Falling over board (Case Histories) - Sobering

[migot1]

I always trail a 80 meters long line from the stern of the boat. at the end is a small fender attached. all crew have a PDF - always. I did go over the side once and was surprised by the force of the water rushing over me. but...I seldom show the new crew how to realy act when MOB....I realy should!! we all should!

[shellback]

Simple reminder to all, that practice...practice and practice of MOB methods and constant diligence in wearing your PFD is essential.

I almost became one of those stories last year, when my wife and I were on the last leg of our 7 day cruising trip on our Oday 27. With storm squalls on the horizon and waves building to 6-8', a malfunction with the roller furling forced me to go forward to fix it and get the remaining tablecloth size of my genoa furled up.

My wife was at the helm, steadily keeping her pointing into the waves head on, but the a big wave launched our bow skyward and me along with it. Three feet above and now suddenly horizontal to the deck, I came crashing down on the bow. Face first and on my right shoulder.

I didn't go overboard luckily. I fractured the greater tubercle of my right arm, immediately loosing grip and in immense pain.

All my wife saw was me in the air above the deck. Happily I didn't go over, but lord almighty, if I did, I would have probably been one of these stories.
I do know a jackline might have helped, but getting back aboard in wild waves like that, might have been rough.

Next boating season, we're going to practice and get our MOB techniques down to the letter!

After reading some of those stories, it was also apparent..that even the most experienced sailors, fell victim.

Mark
s/v Booty Call
1976 Oday 27
Green Bay, WI

[Therapy]

he slipped and went overboard. His wife maintained course. The husband was unable to release himself or climb aboard and drowned within two minutes.



It seems (after reading 40 or so -I got tired) that what is needed is a large cargo/fishing net thingy that can be winched up.........................well...............neve r mind.

[Hud3]

My wife went to one of these seminars a few years ago. It was hosted by our former yacht club. She was impressed with it, and I thought the handouts and notes she brought home looked good. Unfortunately, she does very little in the way of sailing on our boat--she has a serious back problem--so I essentially single-hand. I think everything she learned was forgotten within a few weeks.

I believe the seminar would be good for a first mate that has some experience and interest in actually handling the boat.

Here's the link and the blurb from the website:

NorthU NORTH U SEMINARS: Suddenly Alone

NORTH U Seminar: Suddenly Alone. For cruising sailors, particularly for shorthanded cruising sailors, and most acutely for the less experienced member of a crew, the prospect of being Suddenly Alone is a daunting fear.

Suppose, through injury, illness, or crew overboard, you were to find yourself Suddenly Alone. What would you do? John Rousmaniere leads Suddenly Alone seminars that teach Safety. Safety through prevention. Safety through preparation. Safety through planning. Safety through practice. After implementing the plans and going through the exercises taught at the seminar you will be prepared and “know you can handle it.”

The Suddenly Alone curriculum, created under the auspices of the Bonnell Cove Foundation of the Cruising Club of America, is designed to give you the tools to prepare yourself to be Suddenly Alone. After implementing the plans and going through the exercises taught at the seminar you will be prepared and “know you can handle it.”

What You Will Learn
You will learn how to respond when you find yourself Suddenly Alone.
You’ll learn how to assess the situation, you will know your response options and priorities, and you will know how to implement your response.
Above all, you will know you can handle it.

Host A Seminar
Seminars are currently being scheduled through local hosts. Your club or group can host a Suddenly Alone Seminar. Contact Us to find out more.

The Curriculum
Preparation – The Crew
Self Assessment
Your Skills
Your Fears
Preparation – The Boat
Equipment
Emergency – First Response
A True Emergency?
Crew overboard, injury, illness, fire, sinking...
Response Options
Response Priorities
Detailed Response Procedures
Crew Overboard
Injury and Illness
Fire, Sinking, Grounding
Suddenly Alone Skill Set
Navigation
GPS and paper
Where am I?
Where should I go?
How do I get there?
Communications
VHF radio operations
Other means of communication

The Suddenly Alone seminar is the first phase in completing the program. Each participant will leave the Suddenly Alone seminar with a course workbook which include a series of exercises necessary to complete the course and build the skills and confidence to respond properly if Suddenly Alone.

[Kanani]

Whenever we are sailing in any kind of breeze, we wear our harnesses. Maybe not our tethers but our harnesses were on 24/7. We made our own harnesses. They went between our legs, as well as over our shoulders and around our waist. They were custom made so they had no "Hard" fasteners or adjusting points. They were strong (2" tubular webbing) and soft so that they were very comfortable to wear (even nakid). If water started coming on-board, we attached one of our (2) tethers amidship before going on deck and while on deck.

In over 80,000 miles of cruising and another 60,000 miles of deliveries, I never once put on a PFD at sea. If it came to actually being in the water with no way of getting back to the boat, it would merely extend the misery. (that was just our personal choice)

Our contention was to STAY ON-BOARD and we did that by making it comfortable and convinient. We never attached our tether to a life-line (we called them "Death-lines"). Harnesses are to be attached in-board and as close to the center of the boat as possible. All cruising vessels should have jack-lines on the deck for moving forward. At that point, a 2nd tether should be attached to a solid point amidships of the boat.

If one follows those rules, there should not be tragedies like what we read there.

[Auspicious]

One of these:



and one of these:


tied together make a dandy MOB for practice.

[Kanani]

or one of these

[David M]

It really gets me how many yachties I see that are not wearing any sort of flotation device. Every commercial boat that I see with people working on deck have some sort of flotation.

