MOB - best sequence of steps with one person left aboard

lw395 said:
Get the danbuoy with its light and horsehoe over the side immediately, before panic has a chance to set in!
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Read the OP.
If you went MOB, would your wife not be in shock/panic mode?
This is an actual event, not something to be mulled over in the luxury of an armchair.
Panic would set in, adrenaline would pump, mistakes would happen.
Stopping the boat instinctively, is a simple task allowing time to think, then act.
 
alant said:
Read the OP.
If you went MOB, would your wife not be in shock/panic mode?...Panic would set in, adrenaline would pump, mistakes would happen...
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"...I'd love to know how a single person on board could get hold of an unconscious person and get them back on board..."

If I were to go overboard and not be concious, then I would die; should my wife be the casualty and I recovering, her chances would be slim at best, even in sheltered/coastal waters. Once you're ocean sailing, then concious or not, your chances of being recovered are slim to nil. Sailing offshore a few weeks ago we lost a 2' diameter, orange ball-fender over the side, we actually saw it drop, but in a big ocean swell, we lost sight of it inside twenty seconds and despite a ten minute search, never caught sight of it again. Pleanty of strong-points, safety harnesses and short leashes; do NOT fall over in the first place.
 
BobnLesley said:
"...I'd love to know how a single person on board could get hold of an unconscious person and get them back on board..."

If I were to go overboard and not be concious, then I would die; should my wife be the casualty and I recovering, her chances would be slim at best, even in sheltered/coastal waters. Once you're ocean sailing, then concious or not, your chances of being recovered are slim to nil. Sailing offshore a few weeks ago we lost a 2' diameter, orange ball-fender over the side, we actually saw it drop, but in a big ocean swell, we lost sight of it inside twenty seconds and despite a ten minute search, never caught sight of it again. Pleanty of strong-points, safety harnesses and short leashes; do NOT fall over in the first place.
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+1

Ideally, clip on, before leaving the companionway & entering the cockpit.
 
lw395 said:
If you have got back to the casualty, you no longer need a danbuoy?
In fact it would be a menace.
A proper racing danbuoy has a drogue and floating rope. You don't want to be dropping that when you aspire to be using your engine at close quarters.
It's not the only nonsense that's taught by sailing schools in the self-perpetuating RYA system.
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How do you know what is taught?

How many times have you practiced mob?

What sea States and wind conditions?

How many have you done today?

Have you ever demonstrated what happens if you drop a da buoy over without stopping the yacht?

Like alant, we have been lucky enough to get paid to try all these things many thousands of times.

I would be happy to be able to show you what happens in the real world!

Keep up the practice!

:encouragement:
 
My opinions on this are not my own invention. They come from serious conversations with a few people who been there for real.
People who have recovered crew mid ocean, both alive and dead.
Also from the enquiries afterward in the US and elsewhere.

I'm not impressed by how many times anyone has performed the same fake exercise to award RYA badges.
And let's face it, the race-oriented method I favour wouldn't work on most of the noddy sea school boats I see, because they don't have a decent danbuoy/drogue/horseshoe setup anyway.
It's no good if your horseshoe is off with the breeze or tangled in the pushpit.
I suggest those genuinely interested search around the ORC, USYRA and so forth papers and think for themselves about what methods might best be applied on their own boats.
 
lw395 said:
My opinions on this are not my own invention. They come from serious conversations with a few people who been there for real.
People who have recovered crew mid ocean, both alive and dead.
Also from the enquiries afterward in the US and elsewhere.

I'm not impressed by how many times anyone has performed the same fake exercise to award RYA badges.
And let's face it, the race-oriented method I favour wouldn't work on most of the noddy sea school boats I see, because they don't have a decent danbuoy/drogue/horseshoe setup anyway.
It's no good if your horseshoe is off with the breeze or tangled in the pushpit.
I suggest those genuinely interested search around the ORC, USYRA and so forth papers and think for themselves about what methods might best be applied on their own boats.
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Perhaps you could provide links to these laudable papers/methods, since the crash stop gybe turn method was certainly used as far back as the BT Challenge boats, which from memory, had a few jaunts offshore & could hardly be considered "noddy sea school boats".
 
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lw395 said:
My opinions on this are not my own invention. They come from serious conversations with a few people who been there for real.
People who have recovered crew mid ocean, both alive and dead.
Also from the enquiries afterward in the US and elsewhere.

