Man overboard drills on Chesapeake

[Auspicious]

I'm organizing man overboard drills on middle Chesapeake on June 17. We'll be somewhere near Annapolis.

I have two "MOBs" made of round fenders and 5-gallon buckets. The general plan is a small raft up, a gathering to talk about tactics, and practice practice practice.

No commitments yet, but I'm poking at the local USCG and DNR to send someone to chat with us.

dave
S/V Auspicious
lying MRE

[Captain Smollett]

Dave,

You must be psychic.  I was reading This Report (PDF WARNING) just yesterday.

Good luck organizing your event.  It is something we should all be practicing more often, in my opinion.  I offer my own 'drill' from a few years ago:  I lost a fender of the side and convinced Becky this would make a good COB drill.  It took 8 tries the get it back on board under sail alone.  And I thought my boat handling was "okay" before that!!

Note:  I could get TO the thing okay, but not and stop just right so she could RECOVER it.  And that fender did not wiegh what a person would, even one of our children.

[Auspicious]

The biggest problem with chasing fenders is that they don't act like people. They blow too fast. I picked up the idea of using a bucket as a sea anchor somewhere to make the drift rate more like a person.

I'm reading the report you linked to. Thanks.

There is another report somewhere on BoatUS (I'll link to it if I can find it) that is a whole lot of case studies (105 of them). I plowed through the whole thing and ended up with two take-aways: 1. don't waste time adjusting sails; just steer the boat -- slowing down is fine and even desirable and 2. don't start the engine; every single case study where the engine was started ultimately resulted in a line in the prop, generally resulting in loss of the COB.

[Auspicious]

Here are the case histories.

[AdriftAtSea]

Good luck with the event and keep us posted on when and where it will be. 

About two years ago, I participated in some MOB drills on my friend's boat. He was using a weighted bucket and fender as a MOB dummy.  It was a real eye-opener as to how difficult the 65 lb. "MOB" was to get aboard the boat.  The conditions were light winds, probably 10-15 knots max, and basically flat seas... and even in those relatively benign conditions, getting back to the MOB and getting the MOB back aboard was more difficult than I'd like. 

A lot of people practice with just a cushion, but that isn't all that realistic a method to practice.  Cushions tend to float higher and drift faster than does a real MOB.  They're also, generally, a lot easier to spot.  Bob, as we call the cushion that we use on my boat, is bright red.  My friend's MOB target was painted brown, to simulate the color of someone's head, and it was weighted to float with only about eight inches showing out of the water.   Spotting it was a real nightmare, I doubt that we would have spotted it in any sort of heavy seas.

Anyone wearing blue, black, white or green foul weather gear is effectively going to camoflague themselves in the water.  FWG should be bright yellow, orange or red.  Red is tough to see at night though.

Last fall, I had to dive to cut the rope off the props on my friend's boat.  This was in the comfort of the marina... and after about 10 minutes in the water, I needed help getting out of the water.  I don't think people realize how quickly heat-loss and hypothermia can set in, especially up in colder waters like here in New England.

The stories where the people trying to do the MOB recovery pull the PFD off the person in the water are a good reason the PFDs should have an integrated harness with crotch strap.  Those stories also remind me why I have a rigging knife, strobe and whistle on most of the PFD harnesses on my boat. 

[oded kishony]

Another thought occured to me; would it be possible to 'scoop' someone out of the water if they were incapacitated in some way, using the jib and jib sheets? Would the typical sail be strong enogh to support an adult?

Oded Kishony
(sorry for posting on the wrong thread earlier)

[Zen]

That is one of the methods recommened by the ASA

[oded kishony]

Thanks Zen, I didn't know that.  :)

~OK

[AdriftAtSea]

The only problem is trying to get the MOB into the jib... Netting has been suggested as a better solution, as it will not have the problem of lifting all the water a jib will try to retain...

BTW, keeping the MOB horizontal is very important if they're suffering from Hypothermia.  From what I remember about MOBs and hypothermia is that suddenly bringing them upright can possibly trigger a hypothermia related heart attack. 

You can also use a bight in a rope to parbuckle the MOB on-board.  Attach the bight of the rope to a halyard, and use it to haul the person aboard that way.