Do we get in our cars and not put on our seat belts because we will probably not be flying through the windshield today?

The same goes for doing your MOB drills. I very rarely see anyone doing their MOB drills. I hope I don't come across as being self-righteous, but seriously, does anyone think that they or someone aboard their boat could not end up in the water?

[David M]

Originally Posted by Kanani

In over 80,000 miles of cruising and another 60,000 miles of deliveries, I never once put on a PFD at sea. If it came to actually being in the water with no way of getting back to the boat, it would merely extend the misery. (that was just our personal choice)

Sorry, but I don't agree. Although it may not matter to you if you die. It does matter to others who love you if you die. Also, it is not an instant death sentence if you fall overboard. This is especially true if you are wearing flotation AND whoever else aboard has had training in how to pick someone out of the water. For singlehanded sailing, miles away from any other boats, and the last solid thing you ever see is your boats transom sailing off over the horizon, then sure, what's the point of flotation.

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by David M

It really gets me how many yachties I see that are not wearing any sort of flotation device. Every commercial boat that I see with people working on deck have some sort of flotation.

Why let someone else's personal choice get to you?? Seems like a waste of energy to me .

Commercial seaman are required to wear PFDs. It is part of their job discription. Besides, it's far more dangerous to be on deck, on a large ship, in foul weather than to be on a small boat.

Have you ever seen how a large vessels handles big seas. I have been out there in 30kts and 20+ foot seas and watched these big ships. I was perfectly comfortable riding up and down those seas. Those ships looked scary as hell.

Watch this, you'll see what I mean:

YouTube - ship in big storm

That's the Cook Straight Ferry on a fairly nasty day (I've seen worse). It happens a lot down there. Check out some of those other big ship videos. That's scary business.

[rtbates]

Falling overboard is so easy to prevent... NEVER LEAVE THE CABIN WITHOUT CLIPPING ON! duh....If it's a pain then your vessel is not set up correctly.

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by David M

Sorry, but I don't agree. Although it may not matter to you if you die. It does matter to others who love you if you die. Also, it is not an instant death sentence if you fall overboard. This is especially true if you are wearing flotation AND whoever else aboard has had training in how to pick someone out of the water. For singlehanded sailing, miles away from any other boats, and the last solid thing you ever see is your boats transom sailing off over the horizon, then sure, what's the point of flotation.

If you can't tread water for 30 minutes you shouldn't go out to sea on a small boat. Again, as I stated, that's "our personal preferrence", not a recommendation. Each one of us has to do what makes us comfortable. There's no way in hell that I'm wearing a PFD 24/7 at sea. Taking it off while off-watch is the same as not wearing one at all. If something happens and you've gotta jump up and attend to business, the 2 minutes that it takes to put one of those things on could cost you your boat and your life. A comfortable safety harness is far better protection IMO.

I have never met a cruiser, that makes long passages, that wears a PFD. It just isn't the real world. Besides, if you go over in fowl weather, there is no way that you will be found, much less get back on-board. If you don't know that, it's only because you haven't been there.

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by rtbates

Falling overboard is so easy to prevent... NEVER LEAVE THE CABIN WITHOUT CLIPPING ON! duh....If it's a pain then your vessel is not set up correctly.

That's exactly correct and so easy to accomplish.

Having said that, "NEVER" is a big word. I have jumped over-board and taken a swim at sea (while becalmed) on many occasion. I've even jumped over in light air (hove-to) and scrubbed the bottom to improve performance or sometimes, just to get a good scrub on my boddy and to cool down.. Sailing in a light breeze, I didn't hook-on (although I wore my harness, without tethers). At some point, it becomes necessary to hook-on. I think that point is different for each of us.

[44'cruisingcat]

We have harnesses with built-in automatic PFD's. We also carry a lifesling, and have practised using it. We have a pair of turning blocks always fitted to the lifesling line, one clips onto the boom end, and the other clips to a staunchion base, and leads the line to a winch. We can have the lifesling in the water, with the line round a winch in seconds, rather than minutes.

[Kanani]

I actually did get thrown overboard one time. I was making a delivery to Tonga from NZ on a Beneteau 38. I had made that passage many times and I had always wanted to stop at Raul Island (in the Kermideck's sp?).

That was a big mistake. We encountered a low coming through with 35kts from NW. It was forecast to slowely switch to SW and laydown to 10-15. About 2:AM, we had a sudden wind shift to the SW at 50kts. Now, we had a swell still running at us from the NW and suddenly, another sea running at us from the SW, piling on top of the NW swell and breaking on the boat. The swell was eggagerated by the underwater sea mounts and the crrent running over them. I didn't notice that until later. I would never recommend sailing in that particular area. Very dangerous with big, breaking seas.

I went up to take down the main and a huge sea broke over the entire boat. We were totally under water. The next thing I know, I'm looking over at he the mast laying in the water and the sail floating on the surface.

I'm thinking, "Oh crap, we've been dismasted". About that time, the boat rights herself, and I am pulled up against the life-line by my harness. The boat rolls to the other side and I am on my head in the cockpit, thinking, "What in the hell is going on?"

My primary tether was hooked to a fitting in the cockpit and my secondary was snapped onto the jib halyard (at the mast). BTW, I broke at least one rib and my wife cut her head open, down below when she landed on top of the stove, face first.

We were really happy when we got to Raul Island. That was a fun place to recoup for a week.