Man Overboard Question

[Ducati]

Early in my sailing education I remember my instructor showing a lesser known "man overboard" procedure.

I went like this:

The teacher tossed a life jacket off the back of the boat and then turned hard left (windward). He kept the wheel all the way over and with our forward motion just went in circles as the boat slowed. We approached the life jacket, then the sails were eased and we retrieved it with the hook.

Could someone please offer comments about this method (I don't use this one) however it looked like a "no brainer" especially if short crewed.

Thanks

 

[Stu Jackson]

Interesting

Sounds like a good idea if the wind is relatively light.

I've read about the Figure 8 and the other suggestions, but we use the heave to method.

 

[Bob V]

Was the "MOB" inside the circle of this tight turn or just upwind of him?

We practice doing a larger circle and passing close by up wind of MOB then heave to just upwind to drift back down. In a real emergency the crew is trained to toss the life sling over the stern as they begin this turn so that the line will be surrounding the MOB when you heave to upwind.

I would worry about the boat running over the MOB if a tight turn was started at the wrong time and if the tight turn does not go around the MOB then life sling technique would not work.

 

[David10790]

See Latest Issue of Practical Sailor

The January issue has a major review of MOB techniques, well worth reading IMHO.