Overboard when single handed sailing

[bbg]

FWIW you can see the safety "step" webbing in this photo. It runs from one pushpit stanchion to the other, through the rudder fixings. It hangs just below the escape hatch. The part between the rudders is thicker because that is where the hollow webbing contains some bungie.

The bungie is inserted, the webbing scrunched up over it and I sewed through the webbing and bungie at each end. The bungie holds the webbing out of the water normally, but if necessary the webbing can be pulled down into the water.

 

[BlackPig]

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.....!

Put it in the dinghy and cast it off. See what happens from the boat.

 

[Seajet]

FWIW you can see the safety "step" webbing in this photo. It runs from one pushpit stanchion to the other, through the rudder fixings. It hangs just below the escape hatch. The part between the rudders is thicker because that is where the hollow webbing contains some bungie.

The bungie is inserted, the webbing scrunched up over it and I sewed through the webbing and bungie at each end. The bungie holds the webbing out of the water normally, but if necessary the webbing can be pulled down into the water.

bbg,

love the look of your boat...

For interest, is the open Lewmar hatch by the transom for ventilation, escape, an aft cabin with ensuite shower, bath and heads for 38 migrants, or what ?!

 

[Slowtack]

My system -
2 line reefing system - stay in the cockpit as far as possible
While in cockpit, shortish tether length should not permit you to go over the side
if leaving the cockpit, longer tether length should leave you at the stern should you fall in
Dinghy towed astern with its bow raised on the yacht transom is the "ladder" for reboarding
If exhausted you can rest in the dinghy for a breather
PLB attached to lifejacket - always worn when singlehanded
Any comments?

 

[Seajet]

Sorry Slowtrack,

but since you ask, I'd suggest 3 reefs, and towing a dinghy is a real drag, literally !

Nothing but a pain and even hazard on anything but an in-harbour journey, unless one can deflate and stow or raise in davits - I've seen an Anderson 22 with stern dinghy davits once, if I'd had time I'd have gone alongside and shot the owner on behalf of the poor boat !

 

[Slowtack]

The 2 line system is installed - using it is optional!
A raised inflatable only has the two end cones in the water and has minimal effect on boat speed I find

 

[sipsiwn]

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 ?

I made my jackstays simply by passing 20 cm of the end of the webbing through a heavy stainless 'D' ring, the welded type, not the split version. Doubled over the end back on itself and then hand sewed with medium sail twine, so that in effect I was sewing through 3 thicknesses, and end up with a 'D' ring in the end of a sewed section about 10 cm in length Sew both edges and finish with a 'X' pattern in the middle. It looks the same as any commercial method but in a strange way because I sewed it, I feel I trust it more.
I confess I've never given the shock absorbsion much thought, I do know that if I lean back on the jackstay about halfway along it's length it acts like a bowstring and gives slightly, it's not bar tight anyway because in the cockpit I secure the end with half a dozen turns of 4mm Dyneema lanyard through the 'D' ring and deck fitting.
In reply to Daydream Believer re the hatchlights. My boat is 1977, DB, she's got just one forehatch forrard of the mast on the cabin top and I can open it with the foredeck jackstay rigged, but only wide enough to be wedged open with a block of wood about the size of a box of kitchen matches, just enough for airflow.
As far as degredation of webbing is concerned I can only say at the end of a 2 year Med cruise fading was about the only effect I noticed. That's de-rigging and stowing the jackstays when not actually on passage of course.

 

[Seajet]

sipsiwn,

thanks.

Andy

 

[bbg]

bbg,

love the look of your boat...

For interest, is the open Lewmar hatch by the transom for ventilation, escape, an aft cabin with ensuite shower, bath and heads for 38 migrants, or what ?!

My ex-boat, unfortunately.

The Lewmar hatch is not open. Through it you can just see the white shape of the life raft. It has to be possible to launch the life raft through the hatch from inside or outside, if the boat is upright or inverted. From the inside it can be done by pulling two lines from just inside the companionway. One line pulls the handles on the hatch, the other launches the raft out the opening.

You could just about sleep 6 inside at one time. 38 would be a bit of a stretch. The aft cabin doesn't have a shower. Actually it doesn't have a cabin.

 

[Seajet]

bbg,

thanks, much as I expected but surely you could get 40 - odd in if they were willing, might have an effect on the trim though.

Think we are looking at different pics as the hatch was open on the one I referred to.

I am familiar with lines pulling through the hatch etc for various uses, ' inshore for keeping yobbo's out, offshore for keeping big waves out' and I know which I prefer, ain't the yobs !

Fair winds

 

[jac]

Surely you'd be able water ski behind an A22.

Bit dangerous IMhO.

