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Man Overboard Rescue For Powerboats

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Few of us plan for a crew member to fall overboard. Getting that person back aboard is harder than you think.

Man Overboard Modules (MOMs) like the Switlik 600 provide flotation and visibility.

Unless you do the right things, fast, when someone falls overboard, that person could be lost. Man-overboard (MOB) fatalities make up 24 percent of all boating deaths. Our BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water has studied these incidents over a five year period and created a picture of the typical accident. The majority of cases do not involve bad weather, rough seas, or other extenuating circumstances. "Most happen on relatively calm waters, on a small boat that's not going very fast," said Chris Edmonston, president of the BoatUS Foundation. "Victims tend to be men. Fishing is a prime activity, and in many cases, alcohol is involved."

Numerous articles have been written about recovering a lost crew member from a sailboat, but MOB procedures for powerboaters have seldom been addressed. In light of the profile above, we present a general overview of MOB scenarios and procedures for the benefit of all boaters, no matter the size of your boat. We include an accompanying sidebar, "Brother, Save Thyself," about how to get back aboard a small boat. We also present and illustrate the Quick-Stop method, favored by many sailboaters:

Know Your Boat's Characteristics

When someone falls overboard, it's critical to get to the victim quickly. Think about how you'll do this on your boat without endangering the victim with your prop. Consider the freeboard of your boat. If it's high, this makes it difficult to get a victim back aboard. If your boat has a squared chine (bottom), waves may cause the boat to crash down on a victim who's alongside, while a rounded chine may push the victim away from the boat and out of reach. Look at your stern platform. Will it help, or plunge down on a victim, pushing him underwater and perhaps into the props? Before there's an emergency, consider how these factors affect your boat's maneuverability, and fit your boat out with gear that might mitigate some of these challenges (see MOB equipment sidebar below).

Equipment To Locate MOB

No matter what size or type of boat you have, you should carry:

• USCG-approved floating cushions, ring buoys, and life jackets with colors that stand out at sea and that are readily available.These can help the victim float and help lead you back to him. (Life jackets with mirrors and waterproof lights are a smart idea.)
• A GPS with MOB feature.

Here are other MOB-location gear to consider carrying:

• AutoTether Screamer Wireless Alarm System sounds an alarm that a crewmember wearing a transmitter has gone overboard. The sooner you know you have an MOB, the more likely you are to find the victim in time.
• SafeLink R10 SRS (Survivor Recovery System) utilizes both GPS technology and the AIS system to help you and nearby AIS-equipped vessels find a victim.
• ResQLink+ by ACR is a personal locator beacon (PLB) worn by the victim that enables USCG to find and retrieve him. (Note: PLBs alert authorities, but not you, to the MOB. An MOB alarm enables you to respond immediately — particularly important if the water is cold and the victim has no flotation.)
• An MOB floating rescue flagpole that you can toss over the side. It unfurls a bright yellow flag that's easier to spot from a distance.

Equipment To Retrieve MOB

According to rescue professionals, getting an exhausted victim back aboard who may be unable to assist in the rescue can be far more challenging than returning to the victim. Every boat should be equipped with an easy way for someone to get aboard from the water.

On most boats, the best solution is a boarding ladder that's structurally strong, well-designed, easily put in place, and long enough for your freeboard and for the victim to climb easily. The ladder should be relatively vertical, stand off the hull for toe clearance (which a rope ladder doesn't do), have nonskid steps, and be capable of firmly attaching to the boat. Generally, a ladder mounted to the side is safer and easier to use than one on the stern.

If your boat has low freeboard and came with a boarding ladder, beware: Many built-on swing-down ladders don’t swing down deeply enough for an exhausted person to climb up, and they don't have adequate hand grips fastened to the boat for the victim to grab and pull. Most people have the greatest strength in their legs, not their arms. Improve your ladder and hand grip, or get a long ladder that hooks over the gunwale, such as the West Marine Portable Gunwale-Mount Boarding Ladder.

Lines with loops at each end can also be useful. They need to be of proper length to rig quickly for use as a handhold, support, or recovery sling.

Beyond these essentials, you may want to carry a MOM (Man Overboard Module) and/or a Lifesling. MOMs come in several models ranging from floats to platform rafts that rapidly release and inflate. The Lifesling has a floating yellow yoke, and you can buy a 5:1 purchase tackle to help pull the victim up .

Your boat must be set up in advance to properly utilize this gear. For example, the tackle that you can purchase with a Lifesling can help a weak person lift a heavy person out of the water. But a secure attachment point on the boat high enough above water (generally about 10 feet above the waterline) must be installed in advance. If there isn’t a high enough place to attach a securing point, the Markus Scramble-net or other equipment that doesn't require as high an attachment point may work for you.

Consider Your First Steps Before The Worst Happens

If you have an MOB, the following basic procedure needs to happen immediately. To prevent confusion from impeding swift action, practice. But remember, your exact actions must depend on many variables.

1. The instant someone falls overboard, yell "Man overboard!" to alert crew to the emergency, and establish an unceasing visual on the victim. If you have enough crew, assign this job to one person and let nothing interfere with that person keeping the victim in sight and pointing at the victim from that first moment on.

2. If you're unsure of where the person is or if there is a chance the props could endanger him, stop the boat and ensure that the props don't injure the victim now or later.

3. Activate your GPS MOB button if you have one.

4. Throw MOB gear, life jackets, flotation cushions anything that will help the victim float and help you keep track of him, but not so much as to confuse a search.

5. Return to and attempt to retrieve the victim. Several alternative methods are illustrated on these pages and discussed in the next section.

6. If the situation is life-threatening, call mayday three times on VHF 16. Then say, "Man overboard," and give your location, boat description, and the description of the victim. Do this three times in succession. Don't hesitate to issue a mayday you can always cancel it if you get the person back aboard safely.

Sea and wind state: When you get closer to the victim, determine how much and how fast the wind and sea are pushing your boat, which is having the most effect, and how fast you're drifting. If the sea is rough, it may be dangerous to come alongside the victim, especially if he's exhausted or injured. Go slowly. If he does not have flotation, try to toss him a flotation and/or retrieval device as you approach.

Water temperature: Sudden cold-water immersion can cause involuntary gasp reflex or cardiac arrest. Often a surprised MOB victim will instinctively gasp and suck in a large volume of water, which could lead to drowning. Also, a victim's loss of body heat may weaken and disorient him, limiting his ability to swim or help in his rescue. The victim should try to maintain core body heat for as long as possible by keeping his arms down and crossed, and knees bent up to his chest, if possible. Wearing a life jacket helps the victim's odds significantly.

Physical condition of victim: Excess weight, poor swimming ability, panic, lack of arm strength, injury, hypothermia, and other factors make retrieval extremely challenging. The person in the boat may need special equipment or assistance to get the victim aboard.

Skill, size, and ability of person(s) aboard: One person aboard a high-freeboard boat may find it almost impossible to get a victim aboard, particularly if either person isn't in good physical condition, or if the larger and/or more skilled person is in the water. Think about an alternative, such as a Lifesling, or another system that could work on your particular boat.Visibility:

Take a look around. If visibility is poor, slow down and make sure you know where the victim is. If an approaching fog bank or squall could reduce visibility soon, get back to the victim before you lose sight of him.

Other boats: If you're in a rough inlet with many boats racing past, position your boat to protect the victim and begin visual warning signaling. In some cases, it may be prudent to wait for help before you begin retrieval. One example would be if you were alone on board and another boat nearby with strong experienced swimmers and retrieval gear responded to your distress call and was on their way to the scene.

Sobering MOB Facts

Our BoatUS Foundation has created a snapshot of boating fatalities that occurred between 2003 and 2007, a five-year span that gives good insight on MOB accidents and how they happen, so that we can work to help lower those numbers. In that timeframe, 749 of the 3,133 total U.S. boating fatalities were MOB:

• 24% were characterized as "falls overboard."
• 24% died at night, and 76% died during the day.
• 82% were on a boat under 22 feet in length.
• 63% didn't know how to swim.
• Only 8% of the non-swimmers were wearing a life jacket.
• 90% of accidents occurred when water conditions were calm or had less than 1-foot chop.
• Just 4% of the boats had two engines.
• 85% of fatalities were men.
• Average age was 47.
• During the day, alcohol played a part in 27% of the deaths.
• At night, alcohol played a part in 50% of the deaths.
• Falling overboard while fishing accounted for 41% of the deaths.

— Chris Edmonston

Practice, Practice, Practice

If you want to save an MOB victim, the time to start is now. Begin planning and practicing what you'd need to do in your circumstances in your boat. This helps generate intuitive, appropriate reactions.

Practice MOB techniques by throwing a fender with a bucket attached into the water. Return to it, approach it, and get it aboard while being extremely careful that you keep the props away from the "victim."

The best equipment may be useless unless you know how to deploy it without thinking. For example, if you have a Lifesling with tackle, on a calm day, near shore, practice putting a person in the water, rig it, and use it. Also, practice with the "victim" pretending helplessness. The "victim" should be wearing a life jacket.

Practicing may teach you that the best you can do is to stabilize the victim safely alongside and call the Coast Guard for help on the VHF. Unless you're in really cold water, it usually takes a relatively long time to become unconscious due to hypothermia. The key is to keep the victim from drowning, getting injured, or becoming disconnected from the mother ship.

As you practice, think through contingency plans for each of the three steps necessary to retrieve a person who has gone over the side: Return to the victim, approach the victim, and get the victim aboard.

Return to the victim: If a person goes over the side while the boat is underway, it's normally best to turn toward the side he went over, in order to swing the stern and props away from the victim.

Three Alternatives For Returning To A Victim

You should know instantly when someone goes over if you're in a smaller center console. But in a larger boat, more time may pass before you notice. To find the victim, you will need to calculate and steer a reciprocal course back to the location. The illustrations above show several methods for returning to a victim. For more information, refer to the Coast Guard Boat Crew Seamanship Manual.

If you need to rely on the MOB feature on your GPS to find the victim, learn where that button is, now, so you can push it while doing everything else needed at the same time. Be sure you will understand, even under duress, what the GPS is telling you.

Approach the victim: Two effective alternatives for approaching the victim are illustrated above. Decide on the best approach based on factors including but not limited to sea state, current, whether other boats are approaching, your boat's characteristics, and your crew's capabilities. Have those responsible for pulling the victim aboard (hopefully more than just you) in position and ready.

In most situations, it is safest to approach the victim with your bow facing into the wind and waves. If possible, throw him a line when you get close enough. Then turn off the engine(s), pull the victim in to the boat, and bring him to the ladder-hoisting area. This will minimize the chance of striking the victim with the propeller.

On a smaller boat without a lot of windage, it may be safer to come to a controlled stop upwind of the MOB and drift down on him, with crew ready to reach over and grab him. This may prove challenging on a boat with a lot of windage and high freeboard, but relatively easy on a center console. In some circumstances, it may be better to approach downwind but circle closely and come into the wind next to the victim.

While it is usually safest to approach the MOB with the wind and waves over the bow, this may not be possible in a narrow channel, in large waves, near obstructions, or in other circumstances where maneuverability is limited. To prepare for these situations, practice approaching the victim with the wind and sea behind you, very slowly. Maintain control of the boat to avoid floating over the victim.

Lifesling, Towline, Or Ski-Rope Retrieval

If you have a Lifesling or other retrieving line, slowly circle the victim, towing the line behind the boat until it comes within the victim's reach (see illustration above). Then stop the boat and pull the victim in.

Get the victim aboard: The very best way to get a victim back aboard is with a strong, well-built ladder. If you don't have a ladder or a Lifesling with tackle, a recovery line looped under the victim's arms (see illustration) may enable one or more people to pull him up over a relatively high freeboard.

When trying to retrieve a victim and bring him back aboard into a center console with low freeboard, it may help to position the victim facing the boat with both arms reaching upward. If the person aboard has the necessary strength, he should reach down and grasp the victim's wrists; the victim should grab the rescuer's wrists; and the rescuer should lift the victim straight out of the water. If you have a net or tarp, you may be able to secure one side to your gunwale, carefully work the net/tarp under the victim, then hold him in place until more help comes.

MOB testing has proven that if the victim is helpless and unable to assist, it will be very difficult to get him back into the boat. If you have a strong swimmer aboard, conditions are appropriate, and it's safe to do so, consider having that person (wearing a life jacket) go in and help the victim get to and climb up a strong ladder. But remember that you now have two people in the water, and, potentially, two victims at risk. Calling mayday, keeping the victim next to the boat, and waiting for assistance may be a more prudent course of action.

Brother, Save Thyself

Approximately half of the 749 MOB fatalities reported in our "MOB Facts" sidebar occurred on boats with only one person aboard; in 190 fatalities (about 25 percent), only two people were aboard. This means that, many times, victims fall overboard from smaller boats – many while fishing alone or with one friend; they can't get back aboard their boats, and drown.

