Man over board rescue slings

[scottyb]

Agonising over a MOB rescue sling...

are they all made by the same factory and all much the same or are there quality differences between Windward, XM, Seago, Kim, etc

i have an american "life sling" with a knackered bag which i cant replace in the UK

any preferences or recommendations on which are good quality vs cost?

 

[William_H]

It seems to me that a rescue sling is only part of the MOB recovery story. In fact a decent sized rope with a bowline in the end of suitable size can double as a rescue sling.
Yes it will cause some bruising but better than drowning.
Far more important is the ability return to the MOB stop the boat get a rope to the MOB then to hoist the MOB back on board using halyard or tackle on the boom.
Nothing beats actual trying out in practice.
good luck olewill

 

[onesea]

I looked at a sling when I got the present boat. They to me look hardly fit for the job. I have a fender with a rope lashed around it, with a bit of thought.
If clever in the water you could get one loop under your bum and one round your back making a chair. If not it will possibly break a couple of rib's when used as a sling.

So far is only use has been as a spare fender, long may it stay like that. ..

 

[Deleted member 36384]

A rescue sling is important as an aid to getting someone out the water and it is far more useful than a bowline or a fender with a rope lashed around it. It is important that the sling can be opened wide and made narrow via some sort of toggle that can be slid down the pair of lines at each end of the strop. If the MOB can help themselves then they pull the strop snug around their upper chest, if unconscious then it will have to be done by another leaning over the side or in the water alongside the secured MOB. With a snug rescue sling one now has a secure lifting point to assist the MOB back onboard. On my Rival (41' LOA) which has a low freeboard compared to modern yachts, slipping the sling over the MOB would be hard to do but not impossible. It is not that hard to fit a sling over a body floating with a lifejacket, I have tried it. It really is just a matter of dropping it in the water, leaning down and pulling one arm through, then pulling the next arm through, lifting the head, making up the toggle — thats it, sling in place, ready to lift — the technique is easy leaning over the side of the yacht if you can reach the MOB arms as the sling self positions once the head is lifted. The down side to lifting with a sling is that the MOB is lifted vertically which can induce a cardiac arrest as blood pressure drops in the chest as the MOB moves from horizontal to vertical.

I bought the XM Oscar life sling as it was chunky and had decent loop with the toggle for tightening up.

 

[prv]

It seems to me that a rescue sling is only part of the MOB recovery story. In fact a decent sized rope with a bowline in the end of suitable size can double as a rescue sling.
Yes it will cause some bruising but better than drowning.
Far more important is the ability return to the MOB stop the boat get a rope to the MOB then to hoist the MOB back on board using halyard or tackle on the boom.

I think you may be misunderstanding what this type of "sling" is.

It's not just the sling itself, it's also a very long floating rope and a rail-mounted bag for it to deploy out of. The idea is that you throw the sling overboard, and trail it through the water on the end of its rope. Then you don't need to return precisely to the MOB, instead you sail a loop around him, meaning that he's now inside the bight of the floating rope. As you pull the rope in, it will come to meet him. Maybe he holds onto the rope and is pulled to the yacht that way, but if not then when he gets to the end of the rope he will have the sling. Ideally he puts it on properly, but even a chilled casualty ought to be able to get an arm through its big open loop and be pulled in that way. Only then does it switch to its second purpose, that of being a lifting sling.

Pete

 

[KellysEye]

The first thing is to stop anyone going over board, we wore harnesses with one short and one long tether in bad weather and always at night. As back up we had a six to one block and tackle permanently rigged with a halyard. On the end of the block and tackle was a clip that could be clipped to the harness ring, the harnesses had leg straps so you can't be pulled out. We did practice but never used it and if you use harnesses you never will but it was for peace of mind.

 

[oldbilbo]

The original of the 'Lifesling' device was called the 'NATO Strop' and was used for decades by our own RAF Search and Rescue service, by the helo winchman who descended on the wire. 'BlowingOldBoots' has it right.

