handed MOB-with-boat-self-steering (it happens!) is for the benefit of all.

[Andrew Troup]

Therapy. You're right. I missed it.

But jes' a cotton' pickin' minute, there, pardner.

He was talking about having done it on a small boat (where naturally it does work), extrapolating it to a big boat, saying it was untried but "better than watching the boat sail away"

That all ya got? You really want everyone to go off and tow themselves and report back because of one throwaway comment?

(By a guy who, incidentally -- although you possibly wouldn't guess it from his posts -- now realises that for a bigger boat, some way of stopping the boat is the way to go?)

[JPA Cate]

"for a bigger boat, some way of stopping the boat is the way to go?)"

A very long time ago, there was a popular song in Mexico, "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas", which means, "Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps".

I think if your mono (or maybe even a cat?) is cruising over 8 knots, that by the time it stops, you are unlikely to get back to it. Forget currents. Forget the supposed lifeline that is covered with gooseneck barnacles. Way simpler to stay on board.

And good onya for reminding us of Beryl Smeeton's efforts. 'Cause, yes, there may always be hopes. However, I think playing the "stay on board, damn it," option is the more conservative one, and the safer.

I hope Waterman tries it with his steelie. I think it is very different between a planing surfboard and what one experiences being dragged through the water. One's first challenge is to crank one's head around so's one creates a breathing hole in the lee of one's jaw and chin. If you can breathe, then you can face the challenges of the line dragging you along. ......How wonderful if you could stop the boat!

Ann

[Andrew Troup]

You make a powerful argument, Ann.

I used such an argument recently when weighing up what could stop an insurance company paying off on my building if it was a total loss. I figured they amounted to enough contingencies that I was wasting my premium, so I cancelled.

Whereas I'm not convinced the contingencies you raise, to do with a tripline, amount to reason to cancel.

I say that because I have some control over those contingencies
(whereas in the analogous case, the insurance company has the whip hand)

The contingencies you raise can all be overcome.

[Examples of solutions: swapping between a pair of lines, unused line stowed in fresh water to kill barnacle spawn; floating ski handle, flip onto your back to breathe until boat slows down - plus extra loop of line released on tripping, perhaps with drogue(s)]

Naturally, there are other contingencies, but equally, there are probably other solutions.

And what's the premium? Minimal, in the tripline case.

The downside of deploying it?
False hope resulting in carelessness (optional / discretionary states of mind ...), and a bit of extra stuff to manage and maintain and deploy.

The downside of not deploying it? Certain death by drowning, for a singlehander.

Doesn't seem much of a contest, to me.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Therapy

But the original question is only about a rope behind the boat and you grab it and get back on board.

And what are the odds of even being able to grab that rope, slim!

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Steve Bean

I crewed on a delivery from USVI to Nassau with a charter skipper and wife who had lost a guy while crossing the Atlantic. He was being dragged astern on a rope.

Don't quite understand this story. Lost as in never found him? He was being dragged on a rope? For fun or because he fell in? If for fun how could they lose him?

[robert sailor]

Anne's point of learning how to breath is a good one. Must have been 15-20 years ago a couple was on their way to Aussi and he went overboard but he was in a harness. His wife did not know how to control the boat (stop it) and he was drug to death/drowned. Not a nice thought.

[klmmicro]

Have a friend willing to go overboard next week to see if he can grab a trailing line and get back to the boat. The boat will be piloted, so if he misses he will still be retrieved. Not realistic in the sense that it is a very controlled situation, but still in the water and work to re-board.

What will it prove? Not much really. Just a really long overboard drill.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Andrew Troup

Therapy. You're right. I missed it.

But jes' a cotton' pickin' minute, there, pardner.

He was talking about having done it on a small boat (where naturally it does work), extrapolating it to a big boat, saying it was untried but "better than watching the boat sail away"

That all ya got? You really want everyone to go off and tow themselves and report back because of one throwaway comment?

(By a guy who, incidentally -- although you possibly wouldn't guess it from his posts -- now realises that for a bigger boat, some way of stopping the boat is the way to go?)

Yea, except he did not tell us it was a little bity boat till much later on. Long after I told of my two boys (only took one) slowing my Gem to 3 knots.

Ha!

And yea, I want all the folks that think they can get aboard by rope at 5-7 knots to try it. It will just be a short swim after all.