I'm not impressed by how many times anyone has performed the same fake exercise to award RYA badges.
And let's face it, the race-oriented method I favour wouldn't work on most of the noddy sea school boats I see, because they don't have a decent danbuoy/drogue/horseshoe setup anyway.
It's no good if your horseshoe is off with the breeze or tangled in the pushpit.
I suggest those genuinely interested search around the ORC, USYRA and so forth papers and think for themselves about what methods might best be applied on their own boats.
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So you don't know, you haven't done it and are ready to be rude to people with a mass of experience you don't wish to learn from.

Oh dear. :rolleyes:
 
alant said:
Ideally, clip on, before leaving the companionway & entering the cockpit.
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My boat has a strong point on the aft face of the bridge deck (a grand way of saying "the bit outside the companionway") so we always clip on in the cabin and emerge secured. Returning to the cabin we unclip inside. Similarly, I have tethers from the cabin roof jackstays dangling inside the cockpit, so we can clip on to those before unclipping from the cockpit ones to go forward. The downside is that all the tethers have to be quite long ... I might get some three-clip ones to allow for shortening when in position, but perhaps teh extra bit would be a nuisance.
 
Apologies if this was mentioned before didn't have time to read the entire thread!

I regularly do MOB drills with my sailing guests and I've found that if you heave-to immediately you can often find yourself right on top of the person (or in my case buoy with ropes attached for practice). Doing something else first such as throwing a life ring/danbuoy would leave a little sea room and when you turn it'll be easier to line up a safer approach imho.
 
Slycat said:
I regularly do MOB drills with my sailing guests and I've found that if you heave-to immediately you can often find yourself right on top of the person
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Yep, quite a few of us are pointing this out. It's a very useful fact (at least if someone is hand-steering when the MOB goes over).

Slycat said:
Doing something else first such as throwing a life ring/danbuoy would leave a little sea room and when you turn it'll be easier to line up a safer approach imho.
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Ah, well, this is where we disagree - "a little sea-room" between me and my MOB is the last thing I want :). Right on top of him is good, it means I can easily throw him a line. I don't care if it all looks a bit messy and we're pointing every which way and everything is rattling and banging away above my head - all my focus is going to be on the person in the water and passing him one of the mooring warps that hang on our pushpit.

Pete
 
You might find that if you immediatly turn you'll come up on the 'wrong' side of the MOB risking them getting battered. Or you'll overshoot quickly actually losing sight of where they are.

As with all things, try this yourself a few times with a buoy and some ropes, a lot will depend on your boat also. Always better to test it and see!

BTW I've changed my answer now, use one of these!

https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/5s90zn/remote_control_buoy/

:)
 
Slycat said:
You might find that if you immediatly turn you'll come up on the 'wrong' side of the MOB risking them getting battered. Or you'll overshoot quickly actually losing sight of where they are.

As with all things, try this yourself a few times with a buoy and some ropes, a lot will depend on your boat also. Always better to test it and see!

BTW I've changed my answer now, use one of these!

https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/5s90zn/remote_control_buoy/

:)
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How if turn quickly, can you possibly be on the wrong side of the MOB?
Everytime I've done it, I've been just to windward. Once demonstrated with a new crew on way from Gosport to Cowes, giving each a try at recovering. Proved extremely useful just off the RYS, when a cap unexpectedly blew off overboard. Without hesitation, the novice helm pirouetted on the spot & recovered said headgear within 2 turns. Must have impressed the Honourable Members on the lawn, they did a gun salute just afterward.;)
 
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alant said:
Proved extremely useful just off the RYS, when a cap unexpectedly blew off overboard. Without hesitation, the novice helm pirouetted on the spot & recovered said headgear within 2 turns.
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It's always been a standard rule, among my group of sailing friends, that any hats, shoes, or similar items blowing overboard constitute an immediate surprise MOB drill. The only exception might be if, for example, we were in the mouth of the Medina on a busy day with the Red Jet bearing down on us :)

Pete
 
prv said:
It's always been a standard rule, among my group of sailing friends, that any hats, shoes, or similar items blowing overboard constitute an immediate surprise MOB drill. The only exception might be if, for example, we were in the mouth of the Medina on a busy day with the Red Jet bearing down on us :)

Pete
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Busy, mouth of Media, but sans Red Jet.
 
prv said:
It's always been a standard rule, among my group of sailing friends, that any hats, shoes, or similar items blowing overboard constitute an immediate surprise MOB drill. The only exception might be if, for example, we were in the mouth of the Medina on a busy day with the Red Jet bearing down on us :)

Pete
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During a YM practical, in fast running ebb just off Brownsea, the examiner dropped his fender+heavy rope coil, shouting MOB. The YM candidate, remembered his recent drill, did a crash stop/turn, with immediate recovery by crew, who quickly brought onboard gloating "look not even wet". The examiner took umbrage & insisted the candidate did a sail away/return/pick up.
 
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