Man (men) (man and woman - overboard!

[Dr. Peter]

Good evening - its been a while since I last posted but I have a tale to share which may be of interest,

I was crewing on a Timpenny 770 on Lake Mulwala NSW. It was Saturday and we were in a race. It was race 2 and as it was pretty blowy - about 20+ knots, the OTB guys had decided to divide themselves up amongst the trailerables who were still sailing. As a result we had 2 more crew than usual.

It was exciting racing and we managed to win the first round when I looked after the heady and a visitor looked after the mainsheet and traveller. A couple of times we dipped the boom in the water - I blame the new crew. I never do that. It was windy though and with two reefs in the main we hit 10.5 knots going downwind in the second race. Very exciting! We even broached going through the gate and had to, "I can't hold her! Let everything fly! Let the gib go, Pete!".

Real trouble occurred heading upwind for the final beat. Our opposition had slipped ahead and we were hiking hard. For this race I was working the traveller and the mainsheet - my eyes were glued on the skipper, who was steering, and the wind-indicator, in equal measure. Suddenly - a bang - an "Ohh!" was heard - and our 2 extra crew went over the side. The safety line had let go and they were both in the water!!!!!

WITHOUT A WORD SPOKEN
I struck the halyard clutches on both the headsail and the main and each sail began to fall. I went forward and secured the headsail. I heard the outboard start. As I came back, the skipper said, "Pull down the main a bit more, Pete." Thank goodness for slugs in the luff and lazy-jacks. A couple of extra tugs on the luff saw the main settled down.

We were already turning back to the guys in the water. I went below to retrieve the boat hook and moved to the boarding ladder, which the skipper had already dropped. Using the boarding hook I pushed the ladder all the way down. At this time, we had come alongside, and a little to windward of the two floaters. The skipper worked has magic and, on being asked if the motor was out of gear, replied yes. I reached out with the boat hook and got the guys at the ladder.

One by one, they climbed the ladder and once on board I went and found some towels and the guy changed his shirt got dry and put on a windbreaker. We had the woman, come downstairs out of the wind, and I gave her a towel and she got warmer and dryer (both relative terms). That being done, I went above and got the boat ready for returning to shore. The entire rescue had taken 2-3 minutes.

I accept that this was a lake and there was no swell but I think this method worked much better than the figure 8 usually recommended.

Trevor, the skipper and I, had never practiced this it. But we had talked about it. He had been particularly taken by a safety practice on a keelboat where the Figure 8 had, time and time again, failed to retrieve an object in the water. This method arose from Trevor's extensive time as the pilot of a ski-boat picking up his own children.

BTW - I do still have the Investigator - the plan is a long 21 day sail at Gippsland Lakes after New Years.

Peter

[Yara50]

Good to hear from you Peter.
Interesting story. Only problem I can see is that in most cases there is only maybe two people on board, and one remaining person has to do everything. However, if you immediately heave to, a similar procedure is then possible.

[Dr. Peter]

Hi Ian,
You are quite right - what you can do depends on the situation. That's why I was quick to state that we were on a lake, there was no swell, the two of us left on board were the regular crew. The sails were easy to drop (my I 563 would have been much harder) except for the furling jib.
Peter

[Mark]

Thanks Peter for sharing this important information and reminding us importance of having a practiced strategy onboard for these possible events.

As a Marine Rescue NSW crew member we practice these in powerboats often but its totally different from a sailboat.

I have been promising to practice this with my wife for 2 yrs now but have not, I think the time has arrived.

best and fair winds

Mark

[Steve]

I started practicing mob drills with my wife the first day we got on a boat together. But a year or so ago when we headed out in 20 knots in a 10m keel boat, within about 2mins of me at the mast hoisting the sails and my wife on the tiller, I suddenly lost all confidence in my wife's ability to skipper the boat if I went over the side or became incapacitated. She became scared of the heel and the larger sails and cheesed right up.
I dropped the sails on the boat and got her to practice picking up a fender that I threw overboard, heading up wind to it and also putting the stern into the wind and holding a position, we just practised basic control of the the boat under engine power in a 20 knot breeze. I also find the way she uses her energy to do a task is some times useless. Like hoisting a sail or hauling in a sail, all this needs to be taught , reminds me of how girls throw.
We went for a sail a couple of weeks ago in the investigator and did our mob drill and she was great, even a tack into a hove to---to collect a fender, but the real important stuff like lowering and starting the outboard still needs work.

Steve

[Dr. Peter]

Hey Steve,
You make a very good point - a very good point about how quickly a crewman woman, can be promoted to skipper. They need to be able to control the boat!