What Now Skip? WNS January

[wakeup]

Then who is in more danger?

I think the guys in the water are in less danger then and the skipper should worry about those in his care before he ends up on a register.

No mention of how much rope available either ;-)

 

[timbartlett]

We need to know the age of the wife and the boyfriend since you have stated the age of the daughter?

The only reason I gave the daughter's age was to suggest that there are four adults on board, but if you would like a complete cast list:-
Hero: Male, 54
Mrs Hero: Female, 49
Miss Hero: Female, 22
Miss Hero's boyfriend 25
Inflatable driver: Male, early teens
Inflatable passenger, Male, mid teens
Dinghy sailor, Female, thirty something

No mention of how much rope available either

Four mooring warps, each a bit longer than the boat -- say 4 x 15m -- plus a polypropylene ski rope and various odds and sods such as fender strings and dinghy painter.

 

[wakeup]

Is the dinghy sailor hot?

Coz that is gong to be the biggest 'subconscious' motivator for who the skip will rescue.

 

[TonyJones]

Depends.

If the people in the water (only one of whom is wearing a lifejacket) are obviously OK and making their way to, or already hanging onto, the upturned dinghy, a reasonable decision would be to punt the inflatable out of the way until it was going round in circles away from the POBs. He could then recover them at his leisure - and maybe right the dinghy too.

If, on the other hand, one or more of the POBs appeared to be in distress, getting them aboard would be the immediate priority, placing his own boat between them and the inflatable if possible. The difficulty here is that the requirement to manoeuvre is at odds with safe recovery over the bathing platform, but if one of the POBs was drowning he wouldn't have much choice. Having one of his crew on the bathing platform armed with a boathook ready to deflect the inflatable if it tried to join the party might be a good idea.

Best wishes
Tony

 

[rickp]

If the people in the water (only one of whom is wearing a lifejacket) are obviously OK and making their way to, or already hanging onto, the upturned dinghy, a reasonable decision would be to punt the inflatable out of the way until it was going round in circles away from the POBs. He could then recover them at his leisure - and maybe right the dinghy too.

No rope??

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE REAL TONY JONES!

 

[coliholic]

I'm with JFM on this, pretty sure we've had this one before.

Anyroadup, here's what I'd do. Slow down a bit to make sure I don't run anyone over or dmage my boat, then get the camera out and take a few pics and give them all a little wave as I gently cruise past. Not a big wave since I don't know them, but a little dismissive sort, "oh how are you, poor people?" type wave - The Queen's pretty good at this sort of mini wave.

After all sod'em, why should I get involved, nothing in it for me is there?

 

[oceanfroggie]

Depends.

If the people in the water (only one of whom is wearing a lifejacket) are obviously OK and making their way to, or already hanging onto, the upturned dinghy, a reasonable decision would be to punt the inflatable out of the way until it was going round in circles away from the POBs. He could then recover them at his leisure - and maybe right the dinghy too.

If, on the other hand, one or more of the POBs appeared to be in distress, getting them aboard would be the immediate priority, placing his own boat between them and the inflatable if possible. The difficulty here is that the requirement to manoeuvre is at odds with safe recovery over the bathing platform, but if one of the POBs was drowning he wouldn't have much choice. Having one of his crew on the bathing platform armed with a boathook ready to deflect the inflatable if it tried to join the party might be a good idea.

Best wishes
Tony

Spot on.

 

[PEJ]

Here is what I would like to think I would have the presence of mind to do.

Hand the VHF mike to the wife point at the Mayday procedure sticker next to it and tell her to follow the instructions, I am sure the CG will forgive her if she gets it a bit wrong. Tell daughter and boyfriend to get a fender each and tie a warp to it. Chuck one each as close to the guys without life jackets as they could. Hope they will be able to grab hold to keep themselves afloat.

While this is going on tell dinghy girl to try to get back to her capsized dinghy which ought to be her instinct anyway. While all this is going on try to position my boat between the dinghy and the runaway rib. If the guys have got the fenders then tie them on for now and transfer everyone to stopping the RIB, putting the boyfriend in it if he can. With the RIB under control pull in the fenders with lads attached and rescue the woman.

By now the lifeboat will be on its way to give medical assistance and right the dinghy.

 

[jfm]

Tony, what's a POB? I've heard taxidrivers say it (!) but not boat rescuers

 

[benjenbav]

Well it's shoddy journalism if it's not reported till January.

Haydn, I'm gonna have to report you to the mods for this comment. I was stood in a pub reading this yesterday evening and it was all I could do not to spit my beer across the bar. A paramedic and three catwalk models from a nearby London Fashion Week event had to give me the Heimlich manouevre to get the cashew nuts back up. It all ended up as quite a scene.

On the WNS, one thing nobody's mentioned is that it would be a good idea not to carve the swimmers up with the sports boat's props as you attempt to dance around the scene.

 

[gjgm]

Given that I normally expect SWIMBO to lasso a pontoon cleat from at least 50ft, she should find the moving outboard an easy target. I m also thinking its a 9.8 Tohatsu, which is jolly convenient as it saves me buying one.Rather a successful afternoon, it seems.

 

[Nick_H]

a reasonable decision would be to punt the inflatable out of the way until it was going round in circles away from the POBs

If i'm in the water and there's an inflatable boat circling me on the plane, please no-one try and punt the inflatable out of the way with their bigger, less manouverable boat, unless its a last resort. With no-one in it the inflatable will be so flighty that anything could happen, it could for instance overtake the bigger boat and set off on a new circle that may have me on its circumference, or bounce off in a different direction altogether and get me on the way back.

 

[strakeryrius]

Tony, what's a POB? I've heard taxidrivers say it (!) but not boat rescuers

For Taxi drivers its an acronym for Passengers on Board

In this instance its probably for Persons OverBoard.

Just guessing though.

 

[fireball]

If i'm in the water and there's an inflatable boat circling me on the plane, please no-one try and punt the inflatable out of the way with their bigger, less manouverable boat, unless its a last resort. With no-one in it the inflatable will be so flighty that anything could happen, it could for instance overtake the bigger boat and set off on a new circle that may have me on its circumference, or bounce off in a different direction altogether and get me on the way back.

exactly - which is why I suggested as a last resort to be used only when other options were lacking and it was apparent that it was about to hit someone.

 

[Observer]

Our hero's boat is larger than or about the same as the turning circle of the runaway so getting inside it's circle to rescue them, protect them or 'shepherd' the runaway, is highly risky. It could probably be done right first time if you've practised a dozen times but who has? The best protection the swimmers have is the capsized dinghy. So get them to climb onto the upturned hull where, even if the runaway came at them, they would have some sort of platform to push against and a good chance of deflecting it, or just getting clear of its prop.

With the swimmers now safe(ish) from the runaway, there's a bit more time to consider what to do next. Mayday if not already done by crew. Throw some buoyancy aids (e.g. lifebuoy, fenders) into the circle.

Now I'm assuming the runaway is circling in a stable pattern. Staying outside the circle, I would throw a line over and get one of the rescuees to hold it up to allow the runaway to pass underneath. Then tie it to the dinghy and tow the dinghy out of the circle, if certain of getting the timing right, or stretch it tight to foul the runaway's prop.

 

[fisherman]

Approach the scene at such an angle, opposite to the runaway rotation, that the runaway will, say it's going clockwise, hit obliquely your stbd bow. Drop anchor in it on short stray to keep it alongside, remembering that it may tow you round a bit, so your engines in neutral. Strapping lad jumps in it, regains control, picks up swimmers.