Grinna 2 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Not a situation any of us want to experience, and something we all try to avoid, but never-the-less it happens sometimes. Have you ever been overboard? Have you ever had a crewmember go overboard? Did you/they lose contact with the boat? How long before it was noticed and what was the recovery like? Curious to hear of people's experiences and lessons learned. Link to post Share on other sites
otto 31 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Not yet thankfully although KM has tried and after my last post i might upgrade the lifejacket. Had a mate go overboard in the coastal off his cat by the Brett a couple of years ago, calm day going on dusk with a small swell. They dropped the dan-buoy straight away light and all, but. Cat head away and then back to the dan-buoy, he had to swim to get out of the way of the boat which heaved to beside the dan-buoy. He was then climbing up the other side and with a yell they noticed him. What was important was they never saw him, (should've had a light) and he never saw the dan-buoy yet was only metres from it. I always have a cyclum stick in my wet-weather gear and a strobe at night. Not sure if he's on crew.org but hopfully he is and will elaborate. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I know Mike,I'll get him to come up Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I've had someone jump overboard because there was very little wind and they were bored. Thought she could swim faster apparently (no lifejacket). We went back and picked her up on the leeward side without dropping the sails . No lifelines makes it real easy to get back onboard as well. It was a bit of a laugh, flat water, plenty of light, but at one point I still lost sight of her for a split second. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Chris on truxton has a good story to tell as well. Link to post Share on other sites
smithy09 50 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Good thread Grinna! Watching with interest.. Link to post Share on other sites
Grinna 2 Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 For the record, I've been overboard 3 times. Thankfully I never lost contact with the boat on any of those occasions. 1 was before we left the marina berth .... doesn't count really (except in the "you're a dork" stakes). 1 was while working on the foredeck of a Stewart 34 without any lifelines in very rough conditions. I went up in the air, the deck moved sideways and I came down where the deck wasn't. I managed to grab a spinnaker sheet as I disappeared over the side and luckily the next wave picked me up and dropped me back on the deck. Nobody else in the crew knew I'd been over the side until much later on when I got asked why I was so wet. 1 was while tailing a spinnaker halyard for the mastman on the same Stewart 34. Mastman gave an almighty and unexpected heave and I toppled backwards while still hanging onto the halyard. I ended up being dragged along the surface alongside the boat next to the grinder on the primary winch. He grabbed me by the back of the pants and hauled me back onto the deck and told me it wasn't a good time to go for a swim. I ran back forward and continued tailing for the mastman who didn't know I'd been over the side. None of these really count as serious MOB situations because I didn't lose contact with the boat .... but the pucker factor was pretty damn high in 2 of those situations. Scariest part was that crew can go over the side without anyone noticing. Link to post Share on other sites
Deep Purple 512 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Winter series race a few years back. Had a guy go out on the prod to fix a problem and got into a position where he couldn't get back. He elected to drop into the water. We were prepared and gybed around to pick him up within a minute, never lost contact. However getting him back into the boat was a mission, took 4 of us to haul him in and he was exhausted. In hindsight we would have done things differently. We should have had a line on him and we should have parked up before he let go. He's a poster here so hopefully will add more Link to post Share on other sites
Marshy 30 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 On moving violation one tuesday night i was driving and we rolled out during a Gybe after the mainsail got caught in the Backstay. Bowman was trying to gybe pole and lost balance. He swung with pole in hand over the leeward side of the boat. Then the boat proceeded to drag sideways as he went under boat and out the other side to windward. By the time we got a surrogate bowman to pull the kite down we were a good distance from Scotty. Sailed back upwind and picked him up, then carried on racing. Had someone watching him the whole time while we sorted stuff out. I think the boys first noticed when their rums spilt and you could hear a little girl crying that the water was cold in the middle of summer! Link to post Share on other sites
otto 31 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I know Mike,I'll get him to come up Yep be good his full story is much better Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Not yet thankfully although KM has tried and after my last post i might upgrade the lifejacket. Good thinking Been over a few times. Some the boat carried on a ways but came back, one or 2 was still clipped on, some off sail some off power, very rarely with a life jacket on. All in the inner Gulf so wasn't too bad. The key is don't bother chasing the boat, even a slow one is too fast. Just wait patiently. Always was seen or heard going over which probably helped. Lost one or 2 myself but again seen them go and got back to them pretty quick. None were a big worry bar one where the entire fleet tried to run me down but some well placed words and a few arm strokes got me clear of impending prostrate check by keel. It's nothing to worry to much about if you're with a good team and knot in the deep blue at night time in which case you should be kitted up or you could very easily pay for that slackness. But then if you're called Otto maybe you should be worried and for good reasons Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rocket Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Early days MRX racing on Shiseido our bowman decided to swim as we came around the bottom