MOB procedures....

[Jackdaw]

Being of French ancestry, I say forget the French. Capable women come in all nationalities.

Agreed. You have to remember I race with a 75% female crew and my fiance runs the mainsail. The french as sailing nation figured that trick out. in that video, the lady sailing is actually Norwegian.

Here's my ladies putting the hammer down. 5 on the boat. I'm the only one with mixed chromosomes.

 

[jssailem]

I call the water patrol on my iPhone.

Now that would be a great plan and I would if I could.

 

[thinwater]

I would like to see video of the AP remote tested in this application. Unless someone can demonstrate that, swimming with a PFD, I call BS. I wish it could work, since I singlehand most of the time, but I can't see me bringing the boat back to a spot, without touching a rope, and stopping the boat, in weather that could throw me off. They can do the video in perfect weather.

 

[Jackdaw]

I would like to see video of the AP remote tested in this application. Unless someone can demonstrate that, swimming with a PFD, I call BS. I wish it could work, since I singlehand most of the time, but I can't see me bringing the boat back to a spot, without touching a rope, and stopping the boat, in weather that could throw me off. They can do the video in perfect weather.

You fall off a boat sailing solo and you got a real problem on your hands.

You fall off. The boat notices that and does it’s best to stop and gives you a fighting chance to get back back on. What really more do you expect? Now you got a chance. Work it. Get your ass back on board.

I've hit the MOB button on the NKE AP several times and it does indeed head up (never jibing!) and go nose to with a tiny luff. Then its up to you.

 

[TomY]

I know this topic has been discussed a lot, but I'd like to know how each of us would handle a MOB situation, if:
1. You had crew;
2. You did not have crew; and
3. If you were sailing solo and went into the drink.

FYI, I sail solo a lot and see a lot of other solo sailors. Most of the time, I see them sailing with what appears to be an up and locked boarding ladder -- or no apparent ladder at all. I often wonder how they would get back aboard if they fell or were knocked overboard. Stuff happens.

Most of my sailing miles have been with a family and these, days my wife and I alone. 99.9% of those miles, coastal, we are towing a dinghy. We long ago decided to - as well as throw life rings, throwable cushions - to immediately throw the dinghy painter off the easily accessible stern cleat.

The dinghy is easier for both the MOB and person(s) on deck to spot. Lashed inside are 2 PFD's, a set of oars and a bailer.

As well as a good float to stay with, the MOB can board it. We practice that to be sure. In fact we both boarded the dinghy this season while swimming on Cape Cod. It's quite easy without adrenalin. We ship surprisingly little water as you pull the mid rail down and grab the middle thwart. A little pulling and kicking, and you've in.

This is in a bathing suit with no adrenalin. With clothes on, it might take more effort but you could shed some holding on the side. For us in Maine, getting out of the water that could be quite cold, we like the idea as the MOB, as whoever is still on board, goes about their tasks (which might not be easy).

Like any procedure, it becomes more of a problem in heavy weather. But, we're coastal sailors: 99% of our sailing is in weather we choose, and mostly in daylight. If one of us goes OB, it will most likely be in broad daylight, in good weather.

When I sail alone, I'm more careful. The dinghy is still there but under AP, useless. So if I have something to do on deck and I'm concerned, I heave to or otherwise stop the boat.

The dinghy is our emergency ladder, and we know it works in the conditions we'll likely find ourselves OB.

 

[capta]

When I was 22 I sailed my first big boat to Hawaii from Frisco, and I was in very good physical condition. Sometime on the trip, after we had hit the warmth of the tropics and the trades, on a calmish day, we decided to take turns dragging behind the boat on an old sheet with lots of knots in it. We dropped the main and were probably moving at 2 to 3 knots with maybe 2-foot seas, under the jib alone.
All was fun and laughter until it was time to pull ourselves back to the boat and climb up the ladder unassisted! If any of you think you are going to be able to even get back to the boat, let alone have the energy once you have, to climb up a ladder unassisted when the boat is underway, on anything but the calmest day, you are fooling yourselves. Close to help I suppose the electronic beacons could save you, but it's still a long shot that they will get to you in time.
Perhaps putting your energy into how not to fall overboard underway when you are sailing alone, rather than thinking about how you are going to get back aboard the boat if you do, would be a better way to approach this situation.

 

[Jumpstart]

If you have crew a Mom8 is a great way for the person in the water to be traced . I have one that I just had recertified. A little over $100 to recertify if nothing is broken

 

[jssailem]

Here you go... Just not sure where I can find a storage place on the boat.

Additionally the unit is projected to cost $3.500. That would compete with my sail budget.

 

[JohnShannon]

I am considering the NKE system that puts the boat head to wind if the link with the remote control is lost. My fear is the boat would drift just a little bit faster than I could swim. I guess it would give you something to do while waiting to die. Any stories of this system actually saving people?

 

[thinwater]

You fall off a boat sailing solo and you got a real problem on your hands.

You fall off. The boat notices that and does it’s best to stop and gives you a fighting chance to get back back on. What really more do you expect? Now you got a chance. Work it. Get your ass back on board.

I've hit the MOB button on the NKE AP several times and it does indeed head up (never jibing!) and go nose to with a tiny luff. Then its up to you.

Last week I was testing a system. I jumped off the beam at ~ 7 knots and promptly swam to the wake to grab a trailing line. that consumed 100 feet of line. For me, 7 knots is tame, it could have been twice that. Thus, I doubt you are going to do much until the boat is 200 feet away.

