Are single handers wearing the wrong kit

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There has been a few posts recently concerning MOB tactics especially when single handed. Now ignoring the fact that we should avoid going over the side in the first place, it could happen. Hopefully one would be remain tethered to the boat & would have a chance of climbing back on. If so this would be much harder wearing an life jacket. Would it not be better wearing a buoyancy aid along with a harness?. This would probably be lighter, more comfortable, The buoyancy aid may add some warmth under a jacket.the harness , being a bespoke fitting may be better at holding the casualty.
I once slipped overboard under the rail & was suspended by my boot hooked over a cleat. My LJ inflated & I could not get back without some struggling because of the bulk of the inflated bellows. With a buoyancy aid I could have gotten back much easier
Some say that once separated from the vessel there is little chance of recovery so would the absence of a fully blown life jacket actually make that much difference?

So-- Is a life jacket the wrong thing?
 
Depends on the weather.
Short's & Tee Shirt. Ball cap or Knotted Hanky.
As it gets colder I add long pants, sweater, oilys as req'd
I do go barefoot at times again I add shoes socks boots as weather dictates.

When conditions warrant I wear a harness, today its part of an inflatable LJ.
The harness to my mind is the important part, The inflatable LJ would not be on the boat if it didn't have the harness.

I choose when and when not to wear the harness. Other's might say I should wear it all the time if I am alone. Its a personal choice.

My personal opinion. Don't fall off. The Harness is to prevent me falling off. LJ not a lot of use if you are on your own.

I don't have a PLB but it would probably be worth its weight in gold if you fall OB. Actually the question is how much is your life worth. Without a PLB or similar means of raising alarm. the chances of survival with or without a lifejacket. Slim to None.

Could you be just lucky. Maybe.
My wife's dad, spotted a diver floating out in the middle of Salish Sea(Straight of Georgia) many years ago. The diver had been swept out by a strong current. The Diver was increadibly lucky. Nobody knew the Diver was missing.
My father in law thought it was a dead sealion but turned round to check JIK. Spotted it was a diver,
Next piece of luck My wifes Dad and his friends were VFDP. First responders. and knew what to do with a severe hypothermia.
The Diver Survived.

Your life jacket might save you if all the stars & planets line up just right.
Is it a good bet?
 
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I think a harness is the right thing and always wore one and left the bulky lifejacket accessble in the cabin. Then integral lifejacket harnesses came out so it seemed silly not to take advantage. But the harness is the thing.
 
I always assumed that what a life jacket provides is the ability to survive while unconscious.

In particular the danger is on the nicer days where perhaps its super calm, you dont hook in because there are zero waves but a freak accident/gust of wind knocks out and off the boat.
 
A fully inflated life jacket is great for keeping your head above the water while waiting rescue. However, it is a hindrance to swimming, climbing aboard a boat or life raft and pretty much any activity. I am reliably informed that dying from hypothermia is likely to be less traumatic than drowning plus there is always the chance of rescue.
I, when I actually wear one, I use a manual life jacket and thankfully it has only been inflated for test.
 
Slycat said:
I always assumed that what a life jacket provides is the ability to survive while unconscious.

In particular the danger is on the nicer days where perhaps its super calm, you dont hook in because there are zero waves but a freak accident/gust of wind knocks out and off the boat.
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You are correct that life jackets are designed to turn an unconscious casualty head up and thus allowing them to breath, but there are a significant number of other issues that can happen, usually a heart attack, that will kill you.

If you we lucky to have a freak accident and the conditions be totally benign, only happened once in the last five years when I was on board, and you had a good Glasgow Coma Scale score, you should be able to get back on board (if you have a swim latter).
 
Yes the bladder is very hard to deal with when inflated, I fell overboard once tying up to the mooring, in darkness and fog, was not alone but the experience was educational. without the LJ it would have been very scarey...

But if terhered with a LJ and stuck under the rail on the side of a moving yacht I suspect my only tactic might have to be to get out of LJ and tether...

this year I think I will kook at jackstays along the centerline or at least something further from the edge....

