Man overboard devices

[Seajet]

This is a very good point.

It often strikes me a lot of sailing school man overboard drills - and other things like passage planning - are unrealistic; with a fair sized boat and a crew of 6 fit guys or women one can do virtually anything, inc the Fastnet or round the world...

Not so for the typical husband and wife crew.

A couple of things - MOB drill should include wife recovering hubby from over the side, if as usual hubby is skipper.

And it's common to see strong hubby steering while the lady struggles with the anchor or berthing - again requires a rethink and training.

I'm certain the reason a lot of wives get turned off sailing is they feel out of control and uncomfortable - they should be shown how to manage everything on the boat and how it works, not left feeling it's all some great mystery - this is why I'm much happier in light aircraft knowing I could land it even untidily in a field if the pilot comked out ( as has happened to me, the conked out bit ) - in an airliner even if I could get to the cockpit I'd be stuffed, it's the same uncomfortable feeling.

When I did my YM offshore exam I'd been quietly warned ' don't let the examiner know you normally sail with just your fiancee' or he'll make you do the MOB drill solo '

In fact I thought it a fair test so I did, it also removed some clueless berks from the equation I'd have had trouble instructing instead of just getting on with it

 

[jhoney]

i would recommand the NASA MOBi mob indicator

see: https://bluestacks.vip/ , https://kodi.software/ & https://luckypatcher.pro/

 

[Daydream believer]

+1

A quick bit of Googling;

Mark Phelps with a mono fin over a short distance, achieved 8.8mph.

The average swimmer 2mph.

A trained average swimmer 4mph.

The average forum member in foul weather gear and cold water, my guess, 0.5mph and not for long. Wouldn't easily keep up with a drifting yacht hove too. Add waves.....

Of course, adrenaline makes a difference when it's for real. I once managed to swim back to a beach after ignoring the safe swimming area flags and getting caught in a rip. I could hardly stand up once I reached the beach. Holding on to a rope or climbing a ladder would have been spectacularly hard after that.

To an extent it may be relevant , but always. Ask yourself where you are likely to go overboard?
a lot of modern awb s have the sheets led aft so instead of going on deck to reef ( silly in my view but to each hos own)one can do it in safety from the cockpit.
I view the danger points not so much when blasting along ( racers accepted) but when doing tasks that do not involve much speed ie
fordeck to catch a buoy, fordeck to drop a sail, placing fenders prior to berthing, preparing lines ditto. And the most dangerous of all- dropping the mainsail .
none of the above requires the boat to be doing more than 2 kts. So as a single hander i bring the boat to a stop. Once the main is down i run down wind if possible ( unless tide is strong) so rolling is reduced and prep gear for entering harbour ( not a fan of anchoring)
the point is that the mob is not necessarily going to be dragged along that fast. I have been over 3 times and got back every time unaided.
i also smile at the " centre the jackstay" arguement. Tell me how wide your bow is and how far it is from the side of the boat when near the pullpit. Surely getting past those ( silly) tents to hook to a centre jackstay which only goes to the mast then having to re hook to go past the mast is not sensible. How do you open the forehatch with centre jackstay?
there has been a comment on this thread about netting all around the boat. I could not dissagree more. When i went over on one occassion i came back through the bottom guardrail. Holding the wires with ones hansd is hard , but i got my arm over the wire and hooked it inside my elbow. it hurt like hell but i did not slip. Then by getting my leg onto the deck i could just about squeeze LJ through the gap, follwed by me.
if the boat had been crewed there is a sensible school of thought that suggests releasing the guardrail. If one had netting, that would cause an unholy mess which would just hook the on deck crews feet. To me, netting is a no no

But to each his own and many will disagree. Each situation calls for s different solution an each design of boat is different. One just has to think it through and take care. Easier said than done!!!!!