Mainsheet carabiner/hook?

Seajet said:
I think having the boom available as a derrick is a facility well worth having, can be used for lifting heavy things like engines to and from a pontoon etc too
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Indeed, very useful as a general-purpose crane :)

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I'd still be inclined to keep the mainsheet connected in order to control the thing, and use a separate tackle for lifting, but I agree that's not essential for this kind of work in harbour (or the yard).

I do still think a functioning mainsheet is important in a confused situation at sea with a sail set.

I have a man-overboard tackle which hangs from the end of the spinnaker halyard, no need to disable the working rig to use it.

Pete
 
On my boat the boom only extends 2/3rds the length of the cockpit so it is easy to put a line around it; I'm not saying it's perfect but I have put a lot of thought into these things over the years I've had this boat.

No.1 by a huge margin is clipping onto the casualty to keep hold of them, which gives me another reason to insist on crew wearing harness / lifejackets, especially if it's remotely lumpy and / or they are inexperienced.

Their drag and weight would usually move them aft along the side as the boat for-reached - even under bare poles facing upwind, I have found - so the boom position would be pretty self-determining.

That would place the casualty beside the lowest freeboard, where the guardrails are detachable but there's the pusphit for people still on the boat to hang onto, and possibly the casualty to grab and pull as well.

A simple line - they're kept in a cockpit locker - around the boom and led to a sheet winch & jammer would give in/out control.

I like parbuckling with a headsail but that can conflict with guardrails etc, so for a ' quick dip over the side not too drastic an emergency yet ' I'll go for the boom method, on my boat.

Having tried it both ' for real ' at the mooring and practices under sail, I'm confident this is the way to go for my boat and the type of sailing I do; if going further I'd probably grit my teeth and tolerate the weight and cost of a Jonbuoy.

We know how long a MOB thread could and should be, as different situations, people and boats mean quite a few combinations...

As I say I do lie in bed at home or in my bunk aboard and run through ' what if ' as I'm sure most of us here do.

The lesson I learned and I cannot over-emphasize is that even on the shortest trip the crew must be briefed at least and ideally given a practice.

On the morning I managed to tip my dinghy over we weren't even going anywhere, we'd crashed out on my boat while preparing to raise my chum's new to him Anderson which had been sunk at her mooring through no fault of his or his boats'.
 
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