Jon Buoy Recovery Module - any experiences?

[West Coast]

Hi all.

I sail a Jeanneau 439 AWB - mix of sailing with crew and other times just with my wife. I am currently re-visiting our planning re a (nightmare) MOB situation when just the two of us on board.

This post is focusing on the "getting casualty back on board"part of this, I was reading again some of the recent YM articles which I found really helpful and practical. We currently always wear lifejackets when underway. We have an electric halyard winch which can be used with the spinnaker halyard to lift a person out of the water.

Fitting some kind of permanent floating tether to the lifejacket (such as the commercially available MOB Lifesaver) seems a good idea and I plan to do this. However, was also looking at the Jon Buoy Recovery Module, which while expensive, seems to be another good item to have available.

Has anyone here used one of these in a real life scenario, and comment on their effectiveness?

Thanks

 

[RunAgroundHard]

I have not used Jon Buoy or lifesavers in an actual MOB, such a rare event, even rarer using your choices.

However, I have performed drills using Lifesaver and the associated MOB recovery block and horizontal lifting strop as supplied by Duncan Wells. Further, an associate, uses Lifesavers and his electric halyard winch.

My Experience when performing drills on MOB recovery, at anchor.
1. Person in water, with life jacket, inflates and Lifesaver deploys (I have a trading life jacket that gets fairly abused). I don’t pack Lifesavers into life jacket using the supplied pouch. I pack loosely flaked, long flakes, on one stole only.
2. Boat hook is used to sweep under Lifesaver, catch it, connect to mid ship clear. MOB secured to vessel. In a real situation this is always on leeward side.
3. My wife can rig the lifting tackle in a minute, new crew, in about 2 minutes. I use spinnaker halyard, but spare Genoa halyard also available.
4. Connect tackle to LifeSaver on cleat, sweep weighted strop under casualty legs and connect to lifting tackle. About 2 minutes. Remember to rig lifting tackle outside guard wires.
5. Slip Lifesaver off middle cleat.
6. Wife can then hoist all 14 stone of me, with one hand, using knee to snag lifting tackle line, while using other hand to guide me, position horizontal lifting strop as slack is taken up. Lifting tackle is ratchet. Note horizontal lifting strap is not critical to use, vertical lift is also good enough, but has risks.
7. Guide me over guard rail, easily holds weight on 8:1 ratchet block. Can manoeuvre me into cockpit , down fore hatch or down main companionway hatch.

Associate With Electric Winch
Key feature here is that he marked out how to use winch as he took halyard back to cockpit electric winch. If only one person on board, you need a tailing line attached to stop MOB being banged off hull as they get raised, and to pull them onboard when they clear hand rail.

I assume, life jacket on, lifesaver fitted and casualty incapable of helping themselves. If they can great, if they can’t, you need to deal with it.

There are two drills I do: getting the boat back to casualty and securing MOB, and recovery of MOB back on board.

Whatever you decide to use, perform recovery drill in Marina to learn how to best set up your system, thedrill that from time to time.

I recommend the full Duncan Wells kit, as it works, is easy to rig, and assumes casualty can’t help themselves.

I keep my kit in a yellow offshore flare box with the two carabiners labelled halyard and Lifesaver. It is also stowed at the correct length of tackle already set for my boat. Horizontal lifting strop is at the bottom of the box, with its carabiner labelled as well. Labels are just bits of sail strip written on with a sharpie. Flare box has a lanyard with low cost carabiner to clip to guardrail in my case.

Hope this helps.

I have no association with Duncan Wells except as a customer.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Hi all.

I sail a Jeanneau 439 AWB - mix of sailing with crew and other times just with my wife. I am currently re-visiting our planning re a (nightmare) MOB situation when just the two of us on board.

This post is focusing on the "getting casualty back on board"part of this, I was reading again some of the recent YM articles which I found really helpful and practical. We currently always wear lifejackets when underway. We have an electric halyard winch which can be used with the spinnaker halyard to lift a person out of the water.

Fitting some kind of permanent floating tether to the lifejacket (such as the commercially available MOB Lifesaver) seems a good idea and I plan to do this. However, was also looking at the Jon Buoy Recovery Module, which while expensive, seems to be another good item to have available.

Has anyone here used one of these in a real life scenario, and comment on their effectiveness?

Thanks

SWMBO and I undertook a sea survival course run by a husband and wife team. She did all the classwork and then we visited a local swimming pool for the practical which she also conducted. The whole thing was very helpful. Two important points emerged. Climbing a ladder into a life raft using a fabric ladder is all but impossible, certainly once fatigued and cold. The boarding ramp is much more practical. The water based part of the course was extensive (and exhausting!). During all the time in the water with instruction from the lady, her husband was trying to board the Jonbuoy. He failed.
Convinced me.
I bought two MOB1 (Ocean Safety) at a bargain price on ebay. (No qualms - full life battery and programmed successfully.)
They hopefully would improve the chances of finding a MOB with a two handed crew.
They give a GPS fix to the on board plotter and also activate the distress output from the radio. There is additionally an option to give an "all ships" alert but the small antenna low down would need any receiving vessel to be really close.