mark. Tactician Brett de Thier said nice rounding boys while I was busy pointing and saying apart from the swimming dude. We turned around did a 6 knot flypast and I got him with the old hand to wrist double lock thing - while hanging on to that stainless bar thingy the crew sit under - I swung him against the back of the boat and Brett landed him. Sheeted on, passed the fleet and got a bullet - Easy!! When Starlight lost her rig one Wednesday nite race we saw a dude go overboard off her (he was being crushed) - we turned around and grabbed him, sat him on the rail (dripping wet) and smoked the fleet on the beat from outside rough rock to the finish - another bullet!! (Helped that Kodak broke her boom). Amazing how low he was floating... about eye level. Also amazing how far a big boat 's momentum takes her when she loses her rig. Lost three off McDell Marine one corporate day (gybing while trying to pole out the jib). Kim McDell was steering. We started wearing PFDs and banned poled out jibs on corporate days about then... Never lost anyone overboard at night - but we always wear harnesses. Once on Icefire coming back after a coastal three-up I was having a nap and we crash gybed. I raced up and no-one was there - followed a tether and found the skipper knocked out on the end of it in the water. The other guy climbed back over the lifelines as I was hauling him in - if they hadn't been harnessed I wouldn't have found them - and one maybe both would have been gone (off Flat Rock in the middle of the night...) Harnesses work - but I think Mike even broke one of them swimming of Outward Bound. I carry a strobe in my wet weather jacket just in case (even though I live in the cockpit)... Link to post Share on other sites
otto 31 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 But then if you're called Otto maybe you should be worried and for good reasons Ooooooooh don't be like that. Insurance always good if you go overboard, oy Squid got some beauty pic's can i load them somewhere so they come up if i don't log on again Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I've been in the water twice but not let go of the boat as well. Once tying a reef line in so we could reef. Got overbalanced in a gust and decided to hang onto the boom rather than try to get balance back. I went in up to my waist but the wet weather gear kept even my feet dry. Second was diving under the rail off the bow after our best spinnaker still in it's bag that was getting sucked over the side. I wasn't bowman that day by the way, but we have laced the lifelines on the bow to stop it happening again. I was holding onto it surfing beside the boat on my back, and had to be hauled back on board by the bowman. The hoist went up without delay. Link to post Share on other sites
col j 0 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 is this mike keeton we're talking about? never told me he'd been swimming. off a stewart no.1 then bowman rolls off backwards to leward while setting for a hoist...hitches his arm accidentally into lazy genoa sheet and gets pulled back in. off the stewart 2 same chap falls off during a botched 2 sail gybe with the pole...boat turns around and gets him after some time sorting out the mess (bunch of guests onboard for the 50th shindig) off the stewart 3 same chaps brother gets cleanly pushed off the boat (by and australian) from tailing the genoa on a bottom mark rounding. apparently nobody was tailing the genoa and he had to do it....holding onto sheet like a man posessed we haul his ass back in....after the genoa sheeted on. almost off the stewart 1 for me....kite drop then a gybe and the genoa sheet caught me and i grabbed the shrouds on my way down. submerged on starlight express going to fiji during head sail peels. think one stage it was me outside the head sail against the fence. always clip on. was clipped to windward jack line during a head sail change and a wave got me....i washed down the leward side and didn't stop till the teather decided it wouldn't pull the back of the boat around the front of the mast. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 does it count if i was up to my neck in water, while standing on the granny bar hugging the mast? Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rocket Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Yup Col J he swims all the time... He also told me about Digby up in Fiji one time - only guy on deck - not much breeze decided to have a voluntary swim. Found he couldn't swim as fast as a 50 footer in not much wind. Lucky for him someone came up on deck and saw a little head and no helmsman... Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I spoke to Mike this arvo, he said he'd tell us his story, I think he's still learning to drive his computer. Link to post Share on other sites
Rental 1 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Port Nick regatta a couple two years ago on the MRX, we were behind Rodney from Evo Sails when a gust hit, boat rolled out and Bad Santa rolled right off the back. The funny thing was we had set up some strops from the stainless on the back of the boat to the mooring cleats so that the owner could hold on if this happened, the next day they were on the Rodneys boat as well. Link to post Share on other sites
Scotty3934 5 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 On moving violation one tuesday night i was driving and we rolled out during a Gybe after the mainsail got caught in the Backstay. Bowman was trying to gybe pole and lost balance. He swung with pole in hand over the leeward side of the boat. Then the boat proceeded to drag sideways as he went under boat and out the other side to windward. By the time we got a surrogate bowman to pull the kite down we were a good distance from Scotty. Sailed back upwind and picked him up, then carried on racing. Had someone watching him the whole time while we sorted stuff out.I think the boys first noticed when their rums spilt and you could hear a little girl crying that the water was cold in the middle of summer! Have to say the boys did well coming back and getting me. Worst part was trying to not get run over by the rest of the fleet that were following us at the time.... oh that and the whole tackling the leading edge of the keel on the way under the boat. Link to post Share on other sites
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