How Do Couples Cruisers Fall Off Boats?

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Mike Banks

...In the event someone does manage to go into the drink--a "Second Chance" knotted at intervals rope trailed astern is usual. It needs to be at least 50 metres in length, and longer is better.

If one is injured it may not be to much avail, but if one has merely slipped, a few quick strokes should enable one to grasp it with both hands and hang on for dear life. I rigged mine to a stern cleat next to a swim ladder, but pulled aside by a pair of ties. One is string designed to break when weight is applied to the second-chance, the other is strong and goes to a clamp-and-tongue switch that turns on the fog horn and a cabin siren when the tongue is pulled from the jaws and they make electrical contact. No one sleeps through that noise....

Have you tested the system (not the noise part--I believe that!) by jumping in? I swear I am NOT being sarcastic. I'm wondering if you can holding on, at 6-8 knots, long enough for the crew to get from the bed and slow the boat enough. In other words, can you hang on, wearing a PFD or foulies at least (no fair testing in a bathing suit) for at least 45 seconds? I doubt knots will be enough.



My boat will easily average in the teens, so I knew that was impossible. I tested holding a line at increasing speeds and found 5 knots to be the realistic limit on rope, assuming bad conditions (I can hold more than that, but I wouldn't bet on it). Just maybe, you can hold on to a large float or handle at 7-8 knots, but you are not going to be able to haul your self up a line, not unless you can do a few hundred pull-ups. It's a work out, pulling up 100-150 feet of line at 3 knots. It's like lifting a 5-gallon bucket 150 feet without stopping.



I've never read an account of anyone actually testing a second-chance line, and that surprises me. A few test MOB lift methods in fair conditions. Very few.

[boatman61]

Its just for the pshycological boost..
The "I'm alright Jack" factor.. reality is if you go over even with full (+4) crew your chances are 80/20 against..
But hey.. If it makes you feel safer..

[Brewgyver]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

(snippage)
The worst fall I had on a boat was while I had my harness on, job completed, and I started below for something. I tripped on my tether as I came over the bridge deck, and fell to the cabin sole, striking my head and back as I went down. A day or so later, we arrived in a harbor, and I went to the doctor. No serious damage, but the bruises were ugly and sore for quite a while. It was scary for Jim, too, because there was an awful thump when I landed. Not a fun way to wake up. ...

THAT is the kind of thing I fear most while sailing, or anytime on the boat, for that matter, as it can happen in the slip or on the hook. A LARGE percentage of injuries on sailboats are falls in or through the companionway.

Sorry for the drift...

[sailorboy1]

I've only got 1 man overboard story and it was while tired to a dock.

Last during Hurricane Michael I went to a slip and there was a boat on the other side of me. On it was an older couple in their upper 70s and I told him at the start "Don't be trying to do anything by yourself!"

When the wind started my boat was getting pushed into the dock and he was getting pushed off. I told him to NOT try to get on/off the boat by himself and gave him my card with phone and my wide and I went to the clubhouse. Every 1/2 hour during the storm we would go back to the boat to adjust the lines and fenders as the water rose.

Meanwhile the other guys boat was now 3 feet away from the dock and the lines were ripping cleats out (older boat with wood coring that probably wasn't in best condition). So one time we were starting the walk down the dock and just saw him go over the side trying to get off the boat. We barely got to him in time and he was basically a split second from having lost his life if we hadn't been coming down to boat check at that exact moment.

I bet more people die from falling in the water by far and by falling overboard underway.

[model 10]

Has anyone described a set-up that would cause a wind vane to round the boat up if you grabbed a trailing line?

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Brewgyver

... A LARGE percentage of injuries on sailboats are falls in or through the companionway.

Sorry for the drift...

I've started wearing a ball cap with a bump cap insert. I'm bald and I've had too many bumps on rough days! It feels just like a ball cap, stays on better in the wind, and I stopped getting scalp cuts. I'm not sayin' it's a safety item, I just like the hat.

More drift! Hey, it's a forum!

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Ecos

Has anyone described a set-up that would cause a wind vane to round the boat up if you grabbed a trailing line?

Yes, but not by me.

A better question, perhaps, is "is there anything I can do just by steering, not touching a single line, that will reliably stop the boat, on any point of sail, with any sails up?" This includes motoring, of course.

If it's blowing the boat will continue to drift/sail in some direction? How fast? The answer will be different for every boat, so I won't answer. My last boat had a real tendency to ignore heaving to and other similar commands unless the sail were adjusted just so. She would just take off on a reach, faster than you can swim by far. But other boats are different.


And before you answer, test this on all courses. It may not behave as you think, because you have always made those adjustments.

[misssherry]

If Elaine was on board, I think I know why the guy went missing.

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

[Brewgyver]

Originally Posted by Cpt Pat

In answer to question 1 above: That is exactly what the ASA teaches. But you may be surprised to learn how many cruisers with fin-keeled boats believe their boat can't heave to. Few seem to have practiced the maneuver. The Coast Guard used to routinely order a sailing vessel to: "come about and heave to!" They stopped that practice when the only reaction they got was a blank stare.

I believe they figured out that it's safer to do what they do now. They order you to maintain course and speed, then they come along side and climb into your boat. Less risk of going in the drink, being injured, or damaging the boat.

[Flextron]

Rob James was lost having a pee off the back of the boat. Lesson for us all