 

[West Coast]

I have not used Jon Buoy or lifesavers in an actual MOB, such a rare event, even rarer using your choices.

However, I have performed drills using Lifesaver and the associated MOB recovery block and horizontal lifting strop as supplied by Duncan Wells. Further, an associate, uses Lifesavers and his electric halyard winch.

My Experience when performing drills on MOB recovery, at anchor.
1. Person in water, with life jacket, inflates and Lifesaver deploys (I have a trading life jacket that gets fairly abused). I don’t pack Lifesavers into life jacket using the supplied pouch. I pack loosely flaked, long flakes, on one stole only.
2. Boat hook is used to sweep under Lifesaver, catch it, connect to mid ship clear. MOB secured to vessel. In a real situation this is always on leeward side.
3. My wife can rig the lifting tackle in a minute, new crew, in about 2 minutes. I use spinnaker halyard, but spare Genoa halyard also available.
4. Connect tackle to LifeSaver on cleat, sweep weighted strop under casualty legs and connect to lifting tackle. About 2 minutes. Remember to rig lifting tackle outside guard wires.
5. Slip Lifesaver off middle cleat.
6. Wife can then hoist all 14 stone of me, with one hand, using knee to snag lifting tackle line, while using other hand to guide me, position horizontal lifting strop as slack is taken up. Lifting tackle is ratchet. Note horizontal lifting strap is not critical to use, vertical lift is also good enough, but has risks.
7. Guide me over guard rail, easily holds weight on 8:1 ratchet block. Can manoeuvre me into cockpit , down fore hatch or down main companionway hatch.

Associate With Electric Winch
Key feature here is that he marked out how to use winch as he took halyard back to cockpit electric winch. If only one person on board, you need a tailing line attached to stop MOB being banged off hull as they get raised, and to pull them onboard when they clear hand rail.

I assume, life jacket on, lifesaver fitted and casualty incapable of helping themselves. If they can great, if they can’t, you need to deal with it.

There are two drills I do: getting the boat back to casualty and securing MOB, and recovery of MOB back on board.

Whatever you decide to use, perform recovery drill in Marina to learn how to best set up your system, thedrill that from time to time.

I recommend the full Duncan Wells kit, as it works, is easy to rig, and assumes casualty can’t help themselves.

I keep my kit in a yellow offshore flare box with the two carabiners labelled halyard and Lifesaver. It is also stowed at the correct length of tackle already set for my boat. Horizontal lifting strop is at the bottom of the box, with its carabiner labelled as well. Labels are just bits of sail strip written on with a sharpie. Flare box has a lanyard with low cost carabiner to clip to guardrail in my case.

Hope this helps.

I have no association with Duncan Wells except as a customer.

Thanks for this - you mention the weighted strop which I have seen on the MOB Lifesaver videos - is this easy enough to do in practice ? Strikes me as being difficult to do in any kind of a sea?

 

[West Coast]

SWMBO and I undertook a sea survival course run by a husband and wife team. She did all the classwork and then we visited a local swimming pool for the practical which she also conducted. The whole thing was very helpful. Two important points emerged. Climbing a ladder into a life raft using a fabric ladder is all but impossible, certainly once fatigued and cold. The boarding ramp is much more practical. The water based part of the course was extensive (and exhausting!). During all the time in the water with instruction from the lady, her husband was trying to board the Jonbuoy. He failed.
Convinced me.
I bought two MOB1 (Ocean Safety) at a bargain price on ebay. (No qualms - full life battery and programmed successfully.)
They hopefully would improve the chances of finding a MOB with a two handed crew.
They give a GPS fix to the on board plotter and also activate the distress output from the radio. There is additionally an option to give an "all ships" alert but the small antenna low down would need any receiving vessel to be really close.

Thanks - having completed an Offshore survival course for travelling to oil platforms offshore, I agree that pulling yourself into a liferaft is not easy to do, whereas one with a ramp is much easier. Your comment re entering the JonBuoy is interesting - I was wondering if this might be the case.

2 personal AIS location units are on the shopping list

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Thanks for this - you mention the weighted strop which I have seen on the MOB Lifesaver videos - is this easy enough to do in practice ? Strikes me as being difficult to do in any kind of a sea?

Experience is limited in waves. However, the strop is stiff, weighted and maintains its open shape sufficiently to slide over legs. If it was a problem to manipulate over legs, then forget it and just do a vertical lift. I think the point your making is good, and I am going to alter my MOB Recovery procedure to state that i.e. if you cant get the strop on, forget it, go straight to the vertical lift.