Overboard when single handed sailing

[prv]

But sailing around the coast people are also at risk when on the foredeck mooring or anchoring, you rarely see singlehanders hooked on at those times, when they are often using both hands to do something awkward.

I'm not convinced you're any better off tied to the boat if you were to fall in while handling anchors or moorings. Surely better to be able to swim or pull yourself (depending on height of topsides) round to a stern ladder, rather than dangling from the bow like a half-landed fish.

Pete

 

[Seajet]

Seajet,
By my calculations your 100 foot rope will be out of reach in just 15 seconds if the boat is travelling at 4 knots (I am assuming Anderson 22s can sail that fast)
You would need to be very agile and very lucky to grab it as it went past, specially if you were hampered by an inflated life jacket, in a rough sea or in the dark.
Capt. RoN

Cat. Ron,

completely right ! I'd have to be quick or it's ' Goodnight Vienna ' as Rigsby would say, or more accurately in this case ' Goodnight Silent Running '.

Like everything it's a compromise, I could trail a 2 mile long line like a submarine with a towed array sonar but it would probably get boats running over it even in Poole Bay and further West as we crossed tacks, amazing how one can spend most of a trip with a boat being a speck on the horizon, then suddenly it's within range to shake hands with the foredeck crew...

Also the consideration of being alone and remembering to grab in the line before close quarters use of the engine in reverse, it's a Youtube moment waiting to happen !

Still worth it I think.

What I must admit, is that after my MOB experience I swore I'd fit a decent fold down ladder on the transom, which extended well below water; I haven't, mainly as illness prevented me getting to the boat much at all in the winter - there is a folding step on the transom just above water level which may well have saved my life, along with my lifejacket.

 

[BlackPig]

I like the look of the rope ladder in a tube that you put in the transom.

http://www.force4.co.uk/department/...ders/force-4-flushmount-emergency-ladder.html

 

[prv]

I like the look of the rope ladder in a tube that you put in the transom.

http://www.force4.co.uk/department/...ders/force-4-flushmount-emergency-ladder.html

A lot better than nothing, but I bet it's a pig to use.

Anyone know if the steps are weighted, or will they just float around in a useless tangle?

Pete

 

[BrianH]

I'm not convinced you're any better off tied to the boat if you were to fall in while handling anchors or moorings. Surely better to be able to swim or pull yourself (depending on height of topsides) round to a stern ladder, rather than dangling from the bow like a half-landed fish.
Pete

Agree completely, but the critical part is having a stern ladder and equally critical, that it can be lowered from the water by a swimmer.

A year or so ago I wrote here about someone falling in while crossing from pier to stern-to moored boat. He was old and frail and, although his boat had a transom ladder, he could only hang on to the top section and was unable to hinge down the lower section because it was too high to reach. By a miracle I spotted him and could kneel down and haul him out by the scruff of his coat.

I think a stern ladder is an essential item for single-handed sailors - many modern designs have a scoop stern that can be boarded from the water by a fit person, but with sodden clothing it is still better if a retractable ladder with rungs well below water level can also be incorporated.

My canoe stern does not lend itself easily to a ladder but has one as standard and I have modified it to be able to swing the bottom section down when in the water.

 

[Seajet]

While a solid stainless ladder is of course best, I have found a rope underwater to get a foothold on is very useful, I manage this by slackening off the rudder uphaul line, which gets the next foot onto the folding step just above the waterline on the transom.

In this shot the rudder is raised for drying out, in sailing trim the rudder would be lower with the tiller - obviously - just above the coaming, and the yellow uphaul line slack with the lower part about water level, so I can slacken it from the water and create a bight to get a foot onto.

NB folding step to starboard of the rudder, a lifesaver.

View attachment 51915

 

[sipsiwn]

I sail singlehanded in my Nic 32. I have a webbing jackstay running along the midship line from the mast, over the cockpit hood and down to a fitting in the cockpit sole. I can get from the cockpit to mast without unclipping from that jackstay.
In order to answer my own question about getting back on board I did a 'trial run'..Anchored in Espalmador I'd been ashore in the dinghy and got caught in a sudden cloudburst on the way back to the boat, so soaking wet anyway, I tied the dinghy alongside and slipped into the water. My boat has a Hydrovane fitted and it's always been my intended method of getting back aboard in an emergency.
Flip-flops, jeans and T shirt, a few clumsy strokes from the dinghy to the stern, stand on the auxillary rudder then onto one of the steering gear stainless support arms and climb over the rail..Ha! easy to write..not so easy to do..even on a sunny day with the boat anchored and motionless. I'm fairly fit for a wrinkly but quite honestly to do the same trick from cold water in seaboots, oilskins etc: would be difficult in the extreme. Not saying I couldn't do it, helped by a good dose of adrenaline I probably could, but it would certainly be a case of tripping the wind vane and waiting until she rounded up into the wind, not trying to climb aboard while she zoomed away merrily with the windvane doing it's job..