Will the boat stop on it's own? Perhaps, if you are going to weather. If you have a reacher or chute up... no, I don't think the rudder alone can bring it head to wind on many boats. It's going to keep going on a beam reach slow, but faster than you can swim. How fast can you swim with a PFD and rain gear? 1 knot? I doubt it's much more than that.

In combination with a very long trailing line the odds are MUCH better. A sporting chance in light to moderate weather.

No, I don't expect to get back onboard without a positive system. I think there is zero chance of that, even with a dinghy. That's the point. That said, I'd love to see video. I'd want to test the system a few times before I accepted it as even marginally valid. You need to know how much protection it adds.

(We're assuming the boat was on AP, since you were probably out of the cockpit. The reactions are a little different hand steering. It might round up, but it might not all the way, depending on the boat. With down wind sails up, certainly not enough to stop.)

Capta is right. Anything more than about 2 knots makes it nearly impossible to hold on to a line or climb. I was testing that too. 1 to 1.5 knots is a workout from 150 feet back, depending on personal fitness and what you are wearing.

---

What if powering? A separate control can turn off the engine. If it was calm that might do.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Staying on the boat in the first place is, without arguement from anyone here, the best option, but since sailors have fallen off in the past and that includes sailors who have clipped in to jacklines, and this thread is about MOB procedures, why stress that point here?

The dinghy is easier for both the MOB and person(s) on deck to spot. Lashed inside are 2 PFD's, a set of oars and a bailer.

I like this plan. How about a small outboard in a waterproof chest too?
For cruising, a dinghy is standard equipment and an inflatable dinghy is fairly easy to climb aboard. You could even tow a line off the dinghy that when grabbed and yanked could release it from the tow line. I'd be concerned about losing the dinghy, but something might be worked out that was safe.

Another additional thought, a pvc box with a sea anchor inside at the end of your tow line might slow the boat enough to make getting back aboard easier. I'm surprised no one has mentioned drogues yet. The towed line could also deploy a drogue.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Stu Jackson]

Capta is right. Anything more than about 2 knots makes it nearly impossible to hold on to a line or climb. I was testing that too. 1 to 1.5 knots is a workout from 150 feet back, depending on personal fitness and what you are wearing.

i agree. Completely. We actually DID test this. My son jumped off the back of our stopped boat in the Oakland Estuary a few years ago (we live in Canada now). He was 25 or so at the time, in very good shape. He couldn't hold on above 3 knots. Period.

 

[Jackdaw]

Will the boat stop on it's own? Perhaps, if you are going to weather. If you have a reacher or chute up... no, I don't think the rudder alone can bring it head to wind on many boats. It's going to keep going on a beam reach slow, but faster than you can swim. How fast can you swim with a PFD and rain gear? 1 knot? I doubt it's much more than that.

You bring up a good point about reaching. A lot of dual rudder boats might be able to power thru that, but possibly not always. I wonder if the system is smart enough to try and turn down and jibe if it can't turn up? It would make hash out of your sails but that's not the worry anymore.

The other thing - I wonder it this is more beneficial in less that challenging conditions? Ones were you are more likely to be prancing around that deck not clipped in. That video shows the lady sailor jibing in moderate conditions. She falls off offshore and shes a goner as the boat slowly sails away. With the remote shes got a decent chance.

 

[TomY]

For cruising, a dinghy is standard equipment and an inflatable dinghy is fairly easy to climb aboard.
The towed line could also deploy a drogue.

-Will (Dragonfly)

Our safety rules and equipment are pretty spare by most standards. I give myself a break: We're coastal sailors, never more than an overnight off the coast.

That means, primarily, we can avoid the harsh weather offshore sailors should prepare for. I have to think about going overboard, from my mooring, not in the middle of the ocean during a gale. My only way back in the boat is the dinghy.

Stats show that vast majority of boats (most of us here) are coastal sailors. I would guess coastal sailors are towing a dinghy, 95% of the time and miles. Further, if we go overboard, most of us will be close to home and it will happen in mild weather. I'd also guess, 95% of the boats can't be boarded from the water unless there is someone else aboard(mine).

Yet few people consider their dinghy as a means to get back into their boat.

A long painter, if it doesn't float, acts a bit as a drogue. You could add something. Probably floats would slow it down.

To me, sailing single handed with the AP steering (or the boat steering itself), and going up on deck into a precarious spot, is analagous to walking along the edge of a 10 story building.

I wouldn't do that! I would take precautions which could include turning the AP off, and heaving to.

 

[ToddS]

I mostly sail in protected/coastal places, during the day, and in good weather, and almost never alone. Each of those characteristics help my odds tremendously. Two of my "crew" are children, who are unlikely to be of much help (in fact they'll possibly even hinder) in getting the boat back to me if I go overboard. From a very young age, however, I have taught them that if they see anyone go overboard, their job is to shout "Man Overboard" to the remaining adult onboard, throw me (or whoever the M.O.B. is) any and all stuff that floats... horseshoe buoy on transom, a half-full two liter bottle of soda, a lifejacket, a pool noodle, whatever (just don't throw your brother), and DO IT FAST... then help the captain keep eyes on the victim. On the rare occasion I sail alone (maybe once per year for an hour or two), I wear a PFD, I'm generally less than a mile or so from shore, I tow a dinghy, and have a swim platform on my transom, and often while sailing, carry my cellphone in a ziplock bag in my pocket.