Perhaps a buoyancy aid and non auto LJ would be good combination (but bulky and not much use if you are knocked out. A LJ with a 30 second immersion delay or a minimum depth of say 1m prior to inflation might be the way to go.
 
I adjusted the normal 6ft tether to approx half that. The tether shackle runs along the jacklines on either side of the boat. This means I cannot be thrown into the water over the lifelines. Also being attached at the waist level to the jackline is a fairly tight fit. This gave the handy result that when up forward, as the boat pitches up I am well secure and when the boat pitches down, my feet are firmly kept on deck by the shortened taut tether. This allows having both hands free.
 
I have sailed single handed offshore for over 20 years now and what many forget is IF you fall overboard and the yachts doing 2 knots in 30 seconds you will be 100' from the boat

So swimming anywhere offshore to get back on the boat is just not going to happen, so yes life jacket every time as that's going to keep you afloat as your not going to swim anywhere,

Never ever think you cannot fall overboard yes I have most of the safety gear and jackstay's etc but I keep my hand held radio and PLB attached to my life jacket 'that might' together
with a good life jacket keep you alive long enough for a rescue.

And don't forget if you 'fall in' say in a marina there's a good possibility you will hit your head on something on the way in so again a life jacket going to keep you afloat in the 'right position'

What amazes me more is how people buy life jackets, some even seem proud as to how cheap they bought their life jacket, my advice is as its you who's going to be wearing it buy the best one you can afford
which is usually well over £100 as like many things 'you gets what you pay for '
 
The title of the thread indicated single handing, which I do quite often. I took it to mean while sailing.
I have said this on other threads, "A tether which allows you to fall over is not fit for purpose." You would be better of without it.

My personal opinion, the most dangerous time is when I am on my way to and from my boat. Boarding the boat from the tender on my mooring or at anchor is likely to be the greatest hazard for going overboard.
If I was wise I would always be wearing a LJ. or at least a PFD.
When single handed the additional danger of this. I am on my own so no alarm will be raised should I fall in. When I was younger I could pull myself back in to an inflatable. Today I might be able to.
I often go out to the boat by myself and bring it in to the public dock to pick up my wife and gear. I usually send a text when I am bringing the boat in, hopefully she would raise the alarm.
My swim ladder is usually secured in the up position. I should reconsider and a grab line might be a good idea.
 
Uricanejack said:
The title of the thread indicated single handing, which I do quite often. I took it to mean while sailing.
I have said this on other threads, "A tether which allows you to fall over is not fit for purpose." You would be better of without it.

My personal opinion, the most dangerous time is when I am on my way to and from my boat. Boarding the boat from the tender on my mooring or at anchor is likely to be the greatest hazard for going overboard.
If I was wise I would always be wearing a LJ. or at least a PFD.
When single handed the additional danger of this. I am on my own so no alarm will be raised should I fall in. When I was younger I could pull myself back in to an inflatable. Today I might be able to.
I often go out to the boat by myself and bring it in to the public dock to pick up my wife and gear. I usually send a text when I am bringing the boat in, hopefully she would raise the alarm.
My swim ladder is usually secured in the up position. I should reconsider and a grab line might be a good idea.
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Yes I think the dinghy is the most dangerous. My mooring is remote and I often wonder what would happen if I fell in the briney in the winter. I expect the LJ will prevent me being lost forever but not much more!

On board, while sailing alone at sea or at night I wear a LJ and harness, though the truth is it's the harness I'm interested in, not the LJ.

ps I should add the stuff I carry in the dinghy (inflatable, natch) is getting pretty extensive. HH radio, phone in a waterproof bag. Torch. Oars. Danforth with 20 metres of rope.
 
