Here’s an interesting article about a triple crew overboard emergency from the point of view of the crew of the rescuing boat.
I learned from all the lessons shared, but the two that really jumped out at me were:
- If we have a COB, be very careful and methodical while responding, lest we go overboard ourselves. In this case three people ended up in the water, but two of them fell in when trying to recover the first COB.
- On a sailboat, don’t mess with those block and tackles that are often sold with a LifeSling, use a halyard.
- Phyllis and I carried one of these tackles for years, but some years ago decided that it was a distraction and not useful.
- I’m not even sure these tackles are useful on a motorboat. After all, what are you going to hook it to? And what about a winch? Three-to-one is not going to cut it. Better a hoist.
Anyway, thankfully it ended well.
Thanks to my friend Wilson for the heads-up.
As a pass USCG BM3, participant at many safety at sea semanars and crew on a J105 I have a few comment’s. First it was a great article about what worked and didn’t work so well. And from both prospectives. We don’t get enough of them. I highly agree with using a halyard if they can’t climb a ladder. One thing nice about the J105 is it is close to the water compared to other 34 or larger boats. And even they had problems with reaching people. I highly recommend having a throw bag on the boat. When I was a raft guide I could hit a person at 50′ and any one can throw one. Even if you miss you can quickly coil the line and throw a second time. And the bag and line floats. Not as well as a life sling but someone could see it on the water. Most dock lines as recommended in the article don’t.
Hi Edward,
I agree, we have always carried a throw bag.
There were no significant waves. I wonder–and feel free to throw stones–if this would not have been trivially easy if they had a stern ladder, with 2 rungs in the water, as required by ABYC.
By the time the later responders got there the swimmers were hypothermic, and I am sure the task was difficult, but if the COB had been brought to the ladder quickly, within a few minutes of falling in, it would likely have been nothing more than a quick climb, perhaps lightly assisted with a rope or crew. It must be a solid ladder, with handholds up to the deck, good treads, and not unduly flexible. Not a portable or rope ladder.
I am NOT sayin’ that a ladder will always work or that it is a substitute for other means of recovery, but NOT having a ladder because it doesn’t look right on the transom is lame and negligent … IMO. Very often it will help and there is no excuse not to have one.
Hi Drew,
I’m pretty sure that all J/105s have ladders, just like my J/109 so not using it was perhaps more about the state of the people in the water. Also, even in chop, rather than swell, with a small light boat like the J/109 getting close to the stern may not have been safe.
Also there are plenty of boats where a stern ladder practically won’t work. For example, our M&R 56, or pretty much any larger counter stern boat. We did have a rigid ladder with treads etc, but it was not permanent and had to be mounted on either beam. In fact I’m hard put to figure out how any sort of permanent ladder that would submerse that far could be mounted on that boat, and many others, in a practical way because of the height of freeboard.
Something missing from the takeaway list is that racing with a chute in broach conditions, in cold water, is inherent, intentional risk seeking behavior. Anything that happens is on you.
As for the ladders, ISO and ABYC says all new builds need them, so I don’t think impracticality is a valid explanation. Weld something up.
Hi Drew,
Easy to say, hard to do, in many things absolutism is often impractical.
I’m pretty absolute on ladders, and so are ISO and ABYC. I feel it is a safety basic and I am not alone. I’m sure I’ve ever seen a boat that could not fit one, either on the transom or beam. People just don’t like how they look, which is no reason at all.
We all have a few pet topics.
Hi Drew,
I’m not against ladders by any stretch. We always had one ready to go on the M&R and I really like the one we have on the J/109. but we also need to think about other factors. For example, a folding ladder at the boarding gate on the M&R would have obstructed the side deck at just the place a person leaves and reenters the cockpit and also would have been a constant problem with sheet fouling. And a sheet foul on that boat would have resulted in tearing the ladder apart (huge loads) and who knows what other damage that would have required interventions that in and of themselves would add POB risk.
We also had a drop down ladder than could be deployed from the water because there was no way to get back on that boat from the water without one and I used to single hand so falling over in an anchorage and drowning would be kinda stupid.
And the 109 ladder, as installed could not be deployed from the water, but I fixed that.
Point being that different boats have different best ways of doing something like a ladders, something that mandates often don’t take into account.
Hi Drew,
I agree that racing with a spinnaker up in cold water is high risk…kinda like ice climbing. š
Hi John,
For just the reasons cited, I purchased my main halyard and spare headsail halyard able to reach the water level plus a couple of feet. Each can reach a winch and we have an EWincher. Our lifelines are attached with lashings rather than turnbuckles and āDā shackles. This allows the lashings to be quickly cut and the lifelines dropped so the COB only needs to be raised to deck level (and anything being dragged past lifelines gets hung up while coming up the hull is smooth).
