Who has fallen off the boat?

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "only useful if I fall off when the boat is not under sail or AP"

And remember also that even with bare poles and not under power a boat has windage, a man in the water has not. Whether a man gone overboard, particularly in cold water, as we have it here, can swim fast enuff to get to the drifting boat is a moot point.

Jackline and tether is the answer. Using J&T is NOT woosey. It bespeaks good seamanship.

TrentePieds

[roland stockham]

Consider the high bouyence style life vests with double cylinders. If you do go over the rail and get dragged the extra volume means you are higher in the water and and more likely to be able to breathe! Anything set up to allow you to stop the boat from in the water is also worth looking at e.g. waterproof remote for the autopilot.

[bumpman]

Never fell in cruising, although did it plenty of times in whitewater from a kayak or canoe. But fortunately many many years ago sailing from Bermuda to Newfoundland we hit a full gale and had to take down foresails to sail bare poled. The racing vessel didn't use roller reefing so I had to crawl to foredeck in rain, huge seas pouring over the deck, and a pitching boat. Even tethered I remember imagining that if I fell overboard that would be it - tether would probably have snapped. So since that time falling overboard has been one of my greatest concerns. In over forty years of sailing - often solo or with crew - I've ALWAYS worn a PFD while underway or not (unless at anchor in the Caribbean with others on board). I tow a dingy with a polypropylene floating tarp running astern (of course pulling it in by a lanyard when coming into harbor or anchorage). Six knots cruising speed is 10 ft/sec. You can do the math so one would need to grab a 40 ft dink+tarp within 4 seconds. At least it's a possibility. Bottomline - don't fall in!

[joeelliott]

I fell off after a life line, I was leaning against broke. calm seas 3-4 feet, frightening how quickly the mast vanished as the boat continued at 5-6 kt. fortunately we often do mob drills and I was picked up in a few minutes ( it seemed much longer). To my credit I didn't lose my wine glass. after the experience you can imagine how dangerous it could have been in bad weather or at night

[dennismckim]

Originally Posted by Teknishn

An MOB and a half-sinking (this from an adventurous and mis-spent youth):

Growing up in the swamps and bayous of Lousiana, back in the 70's the State Gov. would open up a 'gator hunting season for a few days each year ...

Thank you for sharing that. Reading it was the highlight of my morning.

[crawdaddy282]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Quote: "only useful if I fall off when the boat is not under sail or AP"

And remember also that even with bare poles and not under power a boat has windage, a man in the water has not. Whether a man gone overboard, particularly in cold water, as we have it here, can swim fast enuff to get to the drifting boat is a moot point.

Jackline and tether is the answer. Using J&T is NOT woosey. It bespeaks good seamanship.

TrentePieds

I will share my experience: decided to swim with no flotation or anchor down. Wife on the boat, but no idea how to operate it or start the pull cord outboard engine. Wind pushed the boat away, and I couldn't swim fast enough to catch up. I decided to conserve energy and float, while watching my wife freak out and start throwing things overboard for me- but the wind was taking everything away from me. She finally got another boats attention by blowing the air horn and they came by and picked me up and returned me to my vessel. Not a good situation to be in, knowing you can do nothing but wait and hope. Many lessons learned including her safe operation (now ASA certified) and no swimming without either an anchor and flotation devices and we have plenty of lines off either side of the boat to hold on to.

[foufou]

Friend of mine got washed off his boat during a Farralons race few years back. Crew also. Big wave, no tethers. Lucky for them a catamaran saw it happen and picked them up within few minutes. Otherwise they would have been hypothermic and dead. Dumb luck. Boat was sailing by itself months later thousands of miles away

[Matsubob]