 

[Daydream believer]

If the jackstay runs down the centre it can only run one side of the mast so if you are on the wrong tack i assume you would have to go the wrong side of the mast to go forward.
With a centre jackstay it would only go as far as the bridgedeck from the mast as it would block the hatchway
i have lines on each side deck so i can go forward each side & outside the shrouds so I do not have to duck under the lowers & can go the whole way without unclipping
I i do not do what is advised by the experts as my lines are slack so I can stand on the cabinetop to reach the sails. If everything was tight & i had short tethers I could not do this & still stand up

 

[Daydream believer]

A lot better than nothing, but I bet it's a pig to use.

Anyone know if the steps are weighted, or will they just float around in a useless tangle?

Pete

A friend of mine bought a plastimo ladder & when someone fell in the marina he went to help get them out. They could not lift him so someone held him whilst my friend got the ladder from his boat. He was amazed when they could not use it because the ladder floated. he wrote to Plastimo several times but they gave him the b..ms rush & said there was not a problem with the ladder. he has now fitted lead weights to the bottom rung

 

[Daydream believer]

I'm not convinced you're any better off tied to the boat if you were to fall in while handling anchors or moorings. Surely better to be able to swim or pull yourself (depending on height of topsides) round to a stern ladder, rather than dangling from the bow like a half-landed fish.

Pete

have you tried swimming in a fully inflated LJ. it is almost impossible & one becomes unable to do much at all. It also gets in the way to people getting you out of the water & stops the wearer getting out of the water a bit

 

[Seajet]

I've found - on other boats - the snag with webbing jackstays is that they can trip one up, and vulnerable to both U/V and salt crystal wear.

Still a lot better than most wire jackstays, which roll under-foot with the good chance of a Torville & Dean performance before breaking one's arse or going over the side.

So I prefer separate harness points, and in serious weather work my way along with a 3- point harness so I'm never unattached ( except if Elle McPherson strolls along ).

I always thought the Spinlock ' Latchway ' harness line system had a lot going for it, introduced just after the 79 Fastnet it was a very clever job which allowed one to clip to a thing on a jackstay which climbed over stanchion fastening points, so go from stem to stern on any size boat clipped on...

Maybe price and ' it won't happen to me ' was its downfall, even just after 19 people died - Yes 19 inc the spectator cat -...

- I believe a thing called the Latchway harness line system is still used on scaffolding sites but having googled it and seen the demo films it seems a different system, that one is for a Batman type job to get away with falling long distances.

The thing I'm on about was a little wheelie job which one clipped a yottie harness line to and went along the side deck.

 

[Daydream believer]

FWIW, here are some of the safety measures that are mandatory in the Classe Mini, the 6.50 m boats that are raced single-handed across the Atlantic.

The lifeline tether must be releasable from the chest end, while under load. For most people that means putting one of these on the chest end, so it can be released if you are getting dragged beside the boat.

There must be a means of getting back on board the boat from the water. For most people that means a piece of hollow webbing secured across the stern of the boat, from one quarter to the other. The webbing must be long enough that it can drop down 50-60 cm into the water so you can get a foot onto it. You then put some bungie cord inside and sew it into the webbing near the ends. This keeps the webbing out of the water when sailing, but when it is pulled down the bungie stretches and the webbing will come down. Depending on the height of the transom you might need a second "rung" of webbing as well, at a slightly higher level. You need to experiment a bit with the lengths of the webbing and bungie to get things right.

Another alternative is a line or webbing that goes a meter or so into the water, with loops for your feet every 30 cm or so. But the design needs to be such that stepping on a lower loop does not close the upper loops.

I also personally carried an EPIRB on my person at all times, although that is really only meaningful if you wear a life jacket to keep you afloat until help arrives.

If your budget runs to 10,000 EUR for electronics you can get an NKE autopilot with a remote control. The boat can be programmed to heave to and activate the MOB button if the base station on the boat loses contact with the remote control.

