MOB Man Overboard! Volvo Team Sun Hung Kai Scallywag

[Rorzech]

I guess that means he wasn't wearing a dry suit. Should've been tethered, should've had a dry suit, should've had an Inreach Explorer ,should have had better luck . I still hope for a miracle.Send a little prayer for one.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Rorzech

I guess that means he wasn't wearing a dry suit. Should've been tethered, should've had a dry suit, should've had an Inreach Explorer ,should have had better luck . I still hope for a miracle.Send a little prayer for one.

Cool the speculation - we don’t know anything about what gear he (and the other crew) wear on deck.

Since it’s bloody cold and very wet according to the video reports one expects that every person on deck, even those called up from off watch, are fully dressed in weather gear">foul weather gear with insulation underneath. To what extent this means drysuits I don’t know, but many of the people we see in the videos have rubber gaskets at their necks, implying some sort of dry suit.

Regarding PFDs and harnesses, who knows for sure. Again, looking at the videos some crew have both, most have PFDs, but only the crew themselves can tell us whether any particular boat has a PFD/tether policy or requirement. Given the amount of water washing over the boats I would be surprised if all the boats don’t have strict tether rules, but are there rules like that on the boats generally, i.e. imposed by the race organiser?

If John had been wearing a PFD he would definitely have a personal MOB AIS transceiver (possibly also EPIRB, but I don’t know if there are dual units and I would think the AIS capability is more important than AIS) attached to it (or, at least I can’t imagine that their PFDs don’t have these units in addition to lights, whistles and knives).

I’ve tested a personal MOB AIS unit for our own use (http://www.rfd.co.nz/products/marine...elink-r10.aspx) and it provides an immediate AIS MOB alarm on both our iCOM AIS unit and our Raymarine e95 MFD and within a minute displays the GPS position of the unit. At that point even if you haven’t created a MOB waypoint at the time of the initial alarm you now have the current position of the AIS unit. It specifies a 4 nm range. Even at 30 knots boatspeed, that’s still several minutes to receive the actual position and to waypoint it.

Absolutely horrible situation.

[GTom]

Here is an article with pictures to give an idea what the crew was wearing few days before the accident.

[ZULU40]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Ef...ature=youtu.be

[CharlzO]

Totally separate incident, in totally different conditions. Thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of John Fisher.

[ZULU40]

Originally Posted by CharlzO

Totally separate incident, in totally different conditions. Thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of John Fisher.

of course it is

whats to see?
how unprepared they were

[Don C L]

Very sad, I was really hoping for better news. Condolences to the crew and his family.

[TheThunderbird]

No judgements,..

But the video with yellow clad crew raises Qs.

Many a people. No one releasing the main's sheet... Untethered....


Cockpit is ridiculously shallow by any standards, and God knows if it was a tight necessity to have it so.

Regret, pain, a prayer for that poor man

[sea-bee]

Brian Hancock has apologised for the typos in the article, but the content of his criticism here about the race and the boats are accurate and well founded: https://www.sailfeed.com/2018/03/los...vo-ocean-race/

Hopefully, lessons will be learned.

[flee27]

I am saddened by these events and pray for those involved. I also hope the sailors and organizers will heed the information from these unfortunate events and take steps to make professional ocean racing safer. In all types of professional sports the limits are pushed and risks are taken. Performance takes the first priority many times. Its the nature of the beast. I don't think we need to be saved from ourselves though. I strongly believe we should have the right to make decisions on our actions and with that means take the responsibility for them. Something that seems to be lacking in our society these days. Sometimes its not someone else's fault...


The very allure of sailing for most is the adventure and freedom it provides. The oceans truly are the last frontier on earth. If we are not careful (it has already happened at some level) This frontier will become as controlled and regulated as the rest of our lives.



That said we need to remember these are not victims. They are professional sailors that are fully aware of the dangers, the repercussions of their decisions, and dangers of the situations they CHOOSE to put themselves in are not hidden.

my 2 cents...


Foster

[leboyd]

Based on their update yesterday, the crew (specifically this crew member) was wearing appropriate gear. Being tethered may have helped, but without knowing exactly what the circumstances were we can't know.

As friendly as possible:
The speculation by some on how the crew would have been better at handling the pre/post situation is suspect. It's a professional crew with previous experience that few people ever even want, let alone have. I know many say that we can learn from this event. I guess if you're planning to be in a 40k downwind sail with 10-12m waves travelling at 20-25ks in 0c temp, 9c water temp, after days at seas, with a very large storm bearing down on you, then maybe there's something for you to learn.

For the rest of us, being caught in a sea/wind state like this is just that - being caught. The many books and articles on tactics for "being caught" are much better sources than trying to learn from this event.

https://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/ne...ag-sailor.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuiF49Kk4Vk

[SaylorMade]

Originally Posted by TheThunderbird

No judgements,..

No one releasing the main's sheet...

Maybe you should check how the boat is rigged before you dish out advice from the armchair..

[Steadman Uhlich]

R.I.P. John Fisher

Here is a good recent photo of John Fisher.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Steadman Uhlich

R.I.P. John Fisher

Here is a good recent photo of John Fisher.

Thanks for that Steady, I bet that is how he'd like to be remembered, a big smile, in foulies, at the winch, a sailor sailing. Home is the sailor...RIP

[CarstenWL]

.... more infos from Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag on what happened:

https://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/ne...Scallywag.html

Carsten