So, for small-boat operators, think about how to set up your boat so that you can effectively get back aboard yourself:

• Use an engine cut-off switch, especially if you're operating the boat alone.
• Make sure there's a sturdy boarding ladder either permanently attached to the boat, or where it can be reached from over the side.
• It can pay to simply secure a line to the boat, tie a loop in the end (large enough for your foot), and hang it over the side so you can reach it from the water. With the engine off, practice climbing aboard using the loop.
• On some boats, it may be possible to get back aboard using the back of your motor as a step. (Turn off the motor and remove the key before experimenting.)
• Wear a life jacket.

— C.E.

Crew Briefing

Each time you go out, make an MOB briefing part of your departure routine. Show people where life jackets are stowed. Better yet, encourage your crew to wear them. Most drownings occur quickly. If your crew are wearing life jackets when they go in the water, they'll stay alive longer and you will have a much better chance to save them.

Stress the necessity that someone keep an eye on an MOB victim at all times, point out throwing devices and recovery gear, show how they work, and explain challenges such as plunging stern platforms and rolling hard chines. Show crew where the radio is and how to broadcast a mayday. Also, before you set out with your crew for the day, identify a second-in-command (the person with the most skill other than you) who can take control in case you're the victim. The enemy of a successful rescue is confusion. There should be less of it if the skipper has set the stage.

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Handling Emergencies: Man Overboard

By: Zeke Quezada, ASA Safety

Every man or woman overboard situation should be treated as a very serious matter, even in seemingly balmy conditions. In cold waters or cold weather, in restricted visibility or at nighttime, or in rough seas, the chances for a positive outcome diminish. Any delay in recovering the person in the water stacks the odds against his chances of survival. the best advice is to do all you can to prevent anyone from ever going overboard, but be prepared to handle the situation if it does occur.

Focus on Recovery  

If somebody does go overboard, the entire crew must focus on one goal: getting him back in the boat. To do that, you have to do four things as fast as possible but without causing further risk to the boat and the rest of the crew. 

• Keep the person overboard in sight. 
• Throw him a life ring or some other type of buoyant device.
• Get the crew prepared for the recovery, return on a close reach, and stop the boat to windward of him and close enough to retrieve him.
• Bring him back on board. 

Sailors have developed several techniques for returning to a man overboard (MOB) and in any situation, the exact one chosen will depend on the experience and skill of the crew, the number of crew on board, the type of boat, weather conditions, and perhaps other factors. In the end, all recovery techniques are more similar than different, as they all share the four key components mentioned above.

First response: “Y, T, P, S, C”  

• Yell to alert the crew. 
• Throw a Type IV or any other buoyant device toward the MOB. 
• Point to keep the MOB in sight. 
• Set the MOB button on the GPS. 
• Call on VHF 16. 

After that, everyone’s attention (apart from the spotter, whose job it is to keep the MOB in sight) turns to the goal of getting the boat to the MOB, attaching the MOB to the boat, and bringing the MOB back aboard. 

Watching and pointing to the MOB is crucial because as soon as the boat turns to begin the recovery maneuver, the crew, busy at their stations, will lose their orientation with respect to objects outside the boat.

Method for recovery of MOB (Man Overboard)

The Figure-Eight Method  

You begin this maneuver by sailing away from the MOB. This may feel wrong, but the crew needs time to prepare the boat and recovery equipment and distance to be able to approach at the right point of sail, slowly, in control, and equipped to retrieve the MOB. While one crew prepares the line with the bowline, another can put in place some means of recovering the MOB, such as a boarding ladder.

• Bring the boat onto a beam reach and continue sailing away from the MOB. A distance of four to six boat lengths (20 to 30 seconds) should be sufficient — the distance will be shorter in lighter winds and longer in higher winds. While the boat is on a beam reach, the helmsman, guided by the spotter, glances back at the MOB two or three times while preparing the crew for the next maneuver.  
• Tack the boat and sail back on a broad reach aiming a few boat lengths downwind of the MOB. Ease the jibsheet to reduce power.  
• Sail to a point from where you can head up onto a close reach aiming just slightly to windward of the MOB. Knowing exactly when to turn onto your final approach will take practice. You need enough distance on the closereaching approach to slow the boat significantly before reaching the MOB.  
• Just as you did in your slowing drills near a buoy, sailing on a close reach, luff the mainsail to slow the boat to a crawl, but re-trim it to pick up speed if you are falling short of the MOB.  
• Come alongside the MOB at a speed of less than one knot, a very slow walking pace. Keep in mind that your ability to maneuver is limited, and once the boat stops altogether, you lose complete steering control.  
• As soon as you have gotten close to the MOB, your highest priority is to connect him to the boat with a line. Get the line with the bowline around his torso. DO NOT allow the boat to move away from the person in the water — the time expended making a second maneuver and approach could be costly.  
• Once connected to the MOB, turn the boat farther upwind to slow the boat and avoid blowing over the MOB. At this stage, the boat will be hard to control. Expect a certain amount of chaos on board and stay focused on the priority of bringing the MOB into the boat.

Placing the boat just to windward of the MOB is considered the safest approach in most conditions. It will offer him some shelter from the wind and waves and make it easier to throw him a line. If you have overshot, luff the sails and the boat will blow downwind toward the MOB. Be especially careful, though, that you don’t allow the boat to be blown on top of the MOB.

Additional MOB recovery methods are covered in Sailing Made Easy : The Official Manual For The Basic Keelboat Sailing Course.  These tips are directly from the text of the ASA 101 course.

Practice, Practice, Practice 

Despite the variety of techniques for the middle stage as the boat turns back for the pick up, any MOB drill aboard a sailboat begins and ends with exactly the same steps. The methods share more similarities than differences. You will learn more options as you progress with your sailing instruction, and they are discussed in Coastal Cruising Made Easy . But reading instructions for dealing with an emergency will only get you so far. Practice, with the entire crew, is crucial. Remember, the sooner you get back to your MOB, at a very slow speed and with the crew prepared for the retrieval, the better.

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Man Overboard (MOB) Drill

Survival suits on! The crew of the Erla-N takes us along on their man overboard drill! Watch as they practice signaling, marking the location, turning the vessel, preparing a rescue swimmer, deploying a sling, and using the boat’s hydraulic system to lift the MOB and rescue swimmer. Brrrr!

Watch: Erla-N 2021 Man Overboard Drill

What is a Man Overboard Drill?

Man overboard (MOB) drills are a critical element of vessel safety and are designed to prepare the crew to jump into action quickly in the event of a crew member falling overboard. The drills ensure that everyone on deck knows best practices and has rehearsed their assigned role. In the icy waters of the Bering Sea, every second counts and preparedness saves critical seconds and minutes in the rescue effort.

What are the Typical Steps in a Man Overboard Drill?

• Wear personal flotation devices : wearing PFDs dramatically reduces deaths associated with falls into cold water.
• Sound the alarm (signaling) : the crew yells “Man overboard!!” to alert the captain, crew, and nearby vessels that there is a man overboard (MOB).
• Communicate position of MOB: post a lookout to continually point at the victim, track their location, and keep visual contact with the MOB throughout the recovery effort.
• Mark the MOB location and deploy flotation devices : throw in buoys and life rings and input the spot into GPS as well.
• Turn the vessel : return to the location where the crewman went into the water.
• Prepare a rescue swimmer: help the rescue crewmen get into an immersion suit with a detachable tether.
• Carefully approach the MOB : continue to maintain visual contract, keeping the boat at a safe distance depending on conditions.
• Deploy a rescue device : throw a life ring, lower a sling, ladder, or other boarding devices to help the MOB get back over the rail.
• Use a hauler: use a hydraulic hauler to help lift the MOB out of the water.
• Get help: If necessary, alert the Coast Guard to assist with the rescue or to provide medical attention to the victim.

What should You Do to Survive a Fall into Cold Water?

To help better understand the effects of cold-water immersion on the body, Dr. Giesbriecht (also known as “Dr. Popsicle”), developed the 1-10-1 principle .

• 1 Minute to get your breathing under control
• 10 Minutes of meaningful movement
• 1 hour before you become unconscious due to hypothermia

Due to the cold shock response, the initial fall into cold water can literally take your breath away. To survive these first few minutes, it is critical to stay calm, avoid panic, and use the first minute in the water to control your breathing. To prevent the hyperventilation that is common with a fall into cold water, breath out through pursed lips. Over the next 10 minutes, you will begin to lose muscle control due to cold incapacitation.  It is important to use this time to plan and act before you are unable to do so. Get as much of your body out of the water as possible and keep your head above water with a floatation device if available. It generally will take about an hour before you become unconscious due to hypothermia.

What is an Immersion Suit?

The youngest member of the F/V Erla-N demonstrates how to don an immersion suit quickly: Immersion Suit Drill

Sometimes called a survival suit, an immersion suit is a waterproof dry suit that offers protection for commercial fisherman in the case of assisting in a rescue or needing to abandon their vessel while at sea. Donned in the case of an emergency, the suits typically includes an inflatable pillow that helps to keep the wearer’s head above water as well as other features that improve survival and rescue odds.

Why are Personal Flotation Devices (PFD) So Important?

Being able to stay afloat is critical to being able to survive a fall overboard. This is particularly true in cold water conditions where cold incapacitation (the loss of the ability to coordinate the movements needed to swim) generally leads to death before hypothermia. Wearing a life jacket or other personal flotation device allows the victim to stay afloat long after cold incapacitation has set in. This additional time is often the critical factor in rescue.

Man Overboard Drill and Cold Water Safety Resources:

• Video: “Man Overboard Prevention and Recovery”
• The CDC has prepared an excellent overview on preventing and reacting to falls overboard: Commercial Fishing Safety: Falls Overboard
• Cold Water Safety in Alaska
• Video: 1-10-1 Cold Water Principle
• US Army Tips for Surviving a Fall into Cold Water

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Home  News  Man Overboard Recovery Procedure

Man Overboard Recovery Procedure

Written by Peter Isler, with additional contributions by Chuck Hawley and Michael Jacobs

“Man Overboard” is probably the third most famous nautical hail, after “Land Ho” and “Thar She Blows,” but it is by far the most serious and potentially life threatening of the three.

Man Overboard Rescue Procedure

Although we should keep in mind that every situation is different, man overboard procedures are often broken down into the following areas:

• Initial Reaction on Board
• Safety Turning the Boat Around and Returning to the ‘Person in the Water’ (PIW) (though I prefer the term “swimmer”)
• Approaching and Rescuing the PIW

1. Initial Reaction on Board

The first priority is to provide the victim with additional flotation to increase his or her odds of surviving until the boat returns. Be sure to also “litter the water” with any other floating paraphernalia that will increase visibility of the location, making it easier to find the PIW. From the simple speed, time, and distance equation, we know that time is critical when it comes to deploying any sort of safety or flotation gear if we want to be within dog paddling distance. This requires proper preparation and training so that the right equipment is easily available and deployable by any/every member of the crew.

Concurrently, the entire crew must be notified with that bone-chilling hail so the wheels of recovery can begin turning. Meanwhile, the person who first sees the PIW in the water must maintain a laser-like focus on his or her location in the water and continually point out that position to the helmsperson. It’s the luck of the draw when it comes to the roles being played on board. Although your crew should have default “emergency” positions, a man overboard will alter this because at least one crew is gone from the boat, while another is doing his or her best Superman impersonation to see through the waves and keep the PIW in sight. Short-handed crews have an even bigger challenge in a man overboard situation with perhaps half the crew missing.

Other high priority steps include:

• Save a GPS location to facilitate returning to the scene. If your victim is wearing and has activated an AIS-based personal locator beacon, he or she will be easier to find. Before a man overboard emergency occurs, make sure every member of the crew knows how to operate the hardware (GPS/computer) to navigate back to the AIS beacon and the GPS’ man overboard waypoint. Ideally, one of the items your crew “litters” into the water will be a floating AIS locator with a sea anchor.
• Call for help. Any man overboard situation is life threatening, so there is cause for issuing a “Mayday,” or at the very least, “Pan Pan” on the VHF to get nearby boats to your team. The importance of this step must be weighed with the actual situation (e.g., it’s blowing 3 knots and you are at anchor in the Virgin Island with the swim ladder set over the side) and how much it will impact/slow down the crew’s ability to turn the boat around as soon as possible.
• Position the crew to turn the boat around. Ideally, this will follow the procedures that you have determined are ideal for your boat in the current conditions and that you have practiced with your crew.
• Immediately turn the boat into the wind, if appropriate for your boat and conditions, then tack, and stop/slow the boat. This is the first stage of the “Quick Stop” method that revolutionized sailing’s “science” of man overboard a few decades ago. The logic was indisputable: the closer you keep the boat to the victim, the better the odds of a swift and successful recovery. Today, the Quick Stop remains a valuable rescue option for most boats, but like so many of the possible return and recovery techniques, it has its time and place. It may be exactly the right approach for our 40-foot displacement sloop on the way to the South Pacific, but may not work on a boat with different handling characteristics. For example, a 60-foot racing sloop blasting downwind under spinnaker, a rapid round up could cause significant damage that inhibits the boat’s capability to return to the victim. It also risks throwing more crew overboard in the process. Once again, as in any safety-related emergency, its is important to be flexible. Well before any possible MOB, accurately assess the best way to rescue a PIW overboard as swiftly and safely as possible. Seamanship, experience, sound judgement, and thorough training all increase your odds of success.