Falling off and hitting the water at Mach 1 would be fatal.

 

[bbg]

bbg,

thanks, much as I expected but surely you could get 40 - odd in if they were willing, might have an effect on the trim though.

Think we are looking at different pics as the hatch was open on the one I referred to.

I am familiar with lines pulling through the hatch etc for various uses, ' inshore for keeping yobbo's out, offshore for keeping big waves out' and I know which I prefer, ain't the yobs !

Fair winds

If you are looking at the photo in my post 41, the hatch on the transom is most definitely closed. The hinges are at the bottom and the handles are at the top. It opens down. The companionway is open.

 

[Simondjuk]

Solar panel confused with hatch lid perhaps?

I think I'm getting a thing about Minis. Keep finding myself looking at them with a shopping mindset.

 

[bbg]

Yes there is a solar panel on a tripod on the stern.

 

[Daydream believer]

FWIW you can see the safety "step" webbing in this photo. It runs from one pushpit stanchion to the other, through the rudder fixings. It hangs just below the escape hatch. The part between the rudders is thicker because that is where the hollow webbing contains some bungie.

The bungie is inserted, the webbing scrunched up over it and I sewed through the webbing and bungie at each end. The bungie holds the webbing out of the water normally, but if necessary the webbing can be pulled down into the water.

That is all very neat but what i cannot comprehend is how you get to it if you go over near the bow. Your tether will be over the guardrail & it will snag on a staunchion so it will not let you drift aft. If you release the tether how do you stay attached to the boat without another line running along the outside of the guardrail to hook onto

 

[bbg]

That is all very neat but what i cannot comprehend is how you get to it if you go over near the bow. Your tether will be over the guardrail & it will snag on a staunchion so it will not let you drift aft. If you release the tether how do you stay attached to the boat without another line running along the outside of the guardrail to hook onto

I guess you can't provide for every eventuality. The purpose is not to provide a means to get back on board from every point on the boat. The purpose is to provide a means to get back on board if you are somewhere in the water. Without a means to do so the chances of getting back on board are very low. With this system the chances are greatly improved - if you can manage to get to it.

Of course if the boat is even an inch out of reach (and you're not clipped on), no system will help. And the point of being clipped on is that it keeps you on the boat.

Finally, if you have read my first post you will see that we were required to have a tether system that could be released from the chest under load, so in your scenario one could try to release and get back to the stern. That might work on the low side but these boats go 6 knots upwind and often over 15 downwind.

My personal strategy was to make sure I stayed on the boat.

 

[Daydream believer]

My personal strategy was to make sure I stayed on the boat.

I think we are all in agreement with that

As i said earlier you have given me some ideas

i have now rigged a line from near the bow to around the stern outside the guard rail & with a very short dynema & hook tether (for lightness) I may be able to transfer to that. i would then slide to the stern where I might be able to step into the loop that you have suggested

 

[Daydream believer]

Thread drift here
The solar panel is quite small & I would imagine that the Nike autopilot would use a lot of power as a small boat like that would need a lot of course correction even though steering would be fairly light. I assume you also had a few other items running as well
Did you have any other form of generating electricity, or did that panel do the job on its own?
Did you spend most of the time hand steering?

 

[bbg]

I also had an unfixed solar panel that I brought out during the days and positioned on deck or in the cockpit to make the best use of the sun. The panel you see had control lines to each corner so it could be turned towards the sun.

The NKE with a hydraulic ram is a huge power draw. I also had a methanol fuel cell so the solar and fuel cell together coped easily with the load. I wasn't really concerned about electrical load because of the fuel cell, the only downside being that I had to carry about 15 or 20 kgs of fuel.

I didn't fully appreciate how much of a power draw the hydraulic ram was until the NKE instruments failed about three days from the finish of the race. (Actually it was just one control head but I didn't know I could switch to another control head so I could have kept using it with reduced functionality if I'd known my systems a bit better.) I switched to my backup autopilot, a Raymarime SPX5. (It could only steer to a compass course, not to wind because the wind was on the NKE, but that is a bit beside the point.) Anyway, after I switched to the Raymarine the fuel cell was running perhaps an hour per day, down from typically over 12 hours per day when the NKE was running.

 

[ronsurf]

FWIW you can see the safety "step" webbing in this photo. It runs from one pushpit stanchion to the other, through the rudder fixings. It hangs just below the escape hatch. The part between the rudders is thicker because that is where the hollow webbing contains some bungie.

The bungie is inserted, the webbing scrunched up over it and I sewed through the webbing and bungie at each end. The bungie holds the webbing out of the water normally, but if necessary the webbing can be pulled down into the water.

That's an excellent idea. Definitely fitting that to my boat. Thanks