On this thread relating to a couple sailing across the Atlantic and the husband falling overboard, leaving the wife on board but incapable of being able to turn the boat and recover her husband, a post was made about the couple (or husband) being too old.
There is only a "too old" scenario when the couple (or husband) has reached the stage of senility and is incapable of (in the case of a boat) being able to sail and navigate the boat properly and safely. In 2006 I was on my way from
Panama to
Tahiti and was in
radio communications with a gentleman aged 71 on a 27 foot
sloop. His
SSB radio was giving problems and I was relaying his position each day to a shore station. The gentleman completed his
circumnavigation successfully and there should be some mention of him on the
Internet. What I found remarkable about his adventure was that he had had a heart transplant and a kidney transplant prior to his
circumnavigation. His name was Ardell Lien and I am sure his full story is to be found on the Internet –
Google is your friend!
However, the point of this post is not the age of the skipper or crew, but that if you are sailing alone and fall overboard, the likelihood of you surviving is pretty slim -
EPIRB, PLB or a personal
AIS transmitter is not going to help in the deep. However, when it comes to having one or more crew besides yourself, it is imperative to get that person or persons fully trained in what to do and how to go about reacting to and recovering a
MOB. And it does not help doing a couple of practice runs and then go sailing. It needs ongoing
training and practice so that the crew will act instinctively and immediately and not have to go below to find their notes on what to do to refresh their memory.
About nine years ago a British skipper with further two crew on board was taking a
catamaran to the
Mediterranean on
delivery. He was a very lucky idiot in that he was saved after going overboard but broke the golden
rule of using a bucket to scoop
water – he tied the lanyard to his wrist instead of the boat! The boat was about 50nm from
Madeira and he was on watch from 03:00 to 06:00. His relief woke up at around 06:30 and wondered why he had not been woken just before 06:00 to take over the watch. He went into the cockpit and soon realised that the skipper was no longer on board. Fortunately, the crew
member was a certified skipper himself and knew the chart plotter very well. He was able to bring up the track the boat had sailed and trace back. Just over two hours later they spotted the skipper using the upturned bucket as a flotation device and recovered him. The skipper was very lucky! The seas were flat with only a slight swell, making it possible for the
deckhand and mate to spot the "coconut" floating with his pet bucket.
This is why it is imperative to train your crew in
MOB situations . . . . . . and carry on
training them every week or two until they can recover you without thinking how they should go about doing so. It is like a properly trained crew on a ship - they do MOB and fire drills on a regular basis, wether in port or on the high seas. The same should apply to the small recreational craft - practice, practice and practice!
A number of years ago I was examining a young lady for her coastal skippers certificate. I had done the practical examination out at sea and we were heading back to the marina at the far end of the
commercial harbour. The young lady was actually very good at being in full control of the vessel and had passed with flying colours. Ahead of us was a small
sail boat that was being used as a youth training vessel, which we were watching and me asking the young lady how she intended to pass the vessel. She turned to me and said she was going to make directly for it as she thought it was busy sinking! I had a good look and watched with amazement as the stern became lower and lower in the water with
kids now taking to the water. We recovered all eight
kids with the new skipper really taking control of the rescue. She was actually awarded a Yachtmaster
Offshore certificate of competence and then went to
work on a tall-ship. But she knew how to recover people out of the water, quickly and efficiently.
So, after the above rambling, please get your partner or crew fully able to stop a boat and recover a MOB – that person in the drink might just be you!
My thoughts are with the wife and
family.
There ya go, and when ya got there, there ya are !
.
Re: Missing yacht near Barbados..
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