Every step of the recovery benefits from practice, but this first “reaction” stage is perhaps the most crucial. A real emergency is not the time to figure out where the “launch” button is on the man overboard gear, or how to best organize the remaining crew to safely turn the boat around. Practice safety drills as a team before you need to act.

2. Safely Turning the Boat Around and Returning to the PIW

The Quick Stop method highlights the ultimate goal of man overboard recovery: stay as near to the swimmer as possible. But you have to do this maneuver safely so that you can successfully complete the rescue. Every situation is different depending on the boat, which sails are set, the crew size and experience, and the conditions.

Recently, I attended a US Sailing Safety at Sea Course at the US Naval Academy and watched the midshipsmen demonstrate some of the overboard recovery variations aboard the Academy’s 44-foot sloops. Conditions were ideal: the water was smooth, the winds were light, and the victim was a Navy diver in full wet suit. But it was still impressive watching the crews perform their rescue swift fashion. Clearly, they had practiced and their demonstration went according to plan. Even as I mentally critiqued the well-rehearsed and simplified presentation, I had to admit, these sailors were pretty darn good – especially the 110-pound female midshipsman who singlehandedly steered her 44-foot sloop back to the diver, secured the sails, stopped the boat, and hauled him back on deck with the aid of a block and tackle system and a Lifesling harness. I’d want her aboard my boat if I fell over. Sure, the degree of difficulty increases exponentially when you throw in heaving ocean swells, strong winds, and the element of surprise, but I’d rather go overboard on a boat where the crew had done a ton of recovery training – even if it was only in smooth water and light air.

The bottom line of turning the boat around is that it must be done as swiftly as practical (time is the enemy of the PIW) and must be done safely so that the crew can efficiently shift into rescue mode. There will be some trade-offs involved, e.g., making an out of control Quick Stop vs. a controlled dousing of the big sails – and the driver/skipper must make these critical decisions. What sails (if any) should be left flying? Should the engine be employed? And if so, are all the lines clear and out of the water so they don’t foul the prop? When can we safely tack the boat? Are the conditions safe for us to jibe the boat? A strong and well-honed chain of command can help in these critical decisions, but remember the “x-factor” of a man overboard situation: the skipper could be the swimmer!

3. Approaching and Recovering the PIW

The priorities in this stage of the procedure are:

• Find the PIW. This can be extremely difficult and time consuming – and time is not the friend of the victim. If it is daylight and the conditions are mild; if the victim is healthy, wearing a life jacket, blowing a whistle, wearing or floating near an AIS-transmitting locator, flashing a light, and has made contact with the boat’s man overboard gear; and if the boat has a good man overboard position to navigate back to – then the odds are pretty good that you will find him or her, even if it takes a few minutes to get the boat safely turned around. But that’s a lot of “ifs” and this highlights why having the boat and crew prepared for a man overboard incident is so important. Locating the PIW can be extremely difficult. So, that call you made on the VHF to rally immediate support from nearby boats can be a life-saving step in certain situations.
• Approach carefully and at a controllable speed. The close reach is by far and away the safest point of sail to make the approach because of the ease at which speed can be increased or decreased without making course changes. Try picking up a mooring on any other point of sail and you will soon agree.
• Make contact with the PIW. This doesn’t mean smashing the victim with your hull or chopping him or her up with your propeller. It means making a connection, most likely by rope and possibly by a Lifesling or other lifting/flotation device.
• Retrieve the PIW and get him or her safely on board. There are a number of potential methods that vary in their efficacy depending on the boat, conditions, crew size and strength, condition of the PIW, and equipment available.
• Apply appropriate care for possible near drowning, hypothermia, or any other injuries.

At this point in your study of man overboard procedure, I highly recommend a mental reality check. I’ve written and edited a number of books and articles describing the various “classic” recovery patterns and methods, including the aforementioned. Quick Stop and the venerable “figure eight” pattern. It all seems so doable on paper.

But let’s put ourselves in the shoes of a full crew on one of the US Naval Academy’s 44-foot sloops, sailing in 35-knot winds and hail during a thunderstorm. You must quickly revert to good seamanship, simple and basic sailing tactics – no jibes in 35 knots! And you will have your hands full even getting close to the victim as the keel loses grip and the boat blows sideways to low speed. There’s no way you can heave a line any distance upwind, but it’s so rough that you don’t want to approach within a quarter of a boat length to windward of the PIW for fear of smashing him or her to bits as the bow bucks in the waves. Again, this is where practice, good seamanship, and sailing experience are essential to stand any chance of recovering the PIW.

In extreme conditions or when shorthanded, the “waterski tow rope” method of making contact with the victim is invaluable. A few decades ago, the Sailing Foundation of Seattle developed the Lifesling device and its unique method of PIW recovery. Although the hardware has been refined over the years, it remains an icon in man overboard training with a long history of success, especially assisting small people in rescuing large people on boats of all sizes and types. The Lifesling employs the same method the driver of a water ski boat uses to return the tow rope to a fallen skier for another try. It involves circling safely and slowly around the PIW until they grab the floating tow rope and work their way to the floating harness that can double as a lifting sling – pretty nifty.

But if the PIW is injured or if it’s too windy to jibe (a sailboat can’t circle without doing a jibe), you will have to adjust your tactics. You may even break another “rule” of man overboard and send a second crew member into the water (firmly tethered to the boat) to help the victim. (Editor’s note: Not recommended unless the victim has serious injuries or is a child.)

Do I sound like a broken record yet? It’s all too easy to discuss man overboard theory and practice in a vacuum, extolling the virtues of a certain piece of equipment and/or sailing technique. But every situation is unique. In all likelihood, the crew will not be able to follow a perfect, cookie cutter method. They will be forced to adapt and make important decisions very quickly under pressure. This is where training, practice, good seamanship, and boat sense all play a crucial role.

In summary, read books and take courses. Go to the chandlery and look at the latest equipment. Get your crew together and practice, practice, practice. Then cross your fingers you’ll never have to learn whether you have the right stuff to save a life because everybody on the crew remembers that lesson their mother taught them: always stay with the boat!

This resource is provided by the US Sailing Safety at Sea Committee. Read the entire chapter on Weather Forecasting and Waves .

Learn more about US Sailing Safety at Sea Seminars in your area.

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Man-Overboard Retrieval Techniques

What is the best mob rescue tactic for your boat and crew.

The term Man Overboard (MOB) has been caught in the tide of political correctness, and terminology like Crew Overboard (COB) and Person in the Water (PIW), the U.S. Coast Guards latest designator, have changed safety semantics. Regardless of the phraseology, it remains a cry that every sailor hopes to never hear.

Practical Sailor has looked at this important topic on several occasions over the past few years. There was a comprehensive two-part report on gear and tactics in November 2005 and January 2006. In May 2006 and April 2007 we looked at throwable rescue devices. And in May 2008, Practical Sailor Technical Editor and marine safety expert Ralph Naranjo compared a variety of electronic man-overboard becons and alarms.

Photos by Ralph Naranjo

This update focuses on a key element to a safe recovery: seamanship. Our findings-some of which contradict or amend current thought on the subject-are based on analysis of a series of on-the-water drills on Chesapeake Bay. The drills were carried out earlier this year under the direction U.S. Naval Academy Sailing Master Dan Rugg and with the participation of the Philadelphia Sailing Club. Naranjo was invited to observe.

By taking a close look at how the crews from the Philadelphia Sailing Club members (aboard a J/37, representing mainstream racer/cruisers) and midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy (aboard the McCurdy performance-oriented offshore sailors) react to overboard situations, Practical Sailor hoped to develop some valuable insight into what works most effectively in any given condition and how to optimize a crews chances for success.

Anatomy of a Recovery

The wide range of variables that can come into play cannot be overstated. It is clear that factors ranging from crew skill and size to the vessels behavior under different sea states affect the challenges involved in a rescue and define the right maneuver to use. However, some common denominators stand out.

First and foremost, the success of any man-overboard drill will depend on a clear chain of command. This may sound militaristic, but in a crisis, the most capable person needs to be making the calls. Naturally, the person at the helm at the time of the incident must be able to carry out the initial steps in the maneuver, at least until the skipper or watch captain decides whether to step in. Regardless of who is at the helm, command resides in one person, and its their job to clearly direct the rescue process.

Providing a victim with flotation is part of the first phase of every overboard response, even if the victim is wearing a life jacket. The additional floating cushions and other throwable rescue gear can also make the victim easier to spot. Marking the location with an MOB pole, light and drogue-equipped horseshoe, or a man overboard module-type device (MOM) is also an imperative part of the early response.

This is one point where Practical Sailor s view diverges from some other accepted guidance. U.S. Sailing, the governing body of sailboat racing in the U.S., advises that such poles and spars be reserved for later deployment. In Appendix D of the ISAF Special Regulations that govern offshore racing, U.S. Sailing prescribes: “The pole (strobe and dan buoy) is saved to put on top of the victim in case the initial maneuver is unsuccessful.” This blind assumption that the first maneuver will bring the crew closer to the victim is a leap of faith thats unwarranted and dangerous, in our view. In numerous incidents, the initial sighting of the victim being left astern was the last sighting.

Man Overboard Modules

Our two-part series in 2005-2006 delved into the pros and cons of the MOM 9 (man-overboard module), a popular, self-contained, inflatable pole and flotation device that can be deployed to a person in the water. One advantage is the ease with which it can be released. However, during independent testing in 2005, a unit repacked by an approved vendor opened with its lines snarled around the vertical spar, causing it to kink in half. The ease and speed with which a MOM can be deployed outweighs the snarl issue, and it is a viable option, especially for shorthanded crews. Deploying a MOM or similar pole/strobe/flotation combo should be a part of any overboard routine. Since it is expensive to rearm and repack the MOM 9, mock deployment can be simulated with a faux pull-handle taped to the top of the MOM.

The Right Stuff

Each crew member should be able to execute a recovery maneuver. Naturally, it makes most sense to have the best helmsperson on tiller, the person with Chuck Yeagers 20/10 vision acting as spotter, and the agile ex-lifeguard ready to help the victim, in or out of the water. But the situation seldom sets up so conveniently, so role-playing must remain fluid. For example, the person closest to the overboard gear should launch it, the person nearest the GPS hits the MOB button and shouts that the position has been recorded. Scribbling a lat/lon position in the log or on the margin of a chart is also good practice.

Perhaps the most important task of all in a man-overboard recovery is the job of continually spotting the person in the water. If there are enough hands on board, the designated “spotter” should concentrate only on this task. In this high-tech age, spotting can be assisted by night-vision equipment or image-stabilized binoculars. An infrared-reading thermal imaging system can also help in locating a warm spot on a cooler sea surface, although these are extremely expensive. (FLIR, the company whose fixed thermal imaging camera we reviewed in June 2008 recently unveiled a portable unit for $3,000.) These aids can be used alone or in conjunction with one of the signal-beaming pendants like the Mobi-Lert (www.mobilarm.com) that Practical Sailor reviewed in May 2008. New 406MHz personal locator beacons (PLBs) are also a promising technology. Ultimately, the best fix of a person in the water remains a visual one, and the crew that stays closer to the victim has a much better chance of completing a successful recovery.

Recovery Maneuvers

At this point, all on board are up to speed on whats happened and the helmsperson has begun the recovery maneuver. The crew has been assigned key roles, and each member knows what must be done. The ultimate goal of all under-sail recoveries is a well-aligned close reach that brings the boat back to the victim just as the boat speed drops to zero. Racers have an advantage: the more trained hands working together, the better the chances of success. Cruisers face a serious handicap: too many tasks and too few hands. Success of the shorthanded crew will rely greatly on the speed and coordination of the response, as well as close familiarity with the various rescue maneuvers. Another key component is the type of recovery gear onboard. Illustrations and capsule summaries of the most common rescue maneuvers appear on the facing page, but the following observations that emerged from the Chesapeake Bay exercises should also be taken into consideration.

For the shorthanded sailer, the challenge lies in steering the vessel while keeping the victim in sight, and at the same time coping with the sails, recording the MOBs position, and other steps in the routine. In such cases, the Lifesling can be a valuable aid, helping to streamline the recovery process. Profiled in our 2005-2006 report, this horseshoe-shaped flotation device can be deployed early in the maneuver. Unlike the life ring, spar, or dan buoy deployed immediately, it stays connected to the boat by a safety line.

