Yachtsman drowned.

graham

graham

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A man was lost overboard near the W Culver buoy on Sunday.

Several vessells responded to the Mayday including Barry and Minehead lifeboats 2 charter fishing boats (Unity and Scubydoo) Bristol Pilot Vessel and a couple of yachts,he was found after about 30 minutes in the water and airlifted to hospital by a rescue helicopter sadly he didnt survive.

The man was a member of WBYC the boat is normally on a mooring in the River Axe.

Condolences to his Family and friends.

MCA report web page
 
A very sad reminder of the fact we choose to partake in an activity that can be dangerous. Our thoughts must be with his family and friends, especially the other guy on the boat.
Allan
 
30 mins in the water when the sea temperatire is possibly at it's warmest. Scary.

Louise and I were out yesterday, and lept reminding each other to wear lifejackets. It was flat calm, but when you read things like this, it brings home how potentially dangerous being on a boat is.

Horrible. For the man, his family, and, of course, for his mate on the boat, who must be feeling dreadful.
 
Very very sad. I overlook the sea but didn't see anything going on!
Was it drowning, sea temperature or the injury i wonder.
 
My wife heard about it at work yesterday and e-mailed me. The MCA gave credit to the other crewmember for immediately broadcasting the Mayday, which initiated the response, but sadly too late.

I've tried to find out, but there doesn't seem to be any information about actual cause of death. It really brings it home to me how important it is to wear my lifejacket when single handing. I also have a PLB/EPIRB which is attached to my LJ. However, I suspect that if I go overboard, it will be curtains.
 
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I suspect that the clout on the head was more than just a small bump. The fact that the crew immediately sent a Mayday suggests that he had been very seriously injured? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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Don't want to hijack, but that is an interesting point. A few people I have spoken to have been adamant that a mayday call is vital in this situation. Coming from a diving background, where having someone in the water is not unusual, I said I'd always try and recover first, unless conditions were very bad. IIRC correctly, the weather was reasonable at the weekend, so I had also assumed the mayday was because of the head injury, rather than the man overboard situation on its own.

The coastguard agreed he did the right thing. So, would most people here mayday first, then stand them down if you recover, or try and recover first, and then mayday?
 
Initially I would try to turn around and get back to him but its vital to send your position ASAP if you dont find him immediately as you will soon drift away downwind.

If the VHF is reachable from the helm you could send MAYday orDSC distress (even better)while still steering the boat.

definitely send Mayday ASAP but initially its more important to keep him in sight IMHO.
 
I would have pressed mob on GPS, swung the boat while giving a very quick mayday with position/severe head injury then standby. Without knowing conditions etc hard to speculate really.
Keeping visual is really important.
 
Makes you think. My GPS and engine start are in the saloon. I do keep a waterproof handheld Radio in the cockpit, but it's not DSC.

At this point in time, there's so much Louise and I have to learn, and we are still very raw at handling Ishtar. I have a list of things to practice every time we go out, we're still getting to grips with the anchor, for example. I think I'll start doing some MOB practices. I'm a firm believer in seeing how useless I am and using that as a start point.
 
Yes, not for me recovering Louise, I think, but the other day we found out that Louise was unable to winch me up the mast, so I guess if I was unconcious in the water, and she had to get me back on board, we may have a problem.
 
After having to pull a bloke out of the water in the barrage last year after he fell overboard (was singlehanded in a damaged yacht and fell off the pontoon as he untied and pushed off) I can attest to the dead weight of a person. Took 3 blokes to pull him in over the side of the boat, no way would one be able to manage it so I'm not surprised about Louise not being able to pull you up the mast, never mind being able to pull you back onboard.
 
the last twice i ended up swimming in the bay, i was fortunate to rescued by benetaus with scoop sterns, and ladders, its no good being complacent. youare in a enviroment wich is dangerous, especially if you are on a strange boat. a little twitch of the tiller when you are not expecting it, and you are overboard. !! belive you me!!
 
I cannot believe how many boaters have their VHF next to a chart table , somewhere inside the boat. Mine is fixed to the roof just inside the hatch and can be reached and operated whilst holding the tiller.

Look at any fishing boat, the VHF is next to the helm, why should a yacht be any different?
 
Me and my son came across a sailing dingey that had capsized in the bay last year, it was a weekday and pretty quiet, the two crew were quite elderly and had been in the water for 20 mins and one was going blue,they were too weak to let go of the upturned dingey and very scared even unable to catch hold of a rope my son threw, there was no way we could have got them on board my boat even with a boarding ladder, i rang the harbour boys and within 5 mins there were two boats on scene, one had a drop down bow and even then they had a hell of a job getting these two on board, it was very scarey for us as we were pretty useless and unable to do anything to get them out.
 
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