Survival challenge

[StuM]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Seriously I fail to understand why everyone doesn't terminate their lifelines with small stuff , a few seconds with a knife and you have reduced your freeboard by 50 cm

This!!!
(Also standard teaching )

[jalmberg]

I’m surprised no one suggested using the Time Machine in the pilot house to go back and buy a boat with better self-righting capabilities. Problem solved in a few seconds.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by jalmberg

I’m surprised no one suggested using the Time Machine in the pilot house to go back and buy a boat with better self-righting capabilities. Problem solved in a few seconds.

Great idea. Or just restore a saved time point before the capsize

[boatman61]

The MOB procedure I was taught in the days before furlers etc was fairly straight forward..
Grab your smallest jib and tie off the foot to deckfittings/strong points then fasten the spinnaker line to the head, drop over the side and as with TP's method manoeuvre the MOB into the 'sling/bight' created by the sail then hoist the head to raise and roll the victim onto the side deck... I also agree with the guard wires being secured by line at the ends as opposed to shiny turnbuckles.
The advantage of this technique is one can maintain full control of the boat with sail or motor at all times.
A strong boat hook of decent length is also a must.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by boatman61

The MOB procedure I was taught in the days before furlers etc was fairly straight forward..
Grab your smallest jib and tie off the foot to deckfittings/strong points then fasten the spinnaker line to the head, drop over the side and as with TP's method manoeuvre the MOB into the 'sling/bight' created by the sail then hoist the head to raise and roll the victim onto the side deck... I also agree with the guard wires being secured by line at the ends as opposed to shiny turnbuckles.
The advantage of this technique is one can maintain full control of the boat with sail or motor at all times.
A strong boat hook of decent length is also a must.

A description of that method can be found in the Admiralty Manual of Seamanship under 'How to parbuckle a matelot'.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

A description of that method can be found in the Admiralty Manual of Seamanship under 'How to parbuckle a matelot'.

As an ex-matelot (TAS) I can concur that it was in the Seamanship Manual that I was issued with, along with my uniform etc on arrival as Juinior Seaman at HMS Ganges..

[jalmberg]

My wife and I just completed a west-to-east Atlantic crossing, and we agreed at the beginning that if we fell overboard, we were as good as dead. (I was dead for sure, and I gave my wife a 5% chance of survival.)

We clipped on before leaving the companionway, and stayed clipped on, even in the cockpit. Yes, it's a bit annoying, but why dice with death by not clipping on?

We have an old fashioned boat, so plenty of halyards and winches on the main and mizzen masts to use to drag someone back on board, as long as they were still attached to the jacklines.

Our boat also has wide, clear, side decks to make it easy to move around, 8" high bulwarks, and places to hold on everywhere on deck.

We also hove-to twice, once with very high seas when we rigged a parachute anchor, just in case the waves started to break. Luckily they didn't.

But, by sailing conservatively and putting safely first, we never came close to any of these theoretical problems, I'm happy to say.

[TrentePieds]

Ganges???

Now I'll forever picture you as the Button Boy :-0)!!

A mate of mine got fed up with teaching comprehensive secondary school in Brum. Took a short term commission and went to teach at Ganges. LOVED it. No more discipline problems for him to deal with :-)!

TP

[TrentePieds]

FWIW, later today I'll be passing through Ganges Harbour, Saltspring Island, B.C. GHBC was named for the very HMS Ganges that wound up at Shotley Gate and became the training establishment.

As you may know, Georgia Strait, now called the Salish Sea as a salute to our indigenous peoples, is replete with names commemorating ships and men from the glory days of the RN.

TP

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Ganges???

Now I'll forever picture you as the Button Boy :-0)!!

A mate of mine got fed up with teaching comprehensive secondary school in Brum. Took a short term commission and went to teach at Ganges. LOVED it. No more discipline problems for him to deal with :-)!

TP

Never got onto the Button.. hung onto it with my hands but then looked down at the slate roof of the Post Office with slates of a different colour in the shape of a spreadeagled person laid out and changed my mind about grabbing the lightening rod and climbing up.. 43metres looks awfully high from the top..
Legend had it the new slates were a result of someone falling from the button..
I did however often sit at the outer extreme of the top yardarm to eat my 'Nutty' after getting my £1/week pay and a visit to the Tuck Shop.. for most scroungers and bullies that was a step too far..

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by boatman61

The MOB procedure I was taught in the days before furlers etc was fairly straight forward..

Grab your smallest jib and tie off the foot to deckfittings/strong points then fasten the spinnaker line to the head, drop over the side and as with TP's method manoeuvre the MOB into the 'sling/bight' created by the sail then hoist the head to raise and roll the victim onto the side deck... I also agree with the guard wires being secured by line at the ends as opposed to shiny turnbuckles.

The advantage of this technique is one can maintain full control of the boat with sail or motor at all times.

A strong boat hook of decent length is also a must.

Try it in a big seaway running with only your wife on the boat come back and tell us how it went.

Not to mention most boats have one single huge Genoa these days. No point postulating a mob system where nobody has the basic components.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Try it in a big seaway running with only your wife on the boat come back and tell us how it went.

Not to mention most boats have one single huge Genoa these days. No point postulating a mob system where nobody has the basic components.

If you lived in constant fear of people falling off your boat it would be simple enough to sew up such a sling. Or do most boats not have spin halyards these days?

Me? I just tell people that if they fall in they are going to die. Simples.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Try it in a big seaway running with only your wife on the boat come back and tell us how it went.

Not to mention most boats have one single huge Genoa these days. No point postulating a mob system where nobody has the basic components.

Well it went like this.. various folk have mentioned recovery techniques so figured I would add what I learnt back when us dinosaurs roamed the seas..
Figured it might be useful for those who carried a storm jib which I often see referenced on here.. I did consider posting that an emergency set-up could be made on board as a just in case carry along, but figured folk with a modicum of intelligence could work that out for themselves suited to their individual boats so decided not to bother.
Never had to try in in real life, never had to use a liferaft either but have been trained to use both so I'd give it a good go and may even do better than someone who's not.
But enough of me O Font of all Negativity..
What would you do.???

[skipperpete]

There’s a novel called “Overboard” by Hank Searls about this very subject, chilling read for cruising sailors. I was dismissive of tethered safety harnesses..... until I read that book.
The difference between falling out of an aeroplane and falling overboard is that with the latter, you have much longer to contemplate your doom.

[jipcho]

I think that if it seems possible for one person to slip out without endangering the lives of the crew that are "safe" in the pilot house, that's a good plan for the following reasons.
1) The life of the missing crew could be saved.
2) Eventually, all crew would likely need to get to the raft, where they might have a better chance of contacting a rescuer. So, getting at least one person there sooner rather than later, might help.