The Lifesling-assisted rescue allows for less-precise boathandling. It can be used in tack-only type maneuvers (Figure 8, Fast Return, Deep Beam Reach) or in those that incorporate a jibe (Quick Stop), with one important proviso: Although the Lifesling2 instructions say “circle the victim until contact is made,” this is misleading. As any waterskier knows, a circular pattern is not an effective way to get the line into the hands of the skier. To bring the rescue line attached to the Lifesling into the hands of the victim, a button-hook approach is much preferred. During testing, the optimum Lifesling delivery always included passing closely by the victim prior to a sharp turn on the final approach. A wide turn that leaves the victim in the center of circle-as many published illustrations suggest-sharply reduces the chance of success.

The Lifeslings floating poly line should not be coiled into its bag. Beginning at the point furthest from the float, the line should be shoved to the bottom of the container. If a snarl occurs during deployment, it usually can be coaxed out with a couple of tugs. If a tack-to-recover type maneuver is used, the Lifesling is not deployed until the tack has been completed and the return to the victim begun.

If the Lifesling is deployed using a modified Quick Stop (Figure 1, page 8), theres a jibe involved and reducing speed becomes imperative. Center the mainsail early, and as the boat bears off, furl or drop the jib. Reducing sail area is key, because once the victim slips on the horseshoe float, dragging them through the water can be fatal. If the jib has already been furled or dropped, turning the boat to windward and dropping the mainsail halyard will stop the boat in its tracks. Once the boat is stopped, the victim can be hauled or winched in, and a ladder, swim step, parbuckle, or halyard can be used to bring them back aboard.

The fully-crewed race boat faces a very different challenge. Theres an ample number of able crew available, but the boat will likely need to be quickly slowed down prior to any rescue maneuver. This is especially true of a modern lightweight racer that simply can’t shift from a planing reach to a Quick Stop turn in a boat length. Consequently, the first part of their recovery maneuver is a counter-intuitive sprint away from the victim. Because of this inevitable and distressing separation, the appeal of locator beacons and direction-finding equipment has gained ground among racers, as has harness and jackline use.

Power Assist

No extra points are given for rescuing a victim under sail. Its true that a spinning propeller is dangerous, but far more lethal is the boat that never gets back to the person in the water. Starting the engine, keeping it in neutral, and after checking for lines in the water, using it as needed to help control the final approach is prudent seamanship. In some shorthanded scenarios, a Lifesling rescue under power may prove to be the best option available. Naturally, the engine needs to be in neutral as the final approach to the victim is made, and as soon as contact is made, the engine should be shut off.

The Final Approach

All too often, in the rush to quickly return to the victim, the boat sails right by the person in the water at 3 knots or more, making rescue both dangerous and unlikely. The helmsperson and sailhandlers work in conjunction to slow down during the final close reach approach to the victim, arriving with about a half-knot of boat speed. On the ocean, the pitching moment can kill forward motion too soon. Conversely, in flat water, the helmsperson must start slowing down much sooner. This is why practice should take place in all conditions in which the vessel will sail. Ideally, a sailboat completes a rescue maneuver by nudging alongside the person in the water, a line secures the contact, and he or she scurries aboard on a swim step or ladder. More often, however, a rescue quoit, life ring, or boat hook is needed to make contact. A thrown Lifesling or life ring can cover short distances, but if neither is available or the distance is greater, a rescue quoit like the Marsars 2-in-1 (reviewed in May 2006), can be put into action. Weighted at the end with a floating ball, a rescue quoit is preferred over a one-shot throw rope for this purpose because it can be more easily re-deployed. Regardless of what device you use to make contact, all crewmembers should practice its use.

Civilian Sailors and Midshipmen

Training makes a big difference, and after observing both the USNA midshipmen and members of the Philadelphia Sailing Club execute crew-recovery maneuvers, some important observations can be made.

Both groups quickly learned to cover the requisite aspects (shout, throw, steer, fix) of the recovery drill. The biggest common problem was simultaneously keeping track of vessel movement, true wind direction, and the person in the water. Many misjudged the true wind, and attempted to return to the victim on a deep reach, making slowing down impossible. It was interesting to note how quickly some of the sailing club members adjusted to the J/37s responsive helm. Its ability to turn on a dime surprised sailors accustomed to more traditional sailboats. The bottom line: It takes a familiarity with close-quarters boathandling to place the boat where it belongs in MOB maneuvers.

Another important variable noted was leadership. The best helmsmen displayed both an ability to effectively steer and lead, informing the crew what would happen next, and who should have a lead role in each aspect of the recovery.

One of the key issues stressed by USNAs Rugg was that the practice conditions were optimum, in broad daylight, flat seas, and fair weather. He also noted that because the participants knew the exercise was a drill, they didnt experience the usual shock and stress. He emphasized that only through periodic training with a regular crew can you be fully prepared for an actual event.

The Philadelphia Sailing Club members found that the Quick Stop maneuver-while suited to youthful midshipmen at the Naval Academy and appropriate for many “round-the-buoys” sailors-is not always the best bet for everyone. On one hand, it keeps the crew closer to the person in the water. But it requires an abrupt stop, a jibe, and can be complicated by double-digit speeds, spinnakers and running rigging like backstays and preventers. Shorthanded mom-and-pop crews are certainly better off with a Lifesling. Regardless of the recovery process chosen, its vital that all crew members are on the same page and have spent time training together with a specific maneuver.

Conclusions

We went into this project hoping to find a recovery procedure that could be given a “one size fits all” nod of approval. U.S. Sailing favors the Quick Stop. For their constituency, sailors aboard fully-crewed, highly maneuverable race boats, it makes a lot of sense. But even the pro racer sees problems when their boat speed approaches that of a planing Boston Whaler. Under such conditions the prospect of an abrupt turn into the wind spells big trouble.

The mom-and-pop crew cringe at the thought of the quick tack and impending jibe just when their crew number has been reduced by half. Add to this the challenge of coming alongside and nimbly getting hold of your partner before the bow falls off, and the prospect of being lost at sea turns into the potential of being drowned by the boat. In short, the Quick Stop has its merits, but it does not rise to the “one size fits all” rescue technique. Thats why U.S. Sailings Training Committee includes Reach-Tack-Return (Figure 8) maneuvers and under-power Lifesling approaches in their textbooks.

The Figure 8 and its tack-to-return cousins eliminate the jibe and are easier to accomplish, especially in heavier winds, but there are several inherent pitfalls. The most significant is the initial necessity to sail away from the victim. Its tough enough to minimize this dangerous separation in optimal conditions. However, in 20-knot winds at 0300, keeping the separation distance to just a few boat lengths is impossible. A two-minute spinnaker takedown can leave a victim a quarter-mile away.

Each iteration refers to sailing off just a couple of boat lengths, but in real life, a windy, dark, storm-tossed night at sea can tally up more boat lengths of separation than desired. Losing sight of the person in the water is a big deal and the helmsperson must be ready to execute the tack in a timely fashion.

A key moment during the “tack-only” maneuvers occurs when the vessel is head-to-wind, midway through the tack, and the victims location is noted. At this point, the helmsperson can carefully note the true wind. The most common problem in all types of recoveries is found in the final approach when a helmsperson has not maneuvered far enough downwind and must approach on a beam reach that eliminates the ability to de-power the boat.

The Fast Return and the Deep Beam Reach, with all sails up, may be fine in lighter winds and flat water, but not in heavier conditions. This is why Volvo Ocean racers and many other high-velocity ocean racing programs are looking closely at electronic beacon technology.

Vessel design plays a big role. The long keel, high directional stability of a classic cruiser means it wont spin on a dime, nor will it bleed off boat speed quickly. The deep high-aspect ratio foils of a modern race boat deliver the nimbleness needed for the final approach, and can accelerate and decelerate quickly. However, the easy-to-steer race boat may have luff-tape sails that are hard to douse and harder to keep from going over the side. The bottom line is that each boat differs and how a rescue maneuver is implemented must take underbody design and deck layout into consideration.

Ultimately, sailors need to test each of the alternatives, not just on a light-air Sunday afternoon, but at sea in varying conditions and at night. A fender lashed to a milk crate with a strobe tethered to the makeshift Oscar can play the role of a person in the water. After these sea trials, settle on the technique that best fits the handling characteristics of your boat and the skills of your crew. Let each person take a turn at different responsibilities, except of course, the “victim” who is sent below to think about what it would be like in the water. Finally, recognize that preventing an overboard incident is the only alternative that comes with a back-on-board guarantee.

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• Man Overboard

Man overboard

The exclamation ‘man overboard’ refers to a crew member or a passenger falling into the water and needing immediate rescue.

Research by the Maritime Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has shown that crews have, on average, less than 11 minutes to recover a crewmate who has fallen overboard into cold water before the victim becomes unresponsive. This time decreases as the water becomes colder, or the sea state rougher. In some cases, crew had just four or five minutes to coordinate a complex recovery under extreme pressure. Sadly more than 40% of man overboard occurrences reported to the MAIB between 2015 and 2023, tragically led to a fatality. A startling reminder of the importance of getting all your crew trained and having a well-practised plan. Read on for more information about prevention, and how to prepare for a man overboard occurrence.

Man overboard prevention

Before setting off, ensure all crew receive a thorough safety briefing. This should include, moving along the high side of the vessel, keeping one hand for yourself and one for the boat, and clipping on . When clipping on, use a tether that’s the right length and secured to a purpose made strong point or jackstay. 

If conditions deteriorate, reef early or slow down if on a power or motorboat. Consider directing crew who are less experienced or agile, to remain in safer areas such as the cockpit or cabin. 

Provide clear directions and guidance to those who may need to venture out of the cockpit for hoists, drops, anchoring, and other tasks.

Man overboard whilst attached

A safety line offers the advantage of keeping a casualty attached to a vessel. This avoids the need for a search and any potentially challenging manoeuvres to reach the man overboard. However, being attached does come with its own hazards. 

Where a casualty is attached to the boat and in the water, the priority must be to stop the boat altogether. Any movement through the water, even at very low speed, must be avoided as it risks forcing water into the casualty’s lungs.

If unable to stop the boat or remove the casualty from the water, carefully consider cutting the tether and coming back to them with the boat at a standstill.

Man overboard unattached

In this situation, time is of the essence. In water of 15 degrees Celsius or less there is a risk of cold water shock , which can result in cardiac arrest or other medical issues. 

When faced with a man overboard situation in which the casualty is unattached, the first step is raising the alarm to the crew.

Appoint a spotter to maintain visual contact with the casualty and deploy a danbuoy or life rings to mark the spot and provide buoyancy.

Press the man overboard button on the plotter to provide a last known position and issue a MAYDAY  or DSC Alert. Try to stop the boat or reduce your speed to avoid further man overboard situations.  

Prepare your recovery equipment and reassure the casualty that you will be returning to them.

Think through your approach to reach the casualty. Aim to position your vessel upwind of them, so that as you slow down the vessel is blown towards them. Always ensure the crew is properly briefed on your next steps during recovery.  

Alongside and recovery

Once alongside the casualty, it’s important to ensure that engines are left in neutral or switched off. Whether or not you switch off the engine depends on weather conditions, your vessel, or a variety of other factors. Regardless, risk to the casualty from a spinning propellor must be avoided at all costs. 

If the casualty is conscious and can assist in their recovery, throw a heaving line to help recover them. A scramble net, rescue ladder, boarding ladder, or swim platform on the stern (calm conditions only) can be useful in helping to recover a man overboard.

Depending on your vessel, you can use a halyard, block and tackle from the boom, dedicated lifting device or a davit coupled with a lifting strop. Recovery can also be aided with the inflation of a life raft or over the side of a RIB or tender. 

Unconscious casualty

Where the casualty is unconscious, the recovery becomes far more challenging. A crew member will need to secure a lifting device to the casualty’s lifejacket or harness. 

In this situation, other crew members will be at risk reaching overboard or being lowered towards the casualty to make contact. This is an extremely challenging situation for a skipper and crew, involving decisions that should not be made lightly. 

When lifting a casualty onboard, they should remain in a horizontal position to avoid the potential medical complications caused by hydrostatic squeeze. However, drowning remains the primary risk, therefore recovery onboard is the priority. 

Onboard casualty management 

Once the casualty is onboard, they need to be carefully monitored. First aid needs to be provided and for non-breathing or unconscious casualties all the appropriate steps should be taken. 

Conscious casualties or those who have recovered themselves are at risk of shock, hypothermia, secondary drowning, and injuries incurred during their fall or recovery. 

Wet clothing should be removed, and the casualty should be warmed, carefully monitored, and transported to a medical facility for review. 

Get trained

It’s important to prepare for the unexpected. If the man overboard is the skipper, is anyone else onboard properly trained to take control and manage the recovery? 

Anticipating what could go wrong and then practicing is the best form of preparation to avoid emergencies and keep you and your crew safe. 

