MOB Procedures

[delmarrey]

I voted "At the start of each passage".

We (the wife and I) only go out together 2-3 times in the warmer months. So the first time out I put her through the routine what to do. It's most likely I'm going to be the one that goes over due to my activities. Under way her spot is mostly in the cockpit, below or walking the deck in calm weather. So her risk factor is light. Where as, mine is high due to handling sails, rigging and docking.

If I go in the water her first duty is to stop the boat. If the motor is running, she is to turn off the key. If we're under sail, she is to release ALL the halyards The topping lift will catch the boom. Turn the boat hard over to which ever side I went over and then pull in the mainsheet. This will cause the boat to spin in a circle for a bit.

If I'm able to swim to the boat I will. all she has to do is throw a line over the transom and with a slooped transom I can pull myself up.

If I'm not able to get myself back on board, she is to throw the life-sling and get on the radio/phone (most likely the phone) and call for help. She is not a good swimmer and I told her I'll take my risk only, rather then have both of us go down. Also she is to get the extenable boat hook and try to get me in closer if posssibe. If not, she'll have to start the motor and get in closer reminding her to shut it down when close and coast in the rest of the way.

In rough weather we have a MOB pole w/ flag & a strobe. That goes out first in those conditions. In which, I'm overly cautious in those conditions to stay aboard.

When I'm out with others, they are one's who have sea time and I just give them a rundown on the equipment, if they haven't been aboard already.

There is a lot more to it but this is the basic idea................._/)

[S/V Elusive]

After reading this discussion (excellent comments and related experiences), I think that I'll reroute my jacklines in the future. I use to run them down each side. I think that now I'll bring them straight back and cross over aft of the main mast. I typically use two teathers; when forward one is usually attached to the mast anyway.

Forward of midships, I have bulwarks that are about 8 inches above the deck, with life lines one foot and two feet above that. I also have a bowline to bowline line of five foot (between the knots) that I affix to the midship cleat. That is my re-entry point to the boat.

I single hand most of the time, so I don't have to worry about how someone is going to get me back aboard - there ain't no one; that means I cannot be seperated from the boat, or I'm dead.

[hellosailor]

delmarrey-
"If the motor is running, she is to turn off the key." Are you sure about that? I'd suggest putting it in neutral, but NOT killing the engine. In the event that she needs it, better to have it running in eutral than to take the chance that it won't restart. You know how engines are, they decide to go on vacation just when you least expect it.

[delmarrey]

But her brain goes on vacation when things go wrong. I don't want her bust'n up the gears in the heat of the moment. It's better she gets a grip before having to do evasive maneuvers. Most of the time we're not behind the wheel when away from traffic or obstacles. So shifting from an odd position maybe a worse scenario.

It's better for her to just see what's happened first. I wouldn't want to get run over while she is trying to figure out which way to throw the lever. She's learning and someday we may change the procedure but for now turning off the key is the safest. And I'm real careful about staying on the boat, especially when it’s on the hard.

[Alan Wheeler]

As long as she doesn't go make nice cup of tea to relax an think about it.

[delmarrey]

If she did that. Then I'd never kiss her again! So there!

[Paul Elliott]

One thing that I notice when the boat is on the jackstands is how scary it is to walk the decks. It's a long way down to the concrete and the lifelines seem so inconsequential.

I try to keep this thought in mind when I am offshore. As bad as it would be to fall onto the concrete, my odds would probably be much worse if I fell into the water. Just because the water is closer, it doesn't mean it's safer.

[FrankZ]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

One thing that I notice when the boat is on the jackstands is how scary it is to walk the decks. It's a long way down to the concrete and the lifelines seem so inconsequential.

I try to keep this thought in mind when I am offshore. As bad as it would be to fall onto the concrete, my odds would probably be much worse if I fell into the water. Just because the water is closer, it doesn't mean it's safer.

When I walk past C:\Slave on the hard my shoulder is about level with the waterline. Looking up towards the cockpit is a sobering thing. It really seems much higher from that point of view than when you are in the cockpit looking at the water.

[hellosailor]

Sounds like she must be a blonde. (Yes, that was a blonde joke.)

Actually, I've met some folks, sometimes very nice folks, where the best thing they could do might be to "go make some tea" rather than making a whole batch of noise and confusion.

Heck, when the World Trade Center collapsed, thousands of people were given "busy work" to pacify them, for weeks. (The "rescuers" digging in the pile, and the folks sending in clothes, pajamas, toothbrushes, boots, sox, and flashlights, depending on which day it was.) That's SOP these days, even though no one dares tell them they've been given busy work.

