Man Overboard System - Worth it or gimmicks?

[Deleted member 36384]

I am in the gimmick camp but not because they are gimmicks. I believe that the probability of falling overboard is too low to warrant such devices, more so if the yacht has all/or most lines led aft to the cockpit. It has been proven that humans are more likely to take bigger risks when more safety controls are in place when compared to similar situations when there are limited safety controls in place i.e. if we think it's dangerous we take care. This of course is obvious for visible danger, what what is less obvious is the subliminal effects on attitudes to risk taking by overt safety controls e.g. signage, barriers, training. However, on fast yachts, motor or sail, where clipping on and falling overboard presents such a risk that not clipping on is better, then these devices are indeed a boon to recovery of MOB.

 

[Cardo]

Our boat has a centre cockpit with all (well, all the every day lines) lines led to the cockpit, so there is little reason to need to leave the cockpit. There's also a good tether point in the centre of the cockpit.
Therefore, having read all the posts here, I think we'll save our money and stick with tethering if going into the cockpit and waking up the other if any deck work is required.

Thanks, all!

 

[KellysEye]

Simply clip on at night and in bad weather, that's what we did. The chances of picking up a MOB single handed is minimal, someone has to keep an eye on the MOB at all times which is impossible if you are sail handling and turning the boat. We had an inflatable Danbuoy washed off in heavy weather and you won't believe how fast it disappeared. As MOB's tend to happen in bad weather and big seas it is likely to be impossible to sail/motor back so the Raymarine kit (for example) becomes worthless. Clipping on solves all those problems.