However, if you lack the confidence to develop these skills yourself, RYA specialist training courses can equip you with the skills and knowledge to save a life. 

The RYA’s Helmsman , Competent Crew and Day Skipper courses are the perfect way to build your confidence and enhance your skills. 

For more information on staying safe on the water, visit the RYA  safety hub .

Man Overboard Recovery & Prevention

Man overboard fatalities are the second leading cause of death among commercial fishermen in the u.s. learn what to do in case of a man overboard incident., learn more....

Adapted from,  Beating the Odds: A Guide to Commercial Fishing Safety, 7th Edition , Susan Clark Jensen and Jerry Dzugan, 2014

John had been fishing for almost 20 years, when in the middle of the night, 40 miles out from Long Island, he went out on deck alone at 3:30 a.m. to open a hatch on the deck of the lobster boat. A sudden slip and he found himself falling backward down the stern of the vessel and submerged in the 72° Atlantic Ocean. After a gulp of ocean, he surfaced, sputtered, and hollered at his boat with his two sleeping workmates warm and dry in their bunks. He watched his boat on autopilot steam away from him at 8 knots on a clear moonlit night with 5 foot seas. He wasn’t wearing a life jacket. Quickly John found out that his thick rubber boots would float.

He took them off, plunged them inverted in the water to make an air pocket in each, and put them under his armpits for flotation. Almost 12 hours later, shivering uncontrollably, he was spotted and rescued by a Coast Guard rescue helicopter, glad to have survived. (Paraphrased from “A Speck in the Sea,” The New York Times, Paul Tough, Jan. 2, 2014)

There is no denying it. Fishermen do end up overboard. Between 2000 and 2014, 39 percent of all commercial fishing deaths in the United States were due to falls overboard, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). You might never face this situation, but being prepared in case it does occur could save a life, perhaps your own. Of the 210 man overboard deaths between 2000 and 2014, not one person was wearing a PFD .

Before Anything Happens

Hold man overboard drills with a crewmember in a survival suit playing the part of the person in the water. The first drill can even be held in the harbor. You will need to devise a retrieval system; hauling someone on board is difficult and can result in injuries. Some forethought will allow you to come up with an effective system. Try a sling or horse collar used with a winch and boom, a net with floats, a commercial man overboard retrieval device, or a hatch cover and winch.

Make yourself warmer and more visible in the event you do fall overboard by wearing layers of wool or polypropylene clothing, and bright-colored rain gear or a PFD. Increase your chances of being rescued at night by putting reflective tape on your PFD, rain gear, hard hats, and anything else that might fall overboard. Reflective tape is a very cheap safety supply.

Whenever you are on deck, wear a PFD with a whistle or other signaling device.

Keep “one hand for the ship and one for yourself,” during all activities. (It is not a good idea to relieve yourself at the rail.)

Keep a throwable PFD—with a working light and reflective tape—handy to toss over as a marker in case someone does go overboard.

Use a buddy system on deck after dark, especially in rough seas.

Where practical, have bulwarks or safety rails of adequate height, and provide grab rails alongside or on top of the house.

Use nonskid deck coatings, and keep decks clear of slime, oil, jellyfish, and kelp.

Use safety lines and a PFD when clearing ice.

If you fish alone, consider using a kill switch that will shut off your engine if you fall overboard. Or you may want to use a harness with a safety line that would keep you attached to the boat if you go overboard.

Consider towing a skiff or knotted, floating line with a buoy on its end to provide a close target to grab or climb onto. If you use either of these methods, you must use floating line attached high up on the vessel, and be conscious of the possibility of the line getting fouled in the prop. Some fishermen believe in and use the skiff or floating line method, while others think they present more danger than they are worth. The choice is yours.

Consider purchasing one of several man overboard alarms on the market. Some of them also will shut off your engine so you have a chance to reach your vessel if you are alone, and one alerts other vessels in the area to your location.

Cold Water Survival Stages

Although it is hard to believe, the Gulf of Mexico in winter has water temperatures similar to the Gulf of Alaska in summer! Cold water can be found in most places in the United States depending on time of year. The four phases in cold water survival are: cold shock response, cold incapacitation, hypothermia, and post-rescue collapse.

Cold shock response (first 2 minutes). On entering cold water, the person will gasp involuntarily and start uncontrolled hyperventilation. If the head is under water the person will drown. Enter the water slowly if possible and it is ideal to have thermal protection. Also there is a danger of fainting and cardiac arrest.

Cold incapacitation (2-15 minutes). Local cooling of nerves and muscle fibers causes the inability to swim, so hold on to a floating object or the edge of the water (ice or shore). Thrashing around will cause increased heat loss and may lead to exhaustion and drowning. To delay the onset of hypothermia, use the HELP position or huddle with other people. Get out of the water entirely or as much as possible. A person who is hanging onto a boat and has no PFD should stay with the boat. A person who has a PFD should swim to shore if they think they can make it within 45 minutes and rescue is not likely in the next hour.

Hypothermia (at least 30 minutes to become unconscious). If the head goes under cold water, drowning will occur in about 30 minutes to 2 hours. If the head is above water because of a personal flotation device, cooling will lead to cardiac arrest and death in 90-180 minutes.

Post-rescue collapse (also called circum-rescue collapse) can occur just before, during, or just after rescue. Symptoms range from fainting to death. It can be due to mental relaxation and decreased levels of stress hormones, or due to sudden stress on the heart because of a decrease in pressure when the person is removed from the water. Immersion victims should be removed from the water in a horizontal position to help prevent post-rescue collapse. The times mentioned in these phases may differ in a real situation, due to varying physical types, type of hypothermia protection of PFD, roughness of water, actual water temperature, and other factors.

HELP Position

When a Person Is Overboard

If You Are Overboard

Take a minute for your breathing to return to normal and focus on keeping head above water, then yell for help or blow a whistle to attract attention.

Assume the Heat Escape Lessening Posture (HELP) to improve your chance of survival in calm seas.

Keep your clothes on. They can trap air for flotation and will keep you warm. The will not pull you down.

Hold on to available floating objects that will help increase your buoyancy and make you more visible.

Stay as still as you can. (Rough seas can make this difficult.) Movement cools you off quicker because it uses energy and brings more cold water in contact with your body.

Your job is to stay afloat, conserve heat, and signal for help.

If You Are Aboard the Vessel

As soon as someone is known to be in the water, record the location electronically, and throw something overboard to mark their position. A PFD works well because it also offers the person in the water more flotation. Be sure to turn on the PFD light. The position can also be marked by buoys, a longline marker pole with a radar reflector, or throwable smoke. Radar reflectors are especially helpful in foggy conditions.

Post a lookout whose sole job is to keep the person in the water in sight, and to point at them. A lookout is critical when you consider that one-foot seas make it difficult to see a crewmember’s head bobbing in the waves. Sound the alarm. If the vessel is not equipped with two-way deck speakers, use a person as a relay/messenger to communicate position of overboard victim to helmsman. Communicate the boat's bearing to the victim by way of hands of a clock, for example, "starboard 20 yards at 4 o'clock."

Turn the vessel around so the stern swings away from the side the person is on. Before you can approach the person you must find them. If they are not in sight, retrace your path and, if it has been more than a few minutes since they were last seen, notify the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard may be able to assist in searching and will notify other vessels in your area. Search patterns depend on wind and sea conditions. If you have a plotter, use it. You may decide to approach the person from their leeward side. This does not create a lee for the person, but it may make communication easier because most people naturally float with their backs to the wind and waves. Or, you may prefer to keep them on your leeward side, but this can be dangerous in rough seas. Regardless of your approach, keep the propeller away from them. Ultimately, the approach depends on the sea conditions, your retrieval method, your vessel’s maneuverability, and the victim’s condition.

Retrieve the person. This is often the most difficult step of all. Its ease depends both on how much the person in the water is able to help and whether you have something to help get them back on board. This is where earlier practice and gear preparation pay off. Putting a crewmember in the water to help retrieve the person should be done only as a last resort, but a rescue swimmer should be readied. If attempted, the in-water rescuer must be in a PFD, or an immersion suit in cold water, and attached to the vessel by a lifeline. Otherwise you might have two crew to rescue.

Gently treat the person for drowning, hypothermia, and other injuries as needed. See the First Aid chapter for details.

If the person is not immediately located, notify the Coast Guard and other vessels in the vicinity, and continue searching until released by the Coast Guard.

Do all you can to keep yourself on board. It’s much easier to take precautions than to get rescued when you fall overboard. Develop procedures that the crew should use on deck to prevent falls overboard and enforce them. It is very important that you develop the equipment to retrieve someone back on board before the event occurs. Rig up your own sling or purchase commercial devices such as Lifesling™, MARSARS™, Jason’s Cradle™, Lifenet™, or other retrieval system. Also available are man overboard alarms, which can signal crew and even shut off engines and autopilots.

It is a tragic irony that many lives are lost when the victim is right next to the boat but cannot be brought aboard.

Retrieving the "Victim" in a Man Overboard Drill

Steps to Take to Prevent a Man Overboard from Occurring

Use nonskid decks.

Clean decks of fish slime as soon as possible.

Keep decks free of bights in line.

Keep decks free of ice and lubricants like hydraulic oil.

Warn crew of hazards like low overheads and open hatches and to not stand in blind spots where others can't see them.

Enforce a deck policy of only using vessel’s head.

Enforce a zero tolerance policy toward drugs and alcohol.

Avoid being on deck alone without notifying others.

Use a buddy system if disembarking from or returning to the vessel from the dock. This is especially at night or if under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Man Overboard!

Wearing seat belts and installing smoke alarms are among the many things we do to improve safety while hoping we never need to use them in anger. preparing and practising for a ‘man overboard’ is no different, as paul glatzel explains ….

Each year plenty of people fall out of boats. Most of the time recovery of the person in the water is easy – perhaps they swim to the boat, perhaps you throw them a line, perhaps they climb onto a pontoon. Such incidents are looked back on as part of our boating experience that helps us to get better and safer when afloat. But not all man overboard incidents end well – the weather conditions may make returning to the casualty tricky or recovery from the water a challenge. This is why responding and dealing with a man overboard forms such a key part of all RYA powerboat courses at all levels , and why the RYA has developed recommended actions when responding to an incident.

Like anything in life, knowing what to do and being able to do it when trouble strikes are two completely different things. The difference is usually practice, so in this article we’ll look at what to do and how to get better at returning to and recovering a casualty.

RYA powerboat courses teach methods to respond to a man overboard and return to them, but of course it is better not to suffer one in the first place. People get ejected from powerboats for various reasons, but it is safe to say that most of the time it’s the skipper’s fault. Passengers need to be seated with good handholds, driving needs to be adjusted for the conditions and seating arrangements need to be correct. For example, sharp turns with people seated on raised bench seats in RIBs with no sideways restraint risk rapid ejections from the side of the vessel. Overboard situations occur at slow speed too, so crew on deck working lines need good handholds and must keep their centre of gravity low if working forward. Don’t forget communication too – flooring the throttle while no one is holding on will have a pretty predictable outcome.

So what is the process for responding to a ‘man overboard’, or MOB? RYA courses teach a staged process. Assuming that the craft is proceeding ‘on the plane’, immediately an MOB is noticed several things need to happen almost at once. The skipper needs to steadily but positively reduce speed in a straight line. Avoid rapid or high-speed turns back towards the casualty as that risks more people going overboard. At the same time, shout ‘Man overboard!’ and get one person to point at the casualty. They should not stop pointing until the boat is alongside.  

The RYA, RNLI and coastguard position is that at this stage it’s recommended to issue a distress call as almost without exception the MOB represents a ‘grave and imminent’ danger to life. It’s easy to think that you’ll sort the MOB with no issues and go straight to the recovery, but in my experience, when under pressure, unless a skipper is well practised and experienced, the adrenalin and worry that an MOB creates give rise to ‘variable’ boat-handling skills. Make the RNLI aware so they are heading to launch and can be stood down – this is much better than wasting 10 minutes failing to recover, then calling. Equally, getting early coastguard input may assist with medical issues such as shock, hypothermia and secondary drowning. Pressing the red DSC distress button then issuing a full Mayday message would be ideal. If not, the DSC button and a brief message – ‘Mayday vessel Tempest, dealing with MOB, stand by’ – will confirm the DSC call and, with the position from the DSC alert, the coastguard will task resources towards you.

Your job at this stage as skipper is to decide what the wind direction is as this is critical for the approach to the person in the water. The RYA teaches two directions of approach to a casualty in the water. Every year I am shown other approaches by skippers that will often work, but by using (and just as importantly, regularly practising) the two recommended methods you are keeping it simple and using methods that have been proven to work over years of practice and testing.

This method of approach suits craft with good access to the bow area. In rougher conditions the rise and fall of the bow can be dangerous and intimidating for the person in the water. A boathook and throw line should be available to increase ‘reach’ from the craft.

