Am I the only one...

[yrobert]

... who thinks that bothering the RNLI for a man overboard when there are plenty boats around with fit racing crews onboard is a bit over the top?

http://www.rnlivideolibrary.org.uk/getvideo.aspx?vid=hldxfazv

I was a bit surprised to see this on the front page of YBW when IMHO they should advocate for yachts helping each others.

 

[Fantasie 19]

I disagree, but only because in the conditions we were having for that race I would rather leave casualty recovery to the professionals... I for one wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere near people in the water in that swell/wind as the outcomes could have been disastrous....

I suspect if the conditions had been better then other boats would have been more than happy to render assistance - the problem on the day was conditions

 

[yrobert]

True, in these circumstances, you need to trust the guy(s) in charge of the halyard to be extremely quick and lifting up somebody directly is bound to fail.

 

[wakeup]

I disagree, but only because in the conditions we were having for that race I would rather leave casualty recovery to the professionals... I for one wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere near people in the water in that swell/wind as the outcomes could have been disastrous....

I suspect if the conditions had been better then other boats would have been more than happy to render assistance - the problem on the day was conditions

I am not so sure you'd say that if you were the MOB, survival times in the UK waters are pretty short even in summer. I would rather the risk of someone trying than waiting for RNLI to arrive.

 

[Flying Penguin]

I am not so sure you'd say that if you were the MOB, survival times in the UK waters are pretty short even in summer. I would rather the risk of someone trying than waiting for RNLI to arrive.

But for the RTIR there were RIBS and lifeboats shadowing competitors most of the way round, in fact it seemed that one Severn class (the Yarmouth one presumably) seemed to spend most of its day in the middle of the mele at the Needles (at least from what I saw). The response times here would have been much shorter than normal.

Jamie

 

[yrobert]

But for the RTIR there were RIBS and lifeboats shadowing competitors most of the way round, in fact it seemed that one Severn class (the Yarmouth one presumably) seemed to spend most of its day in the middle of the mele at the Needles (at least from what I saw). The response times here would have been much shorter than normal.

Jamie

If the RIB happened to be there it makes sense as it much easier for him than for a yacht. From the video I assumed that people stood by waiting for the RIB to come.

 

[Flying Penguin]

If the RIB happened to be there it makes sense as it much easier for him than for a yacht. From the video I assumed that people stood by waiting for the RIB to come.

Well given the conditions and the proximity of Rib's and coastguard vessels (even if they weren't right next to the boat) I would have thought it a sensible tradeoff, a few minutes of in the water time for a pro rib crew rescue. Remember that the boat they came from was left singlehanded (look at the end).

Jamie

 

[wakeup]

Well given the conditions and the proximity of Rib's and coastguard vessels (even if they weren't right next to the boat) I would have thought it a sensible tradeoff, a few minutes of in the water time for a pro rib crew rescue. Remember that the boat they came from was left singlehanded (look at the end).

Jamie

So if the rib was busy attending to another incident, who would have spotted the MOB? MOB could have been run down by the next racer.

 

[Flying Penguin]

So if the rib was busy attending to another incident, who would have spotted the MOB? MOB could have been run down by the next racer.

Quite possibly, and there's little the original boat (now singlehanded) could have done other than call it in and play it by ear. There are no 100% answers in this sort of situation and it's naive to believe any MOB strategy is foolproof. Any amateur rescue (even if not singlehanded) would carry all the usual risks of MOB in heavy seas, i.e. you are likely to run the bugger over or bash him on the head in pounding seas, if you don't then you might not get him up successfully, even with halyard winches, strong racer types etc. The difficulties of MOB's situations have been done to death in Scuttlebutt.

We don't know how long they were in the water, it's entirely possible that they were only a few minutes away. Sea temperature would have been ~10-14 degrees so your expected limit of consciousness is about an hour or two, survival limits 1-6 hours (source). If the CG said they couldn't help, I'm sure there were enough boats around to assist, but if they said "be there in 10 -15 mins", assuming he could spot for them, it would be perfectly reasonable to wait. A pro rescue would have carried much less risks than some enthusiastic amateur.

Though you have to wonder how long it would have been until a boat circling in the race stream under limited control got t-boned resulting in the third MOB or worse.

Jamie

 

[yrobert]

I agree that if a RIB was in the vicinity, it makes sense for him to do the job.

I have never done the round the island one and didn't realise that the RNLI was providing cover as for the cross channel ones, you are on your own (short of a PAN PAN). RORC races are inherently hazardous thus crews should be competent to deal with this kind of hairy situations even if they are just amateurs.

The guy left alone didn't stand a chance to recover his MOBs so you would expect fellow competitors to stop and help him even if this means that he has to come back singlehanded because they can't transfer back his crew.

 

[Flying Penguin]

I agree that if a RIB was in the vicinity, it makes sense for him to do the job.

I have never done the round the island one and didn't realise that the RNLI was providing cover as for the cross channel ones, you are on your own (short of a PAN PAN). RORC races are inherently hazardous thus crews should be competent to deal with this kind of hairy situations even if they are just amateurs.

The guy left alone didn't stand a chance to recover his MOBs so you would expect fellow competitors to stop and help him even if this means that he has to come back singlehanded because they can't transfer back his crew.

IMHO the difference is fairly easily explained by the number of competitors in close quaters (~2000 vs ~60 for the recent RORC to Cherbourg) and the fact that there are more day sailor types (as opposed to fully crewed race boats) around.