And agree completely about the danger to crew in an emergency: any emergency. Counter-intuitively, I believe the head-set for the swiftest response is to move slowly. That and having practiced ahead of time so there is a bit of muscle and head memory.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
Hi Dick,
All good points. We too think the Ewincher might be a game changer for a short handed crew in an emergency and we are all over moving slowly when the yogurt is flying. This is one of the reasons we have moved away from the Quickstop: https://www.morganscloud.com/2018/03/22/person-overboard-recovery-is-the-quick-stop-bogus/
I’m a little surprised that nobody has mentioned the extremely risky method by which the hypothermic woman was recovered from the water.
Yes, I fully understand that they needed to act quickly, using only whatever was to hand. However, the fact remains that the simple act of hoisting her out of the water by her life jacket could have easily killed her. Given the waters they were sailing in, the captain and crew should have been aware of this danger, although it is apparent by how ill-prepared they were, they were not aware.
It is (or at least should be) well known that hypothermic people can die of cardiovascular collapse, if not lifted from the water in a horizontal position. (Full details here)
For this reason, I dislike using a harness or lifesling for recovering a POB. There are far better recovery devices available, that keep the POB horizontal whilst out of the water, and as a bonus, they are generally easier for a shorthanded crew to use.
For instance, there is the Sea Scoopa, the Kim Pick Up Sail, or (my personal preference) the SOS Recovery Ladder, which combines a horizontal lift system with a semi-rigid rescue ladder.
Great rescues and lessons. For the casualty that could not help themselves, once again for me, the issue is getting hold of the person. Getting them out the water with a halyard or tackly is the easy part, securing the casualty to the lifting device is the hard part.
All my lifejackets are fitted with MOB Lifesavers, (Google Duncan Wells MOB Lifesaver) strong, thin, long, floating line with an open eye at the end, fitted to the lifejacket lifting strop and flaked under the stole (other LJ storage options are available). They deploy when the lifejacket inflates, and are easily hooked with a boat hook to be attached to the lifting device.
I have made this observation on the MOB Lifesaver before and it was criticised. It works, it is an aid to securing a person quickly and it is strong enough to lift them out.
Glad to see drifting down on leeward was mentioned, this has been a staple for a long time in a seaway, yet since the invention of the sugar scoop stern, it has fallen by the way side. A stern recovery has significant risk of skull damage to the casualty in a big seaway.
A tip if sailing upwind and you have a person overboard. A quick tack, don’t touch the jib, dump the main, heave too, engage engine, then using bursts of reverse and maybe forward, to keep the boat directly upwind, will allow for a fast drift down onto the casualty, and recovery under the boom, if set up for that. Switch off engine for final drift down and recovery.
Hi Alastair,
Sorry you feel you were criticized, that was not my intent. That said, I did express reservations about the product and still have them. My big problem is that all the demos are in smooth water with the boat tied up.
When you say it works, do you know of any use in a real POB situation in rough water? If so I would be very interested in hearing details for an article I’m thinking about.
John I contacted the product developer and asked but he is not aware of any actual POBs at sea.
Hi Alastair,
Thanks so much for checking that. My concern here is the actual practicality of snagging the pick up loop from the deck with a boat hook in even a mild chop, never mind a full on swell at sea.
I think it would be really interesting to try and simulate this with a POB dummy wearing a jacket fitted with the device and would suggest to the developer that so doing would give their product a lot of credibility, since, as a primarily offshore sailor, I have an instant reaction of scepticism when I see a product being demonstrated in flat water in a marina from a boat that’s not even underway.
My concern here is that if it’s as difficult to snag the pick up loop as I think it will be in real conditions the developer is giving people a false sense of security by saying that this will allow the safe pick up of a POB who is not capable of helping themselves. Of course, I could be quite wrong about this, but that’s my concern.
The trial with a mannequin or similar dead weight to see how it performs at sea, in real conditions, is something I am planning, but time et cetera is something I don’t have a lot of currently, but it is on the cards an hopefully this season. Your concern is shared, as there is a lot of scope for a trailing, floating line, not to deploy perfectly. The risk of fouling around LJ, POB is also very significant, in my view, maybe making recovery impossible e.g. strangulation risk. If I do a practical test, I’ll let you know.
Hi Alastair,
I think that’s a great idea, although I totally hear you on the amount of time and work involved. Seems to me that the manufacture of the device should be supporting you in this or taking it on themselves.
And, good point on potential points of failure. That got me thinking and an area of concern I would add is the difficulty of getting the handle hooked and then putting the boat hook down and getting the line secured in some way before it’s snatched out of the hands of the rescuer. The rescuer is also going to have to be very careful not to get dragged overboard, or simply overbalance while going through this since both hands will be required.