This method works for all powered craft and especially suits those where bow access is limited. A common question raised by people is whether it is dangerous to be side on to the wind/waves and whether the craft will be blown over the casualty. It is true that in breaking seas being beam on to the waves is highly dangerous, however in most windy conditions the waves are not actually breaking, so they pass beneath the vessel and are thus not overly dangerous. The method works well and gives a far larger target area, and is less intimidating for the person in the water.  

Both methods are taught (or brushed up on) on all of the powerboat courses (Level 2, Intermediate and Advanced), but there is little point in just experiencing them there. The RNLI’s coxswains don’t become highly accomplished at recovering people by just doing a recovery from time to time; they practise repeatedly – and so must you! At the start of each season, spend an hour or two practising with your regular crew. Deploy a weighted fender or a half-full water bottle (never use a real person – it’s not worth the risk) and then practise the two approaches until they become straightforward. When you go out next and it’s a bit windier, try again as it’s important to keep practising in varying conditions to keep your skills up. Make sure too that you get the other members of your crew to practise with you not saying a word and pretending not to be there – after all, it could be you they are coming back for!

Getting the person alongside the craft is only half the battle, though, and you will need to develop a plan for getting an MOB back on board. On RIBs it’s pretty easy (relatively!) as the tubes are usually low and if needed you can deflate them to further reduce the freeboard. A person may be able to use parts of the engine as a step (engine off and kill cord out), and of course there may be a ladder that can be deployed from a swim platform at the stern. Whatever method is chosen, it’s worth being really clear about the plan and ensuring all on board know how it will work.  

Don’t forget the need for some medical advice for the person that has been in the water. Even if you recover the person immediately, chat things through with the coastguard because if they have ingested water there could be life-threatening consequences over the following few days.  

Hopefully you’ll never have to deal with an MOB from your craft or anyone else’s. If you do, though, the practice you put in following this article will certainly stand you in good stead. Have fun afloat!  

Method 1 – into the wind

• Position your vessel about six boat lengths downwind and stop. Alternate between forward gear and neutral to progress slowly at minimum speed towards the casualty.  
• One side of the boat may be preferable for the approach due to more space or a better view.  
• With a slow approach, using reverse to reduce speed should never be necessary.
• At point of contact, neutral and engine off.

Method 2 – side on, drift down

• This method relies on the skipper positioning the craft two boat lengths directly upwind of the casualty and on keeping the craft at right angles to the wind.  
• From this position the craft is then blown towards the casualty – forward and reverse may be necessary to ensure that the craft maintains the correct position. Again upon contact, neutral and engine off.

Related Posts

Back to Basics Part 4: Buoys and Pilotage

Back to Basics Part 3: Tides

Back to Basics Part 2: Interpreting your Charts and Chartplotter

Back to Basics – Part 1: The ‘COLREGs’

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Ask The Expert – Voyage of Discovery

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Man Overboard

• By Chris Caswell
• Updated: October 4, 2007

We heard the splash and then the blood-chilling cry, “Man overboard!”

Leaping out of the cabin, all we could see was a fast-diminishing dark head in the broad white wake, tossed about by the swells and clearly struggling to stay afloat. Now what?

Happily, this was just one of literally hundreds of tests we carried out this summer during the Crew Overboard Symposium on San Francisco Bay. An elite group of sailors, powerboaters and concerned boating experts had gathered to evaluate better ways and better equipment for dealing with these situations, and our “victim” was really a strong and capable scuba diver.

After four days of exhaustive testing and re-testing of rescue methods and equipment, I learned one lesson that had been drilled in time after time until it became a mantra that I chanted as I toppled into bed each night: Don’t fall overboard.

The Crew Overboard Symposium (COB) was sponsored and organized by several safety-minded groups and spearheaded by marine supplier West Marine, along with Modern Sailing Academy, a sailing school based in Sausalito, California. These two had collaborated in the 1990s on a similar man overboard program, when they discovered several safe and innovative ways for sailboats to retrieve overboard crewmembers that are now accepted worldwide. Funding for this event came from the Bonnell Cove Foundation, a nonprofit arm of the Cruising Club of America dedicated to improving boating safety, with additional support from BoatU.S., North Sails and the Sailing Foundation of Seattle.

An expert committee headed the COB, including Chuck Hawley of West Marine, John Connolly of Modern Sailing Academy, Ruth Wood of BoatU.S. Foundation for Boating Safety, Karen Prioleau of Orange Coast College Sailing, and John Rousmaniere, author of The Annapolis Book of Seamanship and a former Yachting editor.

During the four days, more than 115 volunteers took part, and 40 different rescue devices were tested in conditions ranging from smooth water and light winds up to choppy seas and 36-knot gusts. Perhaps more amazing was the large group of volunteer “victims”: experienced divers willing to brave the icy waters and turbulent currents of San Francisco Bay in a quest for knowledge. They jumped overboard more than 400 times, which sets a new standard both for stamina and sheer foolishness.

Fifteen different boats ranging from 21 to 53 feet participated, including a dozen sailboats and three powerboats, making this the largest ever crew overboard/rescue trial with a representative range of American boats. A formal report will be issued after all the facts and statistics have been merged with the input from the nightly debriefing sessions. As it turned out, I learned enough to fill a book even without the report.

First, the sailboat testing pretty much proved that sailors are better prepared than powerboaters for a man-overboard crisis. The very nature of sailboats, with sails and booms and lots of foot-tripping gear on deck, makes going overboard a real possibility. Sailors have developed well-established methods and equipment for handling such a situation.

Powerboaters, on the other hand, generally live in an it-can’t-happen-to-me world. Cosseted by comfy seats and surrounded by rails, most powerboaters simply aren’t prepared for someone falling overboard. Nearly every sailboat has some sort of throwable rescue device near the cockpit; very few powerboats have such an item. So when someone does go ass-over-teakettle into the drink, the powerboaters look pretty incompetent.

I spent my time on the water aboard Five Star, a Grand Banks 42 loaned and skippered by Gerry Ramsey, who didn’t flinch as we dragged lines, gear and “victims” across his immaculate varnishwork. It was an eye-opening experience and it added a corollary to my mantra: If you have to fall overboard, don’t fall from a powerboat.

Humor aside, there are really five parts to a man overboard recovery. A breakdown in any part doesn’t bode well for the person in the water, so each needs to be understood clearly. Even more important, the man-overboard procedure should be practiced and practiced, which is something I’ll return to later.

The five segments of a recovery are as follows:

• Getting buoyancy to the victim.
• Keeping the victim in sight.
• Returning to the victim.
• Connecting the victim to the boat.
• Retrieving the victim on board.

Getting buoyancy to a victim is essential. It’s unlikely he’s wearing a lifejacket and trying to keep one’s head above water even in a slight chop can be exhausting. In big seas, it’s deadly.

The U.S. Coast Guard regulations require a type IV throwable device to be immediately available aboard nearly every boat larger than 16 feet. For most boats, that’s the ubiquitous square life cushion that often ends up buried uselessly in a cockpit locker. So get that cushion near the helm and keep it there! Even better is to insist that everyone on deck wear flotation. An unobtrusive and comfortable life vest that inflates automatically costs between $100 and $200. It’s good insurance.

Before any of the tests were tried on a living volunteer, we practiced by using Oscar, a foam-headed mannequin that was weighted to resemble a person in the water. Once again, there was a revelation: A bobbing head is damned hard to see even in nearly smooth water. Oscar was Styrofoam white, so he should have easily been visible against the gray-blue Bay waters, but several times we found ourselves looking around: “Where’d Oscar go?” Swimmers were even more difficult to spot. Aboard the Grand Banks, our swimmer was Dr. Page Read, whose dark hair made him tough to see until he pulled up his bright orange jacket hood.

The key to keeping track of the victim is to have one person never-never!-take his eyes off the swimmer. The spotter should hang onto the boat with one hand and point at the swimmer with the other so that the skipper has a ready visual indication of the swimmer’s location even if he can’t communicate with the spotter. When practicing a man-overboard procedure, give everyone a chance at being the spotter, because it’s more difficult than you’d think.

If there is a “man overboard” button on your GPS, now is the time to punch it. On some units, it gives a return course to the swimmer; on others it gives a graphic display of his location.

The first two segments-getting the victim buoyancy and having a spotter-should be done both immediately and concurrently, while the skipper quickly decides how best to return to the victim. It’s here that we found some variables. First, you have to know your boat and, once again, that comes only with practice. For some powerboats, the fastest way to get back to the victim in the water is to spin the steering wheel hard over before you even touch the throttles. On other boats, you may want to chop the throttles and then spin the wheel. You can figure this out by throwing that life cushion over and seeing which method works best on your boat.

While doing your tests, remember to turn the boat in each direction, because some boats may turn better to port than starboard. Aboard Five Star, we found that chopping the throttles and then spinning the wheel made for the smallest turning circle, perhaps because the long keel wanted to go straight at higher speeds. We also turned to starboard, not because it was faster, but because both upper and lower helm positions were offset to starboard, so the skipper had a better view of the victim in the water.

Theoretically, you should be able to simply drive back to your victim, stop upwind and drift down gently on the victim while you throw him a line. In real life, a powerboat rolling in lumpy seas can be dangerous to the victim in the water, so the skipper needs to judge the situation and decide on approaching from leeward or on either side.

One danger posed by powerboats is the propellers. Without use of the engines, the boat can’t maneuver, but, on the other hand, having someone in the water, with propellers turning nearby, is asking for trouble. Our solution was to kill the engine on the side nearest the swimmer, which left us with limited maneuverability and more safety. A requirement of the skipper, however, is what fighter pilots call “situational awareness.” He needs to know that, for whatever reason, the victim hasn’t been moved around to the side with the live engine and, if so, he should kill that engine as well.

Once you’ve returned to the swimmer’s area, you need to connect him to the boat. That can be as simple as heaving a line to the victim, throwing one of the line-toss devices that improve accuracy or pulling a line past the swimmer.

Without putting too fine a point on it, most boaters can toss a dockline to the pier but have no idea how to heave a coiled line 40 or 50 feet with accuracy. For that reason, a throw-rope bag works well. This is basically a cloth bag with a handle, filled with neatly coiled line. You hang onto the end of line protruding from the bag and, with a gentle underhand toss (like horseshoes), you can lob the bag up to 70 feet with accuracy.

I think the best powerboat solution for connecting with the victim, and one that we proved again on San Francisco Bay, is the Lifesling. This is a horseshoe-shaped buoy at the end of a length of line. By tossing the Lifesling over the stern, you turn the boat in a circle around the victim. Just as with a waterski tow rope, the Lifesling line will cross the swimmer, who can slide down to the end. There, he puts the padded horseshoe around his back and under his arms.

Lifeslings are available in either a solid or an inflatable version, and both worked well. One strength of the Lifesling is that it allows a powerboat to use its maneuverability to deliver the line to the swimmer, rather than trying to throw a line. Furthermore, it also keeps the swimmer well away from the props until connected and, last, it’s a good solution for singlehandedly recovering a man overboard.

Sadly enough, simply connecting the swimmer to the boat isn’t the end of the crisis. There have been several tragic situations where a lone crewmember aboard was able to get a line to the victim, but couldn’t get him aboard before hypothermia set in with fatal results. The high freeboard of most powerboats makes them a Mt. Everest to the swimmer. “No problem,” you say. “I’ll just use the swim platform at water level to retrieve the victim.”

Maybe not. Unless the water is nearly calm (and who falls overboard in calm water?), the pitching of a powerboat in swells can turn the swim platform into a deadly hammer that can smash down on an unwary swimmer. No, the swim platform is probably the last place you want to use to retrieve your swimmer. We tried several different methods on the Grand Banks, starting with the basic Lifesling. As we expected, we could get the victim up to the hull side, but none of us could lift the deadweight of a soggy man three or four feet into the cockpit.

Our Grand Banks was equipped with a davit on the boat deck and, since the Lifesling can be used for hoisting, we gave that a try and it worked well. Once hooked, a touch of the button and our victim was standing on the aft deck.

If you don’t have a handy davit, a padeye can be installed high on the cabin side or even a radar arch so you can use a 5-1 hoisting tackle to achieve the same result. With the tackle, a 200-pound man could be hoisted by a woman without needing to pull more than 40 pounds and, in the adrenaline of the moment, that should be no problem.

In one of the debriefings, Dan Rugg, Sailing Master of the U.S. Naval Academy, Grand Banks owner Gerry Ramsey and I were discussing how we might deal with a shorthanded retrieval aboard his boat. We would have the throwable Lifesling at the flying-bridge helm (where Gerry normally runs the boat) but attached to the lower cockpit. Thus he could throw the Lifesling into the water, drag it past the victim, and then shut down the engines. Moving to the lower deck, he could bring the victim alongside and secure him temporarily while he hooked up the davit and then hoisted him aboard. It was a plan that was not just feasible, but one whose elements we’d already tested.