Disaster response and crisis management skills are about as common as being an all-star basketball player. Nice if you got 'em at the right time, but sometimes "go make some tea" helps too.<G>

[skipperaris]

My sailing these days consists mainly of taking people out on a day sail for fun. This lasts about 8 hours and the participants are as random as you can imagine. Single people, couples, families, mothers with babies, children with grandparents ...

As a rule they are absolute beginners.

While I make sure that they learn about the wind and the sails and they all have a go steering the ship and trimming sails there just isn't any time when a MOB exercise would be meaningful. At the start of the day they typically cannot tell the one end of the boat from the other and by the time they have accumulated enough know-how it is time to head back.

So the law is : "Do not fall in the sea" and some times I have to say: "No you cannot dive off the pointy end and come up the backside while we are sailing".

So I did not vote for this poll because the honest answer would be "Never" but the correct answer is "at least twice a week" which is how often hats etc. come off and are retrieved with a MOB drill, or other floating objects are recovered.

Hats and other small objects are retrieved with a small fishing net at the end of a long wooden pole which I keep for this purpose.

For other objects the boat hook is prefered.

I would have voted if there was an option to vote for "As often as needed"
but I realise that such a response would not be appropriate for scheduled MOB exercises.

Back to the issue of recovering an Oscar I am glad to say I never yet had to do this but if I did I would probably use a variation of my method for larger objects such as a sea turtle last year, a wind surf board some years ago, etc. etc...

What I do is to get two crew members to lower a line each which they have to loop round each end of the object and then hoist up in unison. Sounds easy but in practice it is very difficult to get two brains to tune in to one another. The tendency is for the one to lift faster than the other.

If I had a real Oscar I would probably fix two loops to each end (under the knees and under the chest) and then bring these to the bottom block of my mainsheet which is fitted with a suitable (quick release) shackle for this purpose.

Having exhausted the main sheet I would then use the topping lift.
I have lifted my motor out of the boat in this way and therefore I'm fairly confident I could manage a person. It would be painful but slightly better than drowning.

Now I know I said I never had to recover a real Oscar but the whole truth is that once I had a half-Oscar situation. What happened is that a slight tallish young lady was standing by the pulpit and she was pushed over by the genoa filling. The result was that she overbalanced and did a sort of backward somersault over the side which left her hanging with her hands, while the rest of her was suspended over the water. She only wet her feet.
Fortunately a couple of men had an eye on her - she was pretty - and they instantly sprung to help her climb back in to the boat. Wouldn't you do the same?

[GordMay]

When we cruised Lake Superior, with hanked head-sails, I told Maggie that if I go overboard:
1.I die
2. She’s solo

Accordingly, she was a very mindful helmsman, particularly when I was on the foredeck.

[skipperaris]

My sympathy goes to Maggie, Gord.

I can imagine the poor lady frozen with fear she might do something to throw you in to the drink. I can just see her knuckles white with the effort.

And quite frankly I cannot see how the helmsman can make you go overboard.

[Perithead]

Well, I have never sailed before but I am about to purchase a small cruise to learn on. I have been reading a great deal on this site and many others about sailing. I thought about a man overboard and came up with something I will try to use when I begin sailing myself.

How does the idea sounds of just towing a life ring behind the boat aways? If someone falls over board just be sure and grab the ring. This way, if the make a mistake and do fall overboard they have a second chance to correct their mistake.

Good idea or not?

I plan on having a life ring behind my vessel everytime I go out. Unless someone could give me a reason not too.

Note that it wouldnt so far that another boat would cross the towline or something like that.

[Perithead]

I have never been sailing before but I am getting ready to purchase a small cruiser, and have been reading a good bit online about sailing in general. I have read stories about people falling OB and I think I have come up with a simple way to help the situation out if it occurs.

Whenever you get out on the water, have a life ring on a towline behind you boat a ways. If someone falls overboard they just need to react in time to grab the ring and they would be fine.

I plan on doing this everytime I go out, unless someone could inform me why this would be a bad idea.

The ring wouldnt be so far back behind me that another vessel could get caught up in the towline also.

[hellosailor]

The trailing line is not a bad idea, the problem is that:

1-You need to swim laterally to reach it as the boat is flying by. At six knots, the boat is covering some ten feet per second so unless you catch a 100' line in under ten seconds--it is gone.

2-Once you get the line, you will drown in your own bow wave if the boat is moving faster than about two knots. Or, you'll let go.

3-Folks who go overboard often get konked in the head, even if you are concious, that line may be gone before you know it.

Which is not to say the line won't work--just that it is of limited use, and in any kind of seas or bad wx, even less use. Worse if it fouls the rudder or prop.