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Lifejacket. Harness knife in pocket on lifejacket (because I could end up in the situation where I'm tethered to the boat but can't get back on board and I'd be more likely to survive if I wasn't attached to the boat). PLB ... and that's even though I never sail alone (but being realistic about the chances of Jane being able to recover me back on board which are virtually zero.. Standing instructions are for her to look after herself, other than issuing a MayDay, and let me worry about me)

Very difficult to arrange a tethering arrangement that wouldn't allow me to go overboard from the side decks. Jacklines as tight as possible and a short tether are the best I can do. But once at the mast or on the foredeck, it's a short tether that is too short to go over the side with

Oh, yes, knowing how to deflate, and if necessary manually reinflate, your lifejacket of choice is a good idea in my book. An inflated lifejacket is bulky as we all know but I wouldn't want to be in the water without one
 
pandos said:
But if terhered with a LJ and stuck under the rail on the side of a moving yacht I suspect my only tactic might have to be to get out of LJ and tether...
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I reckon you'd find it a lot easier to let the bladder down a bit than to find the buckle and undo it under load.

I've done both RYA sea survival in my own 150N lifejacket, and helicopter-ditching survival in a 275N lifejacket and drysuit. Both involved periods of floating, repeated clambering in and out of the water, periods sitting in liferafts, etc. During both courses, I inflated and deflated the lifejacket bladders as required for the particular activity I was engaged in. It was really pretty easy to do, albeit I wasn't dangling upside down on a tether at the time. That tube on the front of the jacket isn't just there for show.

(The really awkward version of the above was the abandon-ship survival course, doing much the same type of thing but in one of those big square rigid block lifejackets and a one-size-fits-nobody neoprene immersion suit with integrated mittens and hood. That kit renders you almost completely helpless.)

Pete
 
Great thread.

The unconscious/auto part makes zero sense to the singlehander. You will not regain consciousness soon enough and the boat will be gone (or you will have drown tethered to the boat). No one is going to find you and you are going to die. Crewed is different. You will get help. Thus, manual trigger is better.

PFDs make sense if you are in a traffic area and the water is above 60F. Otherwise, you are kidding yourself.

Harness and tethers. Of course.

I think the OP is dead on. I have watched too many videos of sailors in inflated jackets that are comically, pathetically unable to help themselves. The most probable scenario, for singlehanders that is actually recoverable, is over the rail but still tethered, with relatively low free board. There have been a number of cases were the sailor was able to muscle back on board. several complained about the damn PFD.

I wear a PFD white water kayaking, as needed in the dinghy or sea kayaking, but very seldom on deck. I wear a harness most of the time when solo and clipped in most of the time when I leave the cockpit (not often clipped in the cockpit). If anything, I feel a self-inflating PFD would be a hazard most of the time. With crew is different. in the winter I sometimes add a dry suit, which adds a LOT of survival time and gives a LOT of flirtation. It also makes fine cold weather foul weather gear.
 
thinwater said:
How do you figure to hold on? I strongly suggest you jump in and test you system. Few ever do. Consider, for example, that sailors are pulled out of harnesses.
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He’s talking about a grab line to deploy the stern ladder at the mooring, after falling in from his dinghy. Very sensible since, anecdotally, that seems to be the number one cause of old men going overboard around yachts.

Pete
 
I don't, expect to hold on. I wasn't considering returning to a boat underway as possible.

I was considering the possibility of falling in while boarding my boat at my mooring or at anchor. Along with the probability righting the tender and getting back on board, may not be something I am capable of.
Climbing the swim ladder might be easier.
I have a swim ladder. which is secured in the up position.
I was considering leaving it up but unsecured with a line attached to pull it down.

It might be silly. As a diver I have climbed swim ladders and boarded ribs and other boats from the water. If I find my wet clothing to heavy. I can take my gear off.
My experience tells me, a swim ladder is easier because it extends bellow the surface and I can push up with my legs. pulling myself up over the tube of a tender will be difficult without fins.

least difficult at stern, rather than side.

Still best not to fall in in the first place.
 
prv said:
He’s talking about a grab line to deploy the stern ladder at the mooring, after falling in from his dinghy. Very sensible since, anecdotally, that seems to be the number one cause of old men going overboard around yachts.

Pete
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My bad.

Yes, without question. You should be able to relax at anchor, and fall in when you want to. In fact, the ONLY times I have fallen in have been at docks, always because a line caught, causing me to loose my balance; letting myself fall was less like to result in injury than an awkward recovery.
 
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