We also tried various types of ladders to help a victim climb up the topsides into the cockpit. Several were of such flimsy netting that they twisted up from the water motion and were more likely to tangle the victim than help him aboard. The one that we all liked was the Markus Rescue Net, a Finnish invention made of heavy webbing ( www.markuslifenet.com ). It resembled the cargo nets that WWII troops used to climb down into landing craft, and it’s proven very successful with Scandinavian fishing fleets. We liked it because it was stiff enough to stay in place, deep enough that our victim could get his feet on it in the water and easily attached to the handrails aft.

Of course, a victim suffering from hypothermia, exhaustion or even unconsciousness isn’t going to be climbing nimbly up the cargo net. In that situation, the Markus net can be used to “roll” them up the hull. By bringing the net under a victim lying horizontally in the water, the net can be hoisted either by manpower or a tackle and the victim is brought to deck level. An unconscious victim may get bonked occasionally on the hull as the boat rolls but, hey, the alternative isn’t really that good. Page Read, our victim, said that it was surprisingly comfortable and would work well with hypothermia victims, who should be lifted in the prone position.

One intriguing piece of equipment was the Alert Man-Overboard Alarm ( www.alert2.com ) that combines several functions into one package. A water-activated transmitter, about the size of a mini-flashlight, is clipped to each crewmember. Once overboard, it transmits a radio signal to a receiver on board, which sets off a very loud alarm, alerting the entire crew.

Then, using the Alert Direction Finder, the boat can home in on the victim from as far away as one mile. In testing, the loud horn and red LED on the direction finder pointed us directly back within feet of the victim.

So far, I’ve talked about what the rescuers should do, but what about the victim? First of all, as I said earlier, don’t fall overboard. If you must, be sure you’re wearing flotation.

Once you’re in the water, make yourself visible. Splash the water around you, or pull up a bright-colored hood. Don’t try to swim after the boat: Save your strength to swim to the flotation device. Keep your clothing on and trap air inside, but get rid of non-buoyant items like boots. Shouting doesn’t carry as far as you think, but a whistle (on that life vest you’re wearing) carries a really long way upwind.

If the water is cold and hypothermia is a danger, assume the Heat Escape Lessening Posture (HELP). Cover your head with a hat or hood, keep your head out of the water as much as possible, and keep your arms at your sides and across your chest. Your lower legs should be crossed with the knees together and, if the sea conditions permit, raised.

You can improve your visibility in lumpy seas with a rescue streamer, which drifts out behind you like a brightly colored arrow pointing to your location, or with a signaling mirror that can put out a flash of light to your rescuers even on an overcast day.

Other miscellaneous lessons from the Crew Overboard Symposium included the following:

• Everyone on board must know how to use the radio to communicate effectively in an emergency. Murphy’s Law says that if only one person knows how to use the radio, that’s the person who will go overboard. In several cases, lives have been lost because the crew re-maining aboard didn’t know how to call.
• Speaking of calling the Coast Guard, the cell phone is proving to be an effective lifesaver, but only if you know the phone number for the local Coast Guard base. Simply dialing 911 will get you the state police, who may or may not be able to transfer you to the Coast Guard. One suggestion is to program the local Coast Guard number into your cell phone, putting it at the top of the list by naming it something like A-Coastguard. Of course, be sure that everyone knows that’s only one of the ways to reach the Coasties.
• Aboard a powerboat maneuvering near a victim, it’s easy to lose sight of the swimmer. Like the trucks that have signs reading “If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you,” skippers need to take extra care when the swimmer is close aboard. Having the spotter call out the range (“ten feet, eight feet, right alongside”) is helpful.
• Don’t lose track of your transmissions. In the hectic moments as you near the victim, it’s very easy to forget that the starboard engine is still ticking over in reverse. First, make sure your crew knows that shouting isn’t helpful and, second, regularly check where the shift levers are positioned.
• Whatever rescue gear you put on board, whether it’s just a length of line and a throwable cushion or a Lifesling or something more sophisticated like the Alert2 system, you must practice using it.
• There is probably a core group aboard your boat that cruises with you regularly. Make sure they know how to use the rescue gear, call for help on the radio and act as spotters.

Here’s one final piece of advice that you were probably expecting: Don’t fall overboard!

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Man overboard: prevention and rescue

Don’t let the cry of “Man overboard!” send you into a panic. You can react swiftly and calmly by learning what to do if it happens, but your best option is to learn how to prevent it in the first place.

People fall overboard even during perfectly calm conditions. Those who aren’t in good physical shape may not withstand the shock of being tossed in the water. Wearing a life jacket could be critical to their survival.

How to prevent falling overboard

If you must be on deck during dangerous conditions, use a tether and jack line. While underway, do not allow passengers to stand in small boats or sit on foredecks, gunwales, engine boxes, seat backs or transoms. Bare feet have poor traction; wear deck-gripping shoes instead.

Keep your weight low and close to the centerline when moving around in a small boat. Equip your sailboat with through-bolted lifeline stanchions. In bad weather, have crew members wear harnesses and attach to jack lines when on deck. Watch crew members, and frequently check to ensure all hands are accounted for. Finding and recovering a man overboard can be difficult, especially in poor visibility or in rough water.

In the pre-departure briefing, make sure everyone aboard understands what to do in the event of a man overboard, from initial alarm call to recovery and aftercare. Practice man overboard retrieval under normal conditions in calm waters away from boat traffic. Your throwable flotation aid makes an excellent teaching aid to simulate a man overboard, allowing you to practice maneuvering your boat alongside and recovering the man overboard. Toss a life jacket over the side while moving to see how long it takes to stop the boat, turn and retrieve someone lost overboard.

Rescue procedures

In the event of a man overboard situation:

• Shout “Man overboard!” and make sure the helmsperson hears you. If available, press the “MOB” key on your GPS, which will guide you back to the location you were at when the key was pressed. Be sure the retrieval object you will toss into the water is tied to the boat.
• Assign someone to point at the person in the water and never let the victim out of sight.
• Stop the boat immediately; on a sailboat, drop the sails, and start the engine.
• To avoid running over the man overboard, approach against the wind and waves or current. Carefully come close aboard, or alongside, the person in the water. Shift into reverse to stop forward motion.
• Turn off the engine in gear to keep the propeller from turning; propellers can easily injure someone in the water. It’s safer to trail a life jacket on a line astern and circle the person in the water until the victim can grasp it.
• In a boat with low freeboard, bring a person aboard over the transom, but be alert to the presence of hot outboard motors, exhaust pipes and carbon monoxide. This recovery method can be dangerous during high seas, sending water into a low freeboard vessel, especially one with the stern pointed into the seas. Be aware that a pitching stern could slam down on someone in the water, especially from the overhanging aft section of some sailboats.
• In boats with high freeboard, use a swim platform or ladder to retrieve the man overboard. You could also rig a sling, rope ladder or knotted line. As a last resort, send a strong swimmer over the side to help a weak person in the water, ensuring that the swimmer wears a life jacket and has a safety line attached.

In a sailing vessel with no power, sail toward the wind when approaching the victim. If the boat has a centerboard or daggerboard, lower it all the way to stabilize the boat. In larger sailboats, try to pull the person onto a sail lowered into the water. Use the sail as a sling and roll the person into the boat. If you have one, a winch makes this task easier. You can purchase man overboard retrieval equipment that’s especially effective for sailboats.

Prepare for any crisis

Learn how to handle any emergency while underway by taking our Emergencies Onboard seminar.

Related Posts

• Man Over Board (MOB): a step-by-step guide

Man Over Board (MOB) is something no sailor wants to experience. But when it happens, you need to know how to react quickly and correctly, because lives are at stake. Both the skipper and crew are under enormous stress the moment someone falls into the sea, so it is crucial to know the different steps to take and understand your role during a rescue operation.

Step-by-step MOB procedure 

First, we will be discussing the basic elements of rescue, signals and distress calls according to maritime customs, then the division of roles on board during the rescue and the most effective boat manoeuvres. Plus, we’ll be giving advice on the most challenging aspect — actually hauling the person back on board.

Rescue equipment on board. Do you know where to find it?

The following equipment is crucial for rescuing a person overboard and it is absolutely essential that everyone on the crew knows where it is and how to use it.

LIFEBUOY – FLOTATION DEVICE

• Where is it located? It’s usually attached to the railings at the stern of the boat. 
• When do I use it?  Throw it into the water to assist the casualty stay afloat.  

MOB BUTTON – RECORDS THE EXACT POSITION OF THE BOAT

• Where is it located?  Usually on the dashboard at the captain's table or as more modern plotters already have one, it could also be in the cockpit. When taking over a boat, always ask where the MOB button is located on that particular boat.
• When do I use it? Press this button immediately after someone falls overboard. The navigation system will remember the coordinates of the place where they fell in, making it easier for you to return there. 

EMERGENCY BLANKET – TO PREVENT HYPOTHERMIA

• Where is it located? It should be part of the boat's first aid kit. The first aid kit is most often found in one of the cabinets in the salon. 
• When do I use it? When you want to warm someone up. It could be a person who’s been pulled out of the water or someone who's feeling cold as they are underdressed. 

LIFERAFT – FOR EMERGENCIES

• Where is it located? The location of the liferaft varies. It can be directly on the deck under the boom or hidden in the storage lockers. Catamarans may have it stowed in the stern compartment where there is also a rubber dinghy. Ask the charter company where the liferaft is on your boat.
• When do I use it? When sailing offshore in really big waves that make a rescue by other means impossible or when the going gets really tough - the boat is sinking or the person in the water can't be fished out for a long time and there is a risk of death. A liferaft is a very expensive item, so under no circumstances use it for fun. 

RADIO TRANSMITTER

• Where is it located? Usually at the captain's table in the salon. Some boats also have a hand-held battery-operated radio that you can take with you into the cockpit. 
• When do I use it? Use the radio when you want to communicate with the harbour, other maritime authorities, or other ships. It is forbidden to use it to broadcast for fun as this will block channels for serious use. As a reminder, the channels reserved for ship-to-ship communications are, for example, 72, 74. Channels for communication with ports vary by country. For example, in Croatia it is channel 17 and in England it is often channel 80 and 12. Always check the pilot for that particular sailing area. For emergency calls, it is channel 16.

Signals and calls: when to use the MAYDAY distress call

Although you may not have time to fly the flag during the MOB procedure, if you have enough crew members, the flag can be flown to let others know you are dealing with a man overboard.  The signal flag O “Oscar” means “man overboard” and consists of two triangles; red on top and yellow on the bottom.

International signal flag for the MOB situation – code flag O or “Oscar”

If the situation is serious and you are unable to locate or pull the person out of the water, proceed to using the MAYDAY  distress signal and request immediate assistance. 

The image below shows the DISTRESS  button. Use this button when you cannot locate the person overboard and need help from others at sea. Pressing this button automatically sends a message to the Coast Guard with your boat's location and signals everyone that you are in a life-threatening situation. However, its misuse is a criminal offence, so only use it in serious situations.

Let's go over the format in which MAYDAY broadcasts should be . This format is known worldwide and will ensure that everyone understands your broadcast, knows what you need and can take action immediately. 

• Mayday, Mayday, Mayday
• This is… (name of the boat said 3 times in a row) 
• Mayday… (name of the boat)
• My position is…
• My vessel is… (what's happening to the ship, for example, it's sinking, you have a person overboard, it's on fire, etc.) 
• I require…  (what you require from others, for example, help in finding the MOB, a lifeboat to be sent out, etc.) 
• I have… (additional information, for example, how many people are on board) 

YACHTING.COM TIP: You can buy a Mayday card online, which provides a brief guide to making a distress call. Skippers should place this card near the captain's table and refer to it in case of an emergency.

It is a good idea to allocate MOB roles before departure

The MOB rescue procedure is easier to do if there are more crew members on board. If there are only two people and one of them falls in, then all roles would have to be filled by the remaining person. But in general, we can define 5 roles that should be allocated before setting sail: 

It seems like an obvious thing to do, but it is imperative that whoever observes a person falling overboard lets everyone know loudly that someone has fallen in. Shouting "man overboard" is therefore essential and should be repeated until all crew members know what has happened.

One person should be assigned the task of pointing at the person in the water and keeping eyes on them throughout . This is especially important in waves or at night when you only have to look away for a moment for you to lose sight of them. Under no circumstances and for no reason should the spotter take their eyes off the person. All they should do is stand, point and look over the side of the boat at the person.

MOB BUTTON OPERATOR

There should be a crew member whose job it is to  press the MOB button as quickly as possible . This ensures that the navigation system will remember the exact position of the boat when the incident occurred so the captain can then return to the spot or circle around it. The MOB button on sailboats is located either in the cockpit or down by the captain's table. Before setting sail, the captain should brief the crew members on exactly where this button is located on that specific boat. 