Thanks for your reply . I read it today & have already made some alterations.
Since reading your reply i now have a line running down the outside of the boat. I have a very short tether ( 300mm) that just hangs on the LJ. I am going to get a link like the one you show & hopefully i will be able to hook the short tether to the line then disconnect the main tether. That assumes I cannot buy a spinlock rope cutter before i leave to go sailing for 3 months.

I should then get swept aft around the stern where I should be able to kick the self steering oar over to stop the boat. As you have suggested i now have a loop hanging right across the stern in a big loop to get my foot into.
I do not have a stern ladder due to having an Aeries. However, I hope to be able to pull myself up the metalwork of the gear. From my dinghy system which has a bungee tensioned line alongside I often find that the loop keeps springing up. So i will not have bungees & will let the line hang around the back of the steering oar just in the water. If it gets mouldy i will wash it or change it regularly. i might be able to hold it out of the water with a bit of tape that will break when pulled. I think that is preferrable to bungee

 

[rogerthebodger]

A lot better than nothing, but I bet it's a pig to use.

Anyone know if the steps are weighted, or will they just float around in a useless tangle?

Pete

I made up one like that using stainless steel tube as rungs so it is weighted down but like all rope ladders without bottom support it does tend to swing away from you under the stern of the boat when you put weight on the lower rung so making it difficult to climb, but it is better that nothing.

If you have a transom hung rudder fitting steps into the trailing edge would also help to get back on board easer.

 

[sipsiwn]

"If the jackstay runs down the centre it can only run one side of the mast so if you are on the wrong tack i assume you would have to go the wrong side of the mast to go forward."

The main jackstay actually runs from the foot of the mast on the afterside ( it's shackled onto the same u bolt that takes the bottom block of the Kicking Strap. There's also a short jackstay, flat on the foredeck from the bottom point of the forestay to the mast foot, but I have to clip my second harness pennant to that before I unclip the first one from the main fore/aft jackstay if I need to go further forward.
Seajet, ref the UV/ salt problem. I bought a reel of 30 mm military grade webbing from a surplus shop. It's dead cheap to make up your own replacement jackstays with every couple of years. Not very 'Yottie' in green, but it stops the 'ol boy drowning...

 

[Daydream believer]

"If the jackstay runs down the centre it can only run one side of the mast so if you are on the wrong tack i assume you would have to go the wrong side of the mast to go forward."

The main jackstay actually runs from the foot of the mast on the afterside ( it's shackled onto the same u bolt that takes the bottom block of the Kicking Strap. There's also a short jackstay, flat on the foredeck from the bottom point of the forestay to the mast foot, but I have to clip my second harness pennant to that before I unclip the first one from the main fore/aft jackstay if I need to go further forward.
Seajet, ref the UV/ salt problem. I bought a reel of 30 mm military grade webbing from a surplus shop. It's dead cheap to make up your own replacement jackstays with every couple of years. Not very 'Yottie' in green, but it stops the 'ol boy drowning...

So can you open the hatch lights or do you not have any. Most modern boats have 2 or 3

As for webbing- I fitted some webbing jackstays & they just disintegrated in half a season
I now use flourescent orange braid on braid. Being that colour it is obvious what one it is & i am less likely to hook to the genny sheets just before a tack

 

[Seajet]

sipsiwn,

spiffing, how does one make up webbing jackstay lines then ?

I always thought they had a shock-absorbing line of breakaway stitching like an emergency ( ejection seat ) parachute, then increasingly strong stitches ?

Then again I was taught that by an ejection seat technician so may well be a ' counsel of excellence ' and I don't see much shock absorbing on wire jackstays - nice idea though...

So, how do you do it ?

 

[Triassic]

I guess one of the advantages of a trimaran is that I can set my lines up so that I can't actually go over the side whilst clipped on, with the one exception being between the bows where the nets are a bit closer in. I always try and wear the remote for the autopilot around my neck if I leave the cockpit as I figure that at least gives me a fighting chance of rounding the boat up if I end up hanging on a tether.........

 

[Seajet]

Triassic,

my hard wired autohelm remote is only a few feet long; have you got a wireless job ?

 

[Triassic]

Yes, it's the Raymarine one paired to an ST2000 tiller pilot. I seem to remember it cost as much as the pilot did but given I do 90% of my sailing singlehanded it's worth every penny. I keep meaning to check out the range one day by jumping over the side with it and seeing if I can sail the boat back to me.... but probably best to wait for a day I have a crew member on board.....!

 

[Seajet]

Ah, I have an earlier AH 2000 and my guess is I won't have much luck pointing a remote like yours at it !