Recovering from falling overboard when single handed

[Daydream believer]

Not sure where you get the impression that I am clambering about the deck at 6 knots.

No intention to upset you. The comment was meant as a more general one. But you did mention a wide number of deck activities & many forumites seem to mention 6kts so I used it.

 

[Daydream believer]

Even a boat that is hove-to will be making a knot or two through the water. Given the impediments of clothing and lifejacket, there's no way I could swim at even 1 knot. So for practical purposes, there's no difference between a boat travelling at 6kt and one hove-to - they're both travelling faster than you can swim. When I was a LOT fitter than I am now, I could swim at about 1 kt (I'm a slow but steady swimmer). But even Olympic 50m Freestyle swimmers only do around 5kt; for a very short time!

You are quoting to someone who has been over the side 3 times, once when SH. That does not count many (& I mean many) times separated from his racing dinghy, or sail board over the years.
I know the issues. First is not to panic & weigh up the options. When you are in the water looking at a yacht 6 ft away from you it can be a bit panic inducing. Even a dinghy or sailboard floating away, when you know that your wife is on safety boat duty can be frightening.
More so the b..king you will get when she arrives

 

[Juan Twothree]

That's my current 'strategy'. VHF and a basic large button mobile phone.

There's too much conflicting information about PLBs to be sure and three bits of kit is just impractical.

There was an article on FB this morning where a PLB triggered a succesful rescue but no indication of the time it took to reach the guy and if that time was typical or in any way guaranteed.

The protocol is that SAR assets should be tasked within five minutes of the initial alert being received.

Any PLB activation is treated as distress until confirmed otherwise.

The time that the incident is created, and which assets are subsequently tasked and when, is all logged on the CG incident management system.

 

[Mark-1]

The protocol is that SAR assets should be tasked within five minutes of the initial alert being received.

Any PLB activation is treated as distress until confirmed otherwise

I can't find that written anywhere and it directly contradicts both versions you've said before. (Which already contradicted each other.) Also contradicts MAIB reports. (It's likely those referred to outliers but equally they didn't say the CG failed to follow their own protocols.)

I'd love it to be true, maybe someone will find it stated somewhere.

(It would also mean the registering it would be risky, because if it's assumed to be genuine unless someone says it's not, then as long as they can't contact anyone it will be assumed to be genuine right up until they find you. Ie it can't accidentally be cancelled because a shore contact mistakenly thought you were playing golf or something. Selfish, but safer.)

 

[dunedin]

The protocol is that SAR assets should be tasked within five minutes of the initial alert being received.

Any PLB activation is treated as distress until confirmed otherwise.

The time that the incident is created, and which assets are subsequently tasked and when, is all logged on the CG incident management system.

Very useful and interesting.

One question in the modern world - when reports suggest that, due to so many spam calls, many (younger) people don’t answer phone calls unless they recognise the number, do the Coastguard struggle to be able to get through to registered emergency contacts to check ? How do they resolve this?

 

[Juan Twothree]

I can't find that written anywhere and it directly contradicts both versions you've said before. (Which already contradicted each other.) Also contradicts MAIB reports. (It's likely those referred to outliers but equally they didn't say the CG failed to follow their own protocols.)

I'd love it to be true, maybe someone will find it stated somewhere.

I checked directly with the CG ops room before replying, and I have no reason to disbelieve them.

The alert is received by Fareham, which will make an initial phone call to ascertain whether or not it is likely to be genuine.

If they can't be certain that it's a false alert, they will pass it electronically to the relevant CG ops room, which will then initiate SAR action.

Any subsequent enquiries, such as VHF or phone calls, will take place whilst assets are tasked/proceeding.