Global Ocean Race - MOB and recovery

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cawarra

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Thanks for posting.
Great seamanship from both to have saved a life. Sobering reading and an invaluable lesson for the rest of us.
I will have a hard look at the safety gear on my new(to me) boat and come the sailing season mob drills will be on the programme to create new routines and confidence.
 
cawarra said:
Morning all,
I dont think this has been posed before, but excuse me if it has. Whilst I have never met Conrad Colman (or his co-skipper) I have worked with him for a while now and this is a true testament of his skill and seamanship in recovering the MOB in very difficult conditions - and a lesson to us all about harnessing on!

See here:
http://www.thedailysail.com/offshore/12/60931/0/global-ocean-race-man-overboard-incident
Click to expand...

"then started sailing away from him and I’m sure it was stressful for Sam as he was in the water watching me sail away.”

Why, when he'd crash tacked, did he sail away?
Still practicing 'RYA Solent manouvers'?

If you have crash tacked, basically almost stopping the boat & now into 'heave-too' mode, its simpler to centre the main to stop boom swinging about & then your still near the casualty. Even a gybe is straight forward if required. You simply sail around on the spot if you want.

Easier to throw a line & recover.
This is a standard practice for many.

Sail away in the reported swell & even with markers, the MOB can be difficult to even find again!
 
Last edited:
alant said:
"then started sailing away from him and I’m sure it was stressful for Sam as he was in the water watching me sail away.”

Why, when he'd crash tacked, did he sail away?
Still practicing 'RYA Solent manouvers'?

If you have crash tacked, basically almost stopping the boat & now into 'heave-too' mode, its simpler to centre the main to stop boom swinging about & then your still near the casualty. Even a gybe is straight forward if required. You simply sail around on the spot if you want.

Easier to throw a line & recover.
This is a standard practice for many.

Sail away in the reported swell & even with markers, the MOB can be difficult to even find again!
Click to expand...

Because he didnt have a jib up...they had just dropped it so the boat would have sailed away!!!!
 
westhinder said:
Thanks for posting.
Great seamanship from both to have saved a life. Sobering reading and an invaluable lesson for the rest of us.
I will have a hard look at the safety gear on my new(to me) boat and come the sailing season mob drills will be on the programme to create new routines and confidence.
Click to expand...

Agreed, and i will be doing the same this season.... Enjoy your first season in your new boat..lets hope its a good one for all!!

However I just knew there would be a load of "why did he"...."he should of"...type quotes.... I posted it for the interest of everyone and the lesson that his co-skipper has learnt from his split second decision....

Well done to them both for a well excecuted rescue in the conditions that they faced....
 
alant said:
"then started sailing away from him and I’m sure it was stressful for Sam as he was in the water watching me sail away.”

Why, when he'd crash tacked, did he sail away?
Still practicing 'RYA Solent manouvers'?

If you have crash tacked, basically almost stopping the boat & now into 'heave-too' mode, its simpler to centre the main to stop boom swinging about & then your still near the casualty. Even a gybe is straight forward if required. You simply sail around on the spot if you want.

Easier to throw a line & recover.
This is a standard practice for many.

Sail away in the reported swell & even with markers, the MOB can be difficult to even find again!
Click to expand...

When I was being examined as YM instructor long ago one of the things we practiced at length was crash stops. This was in 45 ft then-modern cruiser-racer that was unfamiliar both to the Examiner and to the three persons including me being examined. NO-ONE could make a crash stop work on that boat, without also using a LOT of engine power. I argued that gybing, given the crew experience level, would have been the right way to get back, and reach-tack-reach as a 2nd choice. In the end the examiner, after failing to make a crash stop work himself, agreed. This was with an big heavy RN diver in the water pretending very convincingly to be unconscious.

I have since run MOB exercises for clubs, using fit young teenagers in wetsuits as MOBs, again with the instruction to "play unconsious" (though it's difficult with a grin on their face as they watch the panic on deck). For safety reasosn I banned engine use for these, though practiced with dummys using engine.

Getting the boat back is easy, though it may take longer than you think. Actual MOB recovery is VERY difficult......
 
cawarra,

Do you know if this is the same Conrad Colman who purchased a small and very fast racing cat in Italy and singlehanded it back to the UK in 2008?

If so, I met him, due to some rather unusual circumstances, when he stopped in Gib on that passage. Gave him a hand sorting a problem out for which he displayed gratitude in the manner of a true gent'.

A top bloke by my reckoning.
 
Simondjuk said:
cawarra,

Do you know if this is the same Conrad Colman who purchased a small and very fast racing cat in Italy and singlehanded it back to the UK in 2008?

If so, I met him, due to some rather unusual circumstances, when he stopped in Gib on that passage. Gave him a hand sorting a problem out for which he displayed gratitude in the manner of a true gent'.

A top bloke by my reckoning.
Click to expand...

Hi Simondjuk,
You are totally correct and this is the same chap. He had the boat in the UK before selling it. And yes a top bloke.... I have actually send him the link to this thread so he may even pop up at some point!

Cheers
 
cawarra said:
Morning all,
I dont think this has been posed before, but excuse me if it has. Whilst I have never met Conrad Colman (or his co-skipper) I have worked with him for a while now and this is a true testament of his skill and seamanship in recovering the MOB in very difficult conditions - and a lesson to us all about harnessing on!

See here:
http://www.thedailysail.com/offshore/12/60931/0/global-ocean-race-man-overboard-incident
Click to expand...

I remember a sobering statistic that I relate to new crew members : one person in two who falls overboard, dies.

Not sure if the ratio still holds true with more advanced equipment.
 
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