In the S&R world of last century, of which I knew just a little, the Primary Objective was to 'Re-establish Secure Contact With the Casualty'.... that means get 'em attached by wire/strop/hiline/any old rope.... so that Contact cannot again be broken. The Americans prefer a basket in some circumstances. I'm told that the bluddy-minded Australians have expressed an enthusiasm for a harpoon.....

Once the Casualty is Secured - by Lifesling, NATO Strop or whatever, to the boat - time has been bought. Should it be thought preferable to arrange a second sling of rope/webbing to support the legs close to horizontal, there are several quite simple ways of doing that.

 

[prv]

The original of the 'Lifesling' device was called the 'NATO Strop' and was used for decades by our own RAF Search and Rescue service, by the helo winchman who descended on the wire.

I'm sure they didn't trail the winch wire in a big loop in the water, though, which is the clever part of the Lifesling idea. The fact that it ends with a helicopter strop (as we called the same item on Stavros) is a good thing, but it's the trailing-rope-encircling-the-casualty technique which the Lifesling folks originally touted as revolutionary back in the 80s.

See this article (whose text I think is nicked from somewhere else much older); scroll down to "Shorthanded Crews" for the Lifesling / Seattle Sling bit.

http://www.rorc.org/general-conditions/man-overboard.html

EDIT: Here's a brief mention from 1985 when the technique was apparently invented - again, it's the trailing, circling rope which is seen as the novel part: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...4#v=onepage&q=seattle sling overboard&f=false

Pete

 

[MrB]

The KIM MOB rescue sling was Yachting Monthly's "overall best buy 2014"

http://www.force4.co.uk/288/Kim-Man-Overboard-Rescue-Sling---Yellow.html

 

[cryan]

I'm sure they didn't trail the winch wire in a big loop in the water, though, which is the clever part of the Lifesling idea. The fact that it ends with a helicopter strop (as we called the same item on Stavros) is a good thing, but it's the trailing-rope-encircling-the-casualty technique which the Lifesling folks originally touted as revolutionary back in the 80s.

See this article (whose text I think is nicked from somewhere else much older); scroll down to "Shorthanded Crews" for the Lifesling / Seattle Sling bit.

http://www.rorc.org/general-conditions/man-overboard.html

EDIT: Here's a brief mention from 1985 when the technique was apparently invented - again, it's the trailing, circling rope which is seen as the novel part: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...4#v=onepage&q=seattle sling overboard&f=false

Pete

I'm not sure that was invented in 1985? They have used the same technique in Cornwall for over a century when rescuing pilchards from the sea. They call it ring netting though.

 

[oldbilbo]

I'm not sure that was invented in 1985? They have used the same technique in Cornwall for over a century when rescuing pilchards from the sea. They call it ring netting though.

Pete 'prv' is close to correct in his report from the US 'Yachting' mag of 1985, in which the MOB recovery technique was developed and demonstrated by the Seattle Cruising Foundation after a weekend safety seminar based on the needs of cruising couples, of the 'Seattle Sling' and its subsequent endorsement by the Cruising Club of America. The boat-handling technique of 'encirclement' trailing the Sling/strop on a lengthy rope has been illustrated in the RORC Yearbook for several decades now, and I remain surprised that its use is not an essential part of the RYA Practical syllabus and thus more widely known hereabouts.

That being so, I can attest to the regular use of the 'NATO Strop' as a standard item of kit on the RAF's S&R helos for at least a decade before the SCF's seminar and its incorporation into the 'Seattle Sling' technique for shorthanded yachts. Of course, we sent/send a highly-trained helicopter rescue crewman down on a wire to secure a casualty in the water, before lifting said cas. up, up and away....

It is not true - least, I believe it so - that the helo winds the cable around the cas. by flying in a circle. The perceptive among us will readily see some disadvantage in that....