Not all the way in, so I don7t know if it qualifies, but the experience did teach me about too much complacency. I had prided myself in always being careful to practice "good seamanship", and that alone caused an almost disastrous outcome.
At the mooring, where the boat is tied with lines from the bow to the breakwater and the stern is anchored with two anchors, chains, buoys and pendants, is where it happened. I was in the boatyard's rowboat, in a pretty strong February wind, at dusk, alone, taking some new parts out to the boat in preparation for assembling the 3GM Yanmar in a few days. They were heavy, so as I tried to hold the dinghy to the toerail with one hand, I tried to get my hand under the box in order to transfer it over to the deck of the sailboat with the other. Did I mention that the wind was blowing? Things quickly got out of hand, the box of new parts shifted and started to fall. I tried to salvage the situation by letting go of the toerail and trying to stop the box of valuables from falling into the water. I then lost my balance, fell against the gunwale of the dinghy as I watched the entire box of parts fall into the water. I ended up straddling the gunwale, with my face and half of me in the water and the dinghy quickly filling! By the time I got the ingress stopped, I was soaking wet, winter jacket and all, and freezing. Shaking so badly, I couldn't get the combination lock to the mainhatch to open and had to huddle down to shield myself form the wind, which was now blowing strongly. After regrouping, I made myself row back to the dock (100 yards) and managed get to the car, to run the heater, all the while kicking myself for being so stupid.
Complacency is what got me into all that trouble. I had gotten used to rowing out alone in the dark, in the wind, and I just didn't think through all of my added actions. NEVER, but NEVER, try to lift a box with one hand! Always have handles of some sort, especially if the contents are heavy, to facilitate lifting. Luckily, the stuff went to the bottom and I didn't, but I was only INCHES from suffering the same fate! ALWAYS pay attention and always be methodical about every move. You can never be too careful. The knowledge that noone would have heard me go in, or call for help is/was a sobering experience.
It didn't change my routine but it made me pay attention.

[Scot McPherson]

Well I almost fell off my boat this past December off of the Massachusetts coast. Luckily the lifelines caught me.


About 35-40 years ago while sailing in the BVI, my father was grilling a steak...it was one of those days when he felt like wearing the stereotypical blue blazer over his t-shirt and shorts. He picked the steak off the grill, put it on the platter, turned around and walked quite purposefully off the side of the boat.....kersplash....


he saved the steak, and as it turns out, it was quite good.

[TrentePieds]

The fisherfolk where I came from (North Sea) often refused to learn to swim. "It only prolongs the agony", said they.

Think about that for a moment. It is not really just a recommendation that professional seafarers should not learn to swim. It's a realistic assessment of what happens to a MOB even if he can swim!

There can be exceptions, of course, but, generally, fisherfolk know what they are talking about!

TrentePieds

[mcgann454]

We always had a trailing "safety line" made of floating rope behind the boat so if someone fell off, they could grab and hold the line until the boat could be brought up into the wind, but we never sailed alone. It was also great fun to hang on to the end and surf under water.

Here is an idea I saw at one point that could give some peace of mind.
Tor Pinney's Homepage - A Cruising Sailor's Homeport

[phydeaux]

Like an idiot, I had detached the tether to make working on running backstay easier, and went over the stern about 30 miles offshore, at night, racing. I insist on PFD's, usually self-inflating, with a light. Practiced crew deployed the MOB pole (with its own light) and attached horseshoe. I got to the horseshoe and pulled myself up to the pole while the guys and girls got the spinnaker in and came back for me. Longest 30 minutes ever at sea. But, a good crew and the right gear saved my stupid butt.

Check out Man Overboard Poles & Accessories That's what we use...

[JD-MDR]

It seems like everyone falls over sooner or later,I've gone over twice, once while launching crab pots off the stack by hand. for some reason I can't remember but Our rig could'nt reach the four pots stacked way up high.so we had to push them off and my boot got caught in the mesh. Luckily the weather was calm. The other deck hand didn't see me till he had thrown all the line and was tossing the last bouy. I got my xtra tuff boot back the next day when we pulled the pot. Another time I left the bar at Waikiki in my inflatable to Keehi Lagoon and for some reason I just bounced out.The boat slowed and started going in circles I don't know if I could have caught it lucky some Kayakers saw me and caught my boat. My Brother fell off the dock at Kodiak AK. It was late at night. Nobody heard him fall. They found one bag of grocerys standing on deck. maybe he went back up for another it can be hard climbing down those ladders one handed at low tide and must have been minus low tide and the lower rungs on the ladder are usually all @#$%# up. He may have hit his head or got the wind knocked out. Those stupid double insulated carhardts make you sink.They found his body a month later across the channel on one off the small islands. I know it sounds stupid but we never thought twice about it even while plastered. I know my brother had been clean for several years.

[sailon46]

Here's a response for you. You can spend your wet dollars at the Soggy Dollar Beach Bar at Jost Van Dyke BVI. They even have a cloth's line for drying the wet money from the swimmer customers that come in for a drink from the boats anchored off the beach. LOL
Ernie on the Mary Jane

[Sea Dreaming]

Originally Posted by sailon46

Here's a response for you. You can spend your wet dollars at the Soggy Dollar Beach Bar at Jost Van Dyke BVI. They even have a cloth's line for drying the wet money from the swimmer customers that come in for a drink from the boats anchored off the beach. LOL
Ernie on the Mary Jane

Well, at least they aren't drinking and boating