LIFEBUOY THROWER

Before the boat gets too far away from the person in the water or when hauling them up, one of the crew should rush to the lifebuoy and throw it to the person overboard. The lifebuoy is usually hung on the stern rail. After the lifebuoy is removed and thrown into the water, the long line on which it is attached will unwind. Beware, however, that if you are travelling under engine power, the rope from the lifebuoy can get wrapped around the propeller or the rudder  and make the whole process significantly more difficult.

Finally, of course, there is the individual who will be performing the whole MOB manoeuvre. It may or may not be the captain himself. Often, it is simply the person who is able to steer precisely.

More sailing tips:

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With a baby on the yacht

How to survive on a boat with kids

Fire on board and how to prevent it

How to cope with seasickness

Understanding land and sea breezes

Boat manoeuvres: how best to return for the mob.

In the world of yachting, there are multiple theories on how to properly reach the person overboard. Here, we will be reviewing the two basic methods of rescue, from which other types of manoeuvres are then derived. Don't be afraid to try out the manoeuvre for real when you have some time with your crew. It's worth it because in a crisis situation there won't be time to practice.

Man overboard rescue using engine power

The simpler case is undertaking a MOB rescue with the vessel running on its motor. If you can, start the engine as soon as possible and become a powered vessel . The person in the waves can be reached by any of the manoeuvres mentioned below. However, extra caution is needed to ensure that you do not run over the person or injure them with the propeller. You also need to  watch out for any ropes hanging off the boat and check that nothing can get wrapped around the propeller or rudder. When actually hauling the person on board, it is best for the motor to already be switched off to avoid injury, to perform resuscitation in peace and to prevent the casualty from breathing in engine fumes unnecessarily. 

MOB recovery under sail: 2 methods

There are several ways to approach an MOB rescue under sail. However, most of them are based on these two basic ones: Quick Stop   and  Figure Eight . Each skipper has their own preference and will decide according to the current sea conditions, the number of crew members on board and their level of sailing experience or strength.  

1. MOB manoeuvre: Quick Stop or Crash Stop

This method is the  most direct and easiest way to return for a person who has fallen overboard. Immediately tack the bow of the boat through the wind without handling the jib sheets, so that the boat is effectively hove to. In most cases, this should be enough for the boat to naturally drift back to the MOB.

However, it may be that the boat is too far from the person and you will need to complete a full upwind gybe and return. When doing so, only interfere with the mainsail sheets, leaving the genoa as it is. Don't try to trim the sails to go as fast as possible - you need to stop at the MOB, and it is not good to be at high speed or heeling. Once the sailboat is heading near the person, it's a good idea to drift back slowly towards them . This method is best suited for short-handed crews (i.e. crews consisting of a small number of people, for example just two) as it is simple and requires virtually no sail work.

2. MOB manoeuvre: Figure Eight

This method is also called Reach-turn-reach and is a bit more complicated . It requires more sailing skill but is more likely to succeed , giving the helmsman more time to make minor corrections.

Immediately after the incident, put the boat onto a beam reach away from the casualty. Once there is room to manoeuvre, tack and head back towards them on a crosswind again. Let the wind carry you to them and towards the end of the approach put the boat upwind to slow it down . Steady the boat before safely hauling the person back aboard. See below for a visual guide. Generally, this type of manoeuvre is recommended in rougher conditions such as in storms with high waves.

Recovering the MOB: 9 ways to do it

Manoeuvring the boat to the MOD is challenging, but  hauling them out of the water is even more demanding . Especially when they are unconscious, uncooperative, weigh over 100 kilos and there are powerful waves. There are several techniques  and there is no single correct procedure. The height of the deck, the equipment (steps, swim platform...), the behaviour of the waves, the number of crew members on board and the casualty’s level of consciousness play a major role . So what are our tips for getting a person back on board?

1. Recovery using the gangway

Place the casualty on the gangway , which is then put in an approximately horizontal position, and  lifted on board using the halyards . Some advise putting the person on the gangway and then hoisting it using the winches or with the help of rope on the davits. But the principle is similar. Instead of the gangway,  a door or mattress  can be used in the same way, just whatever is at hand. 

2. Haul up the MOB on the sail

Many skippers advocate using a lowered sail. The mainsail hoist lowers the sail down to the deck and then into the sea where the casualty slides onto it . The sail is then hoisted again and with it, the person back on deck. 

3. Set the boom over the water to hoist

If sailing conditions permit, another method is to SET the boom out to the side (as if out of the boat) and use a halyard (such as a mainsail halyard or gennaker halyard) to pull the person out of the water. The system is on pulleys and winches , so it requires similar strength to pulling someone up the mast, meaning almost anyone should be able to do it. To make pulling easier, two winches can be placed in a row on the line. A bosun’s chair can also be used. The disadvantage of this method is the need for a counterweight on the boom , otherwise, the flying boom could injure or throw someone into the water and we’d be dealing with 2 people overboard. 

4. Over the back of another crew member

Some skippers recommend grabbing and pulling the casualty  over the back of another crew membe r leaning down from the boat. The back serves as a sort of ramp to lift the body out of the water. But it requires good physical condition and strength . It certainly doesn't work if the MOB is double the size of the person whose back is being used. 

5. Use the liferaft

Considering the cost of this rescue (a liferaft is very expensive), we only recommend this if there is really  no other option — you are in the open sea, far from land, there are very big waves or the person overboard is really struggling. In any case, getting a person to the liferaft is easy and getting them on board afterwards is easier than out of the sea. Moreover, the person can be treated and taken care of on the liferaft itself. A small boat or paddleboard can also be used in a similar way.

6. Grab the MOB with crossed arms

This method requires strength and is not suitable for all types of boats . The person overboard is pulled up with crossed arms over the stern of the boat. If you have a boat with too high a transom, this process will be very difficult to do. 

7. Lift the MOB using the genoa sheets

If the MOB is on the side of the boat, they can be hauled up using loose genoa sheets by, for example,  threading their legs through the rope . Then pull the sheets on the cockpit winch until they are at the board line, and get them aboard with the help of the crew. 

8. Send another crew member – only in calm seas

The question arises whether it is not easiest to send a second person out to rescue the casualty, to slide under them and then pull them both up. If the situation permits , this is obviously a great way to do it, but it requires the cooperation of more than one crew member and is, after all, quite risky: the other person could get into trouble or even drown. 

9. Improvise

The whole MOB procedure is often one big improvisation. This applies especially to  pulling the person out of the water . Keep in mind that the main thing is to pull them out  as quickly and safely as possible , whether you use a halyard, a gangway, a lifebuoy, paddleboard or some other improvised device.

YACHTING.COM TIP: BEWARE! If the person you are rescuing is hypothermic, it is necessary to place them in a horizontal position during or just after bringing them aboard. A hypothermic individual has slowed circulation and in a vertical position, the heart cannot oxygenate the blood as well as it should.

Want to learn to sail? Take a look our skipper courses:

Administering first aid 

So we've hauled the person back on board and we feel like everything is sorted. But this is not strictly true as post-accident conditions and shock continue to be life-threatening . What and what not to do to avoid endangering the life of a person who was just overboard? 

Check the casualty for injuries

The first step is to find out what condition the person is in. We are primarily interested in:

• Are they conscious? 
• Are they breathing? 
• Are they bleeding? 
• Are they drowning? 
• Are they hypothermic? 
• Are they in shock?

YACHTING.COM TIP: First aid courses are very useful, and there are many of them to choose from. It will teach you the basic skills and techniques to be able to save someone's life, which is not just useful on a yacht.

Warmth – warm the person up immediately with the emergency blanket and a warm drink

In the sultry Adriatic summer, hypothermia isn't much of a risk, but if someone falls overboard in Scotland or Croatia in autumn, hypothermia is a serious life-threatening risk even after being rescued from the water. You need to warm the person up as quickly as possible. The best way is to use an  emergency blanket which can be found in the boat’s first aid kit. This is a blanket with thermal insulation properties that looks like kitchen foil. Of course, a normal blanket, sleeping bag or anything warm  can be used. After being rescued, the person must first be stripped of their wet clothes and then wrapped in a blanket. The next step is to give them warm drinks, preferably tea (not too hot if shock is suspected). Sweetening the tea with some sugar will help. The person should be warmed up gradually , not suddenly.

Resuscitation of drowning casualty

If the rescued person has drowned, damage to the structures of the lung chambers have occurred. Drowning can occur even when a small amount of fluid is inhaled, even a large amount of water splash. 

First aid for drowning is a simple procedure: remove them from the water, assess their condition, perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and transport them to hospital. 

Resuscitation is an extensive topic, but it is enough to know how many chest compressions to do and at what rate . In a near-drowning you should start with 2 breaths and the following pattern: for an adult 30 compressions then 2 breaths, in small children 15 compressions then 2 breaths. The compressions should be at the rate of 100–120 per minute which is approximately the same pace as the song Jingle Bells .

What never to do when performing first aid on a MOB? 

• Don't rub their skin Under no circumstances try to warm the rescued person by rubbing! Massaging could cause cold blood to be absorbed from peripheral areas (e.g. extremities) into the core (heart, lungs), which should be as warm as possible to avoid heart failure. 
• Don’t give them alcohol Although it might seem like a good idea to give the person a little "something to warm them up", due to possible medical complications and their detection or possible hospitalisation, we need the person to be 100% sober.  
• Don't give them food right away Even if they seem hungry or are asking for food, consider whether to give it to them. If they are in shock, they may still fall unconscious and start choking. If they have to be hospitalised and are put under anaesthesia, a full stomach complicates the situation. 
• Don't let them fall asleep The person you rescued will be tired, exhausted and will probably want to go to sleep. But keep them under observation for some time. They may go into shock, or you may discover they have a head injury or are bleeding and need to be taken to hospital. If they fall asleep, you won't know any of this.

Man Over Board (MOB) prevention and safety precautions 

Prevention is always the best technique. Utilise all safety features that are on the boat and don't take anything lightly. If you are the captain, you are responsible for the lives of your crew members. 

Reflectors or distinctive clothing 

Most proper sailing apparel has reflectors or bright colours to ensure the sailor is highly visible. However, often you can find yourself with amateur holidaymakers on board wearing their normal waterproof outdoor jackets, which won’t be very visible. Therefore we recommend doing everything to make sure everyone can be seen. Use reflective tape, a yellow hat or put a glow stick or flashlight in their pocket to draw attention to themselves if they fall into the water. 

Lifejacket 

Whether you have a foam or self-inflating lifejacket, wearing one should be a given when sailing at night and in poor conditions. There are several options for which lifejacket to choose . As the author of the article and sailor Katerina Kubova recommends: "The ideal is to have as many vests as there are crew members, plus an extra one in case of loss" . For ocean voyages or more challenging sailing on the open sea, it's a good idea to have a personal locator beacon on the lifejacket to help locate the person overboard. These systems are usually triggered automatically when you fall off the boat.

YACHTING.COM TIP: If you own a self-inflating vest, don't forget to change the gas canister regularly. Each canister has an expiration date, after which the manufacturer no longer guarantees inflation.

Harness 

If you expect worse weather conditions, are sailing in more challenging or colder waters (Scotland, Sweden, etc.), plan to sail further offshore or are taking part in a race , clip in with a harness when moving around the deck . Harnesses are included on most charter boats, but we recommend checking them when you take over the boat and maybe requesting more. The number of harnesses does not always match the capacity of the boat. 

Safety line 

Charter companies usually do not have a safety line installed on board. Either the safety line is hidden somewhere in a locker or you can ask the charter company to rent it to you. More experienced skippers bring their own safety line and install it on the boat themselves. 

Lifeline netting for kids 

If you have  young children on board , the use of safety nettings should be a matter of course. These nets are either already on board or, more commonly, can be requested from the charter company, as can kid’s lifejackets .

YACHTING.COM TIP: Learn more about appropriate safety features on a boat in our article —  Sailing with kids: how to keep all of you safe and happy

MOB preparation and training   

Although the MOB procedure is drilled during the captain's course, few people can keep a cool head in a real-life situation and follow manoeuvring procedures so as to rescue the person as quickly as possible. In general, you can  never have enough MOB training , especially if you are with an inexperienced crew. For example, the MOB procedure can be practised using a fender  that one of the crew throws into the water, with the captain performing a manoeuvre to sail to it and fish it out. If sea conditions are favourable, MOB can also be performed with people: at a random moment, one of the crew members jumps off the boat (in consultation with the captain). But this is of course risky. You'd be amazed how fast the boat disappears and how long it takes to come back to you.

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Denisa Nguyenová

Faq do you know how to save a man overboard.

Man Overboard Drill

by Stuart Batley | Boat Handling , Emergencies , Preparation

How to respond to crew overboard under sail

• Keep the MOB in sight

• Tack into the heave-to position, do not adjust the headsail sheets

• If under spinnaker, alter course to windward and haul sail down immediately

• Throw buoyancy to the MOB

• Mark MOB with dan buoy

• If within earshot of MOB reassure them you are manoeuvring into recovery position• Steer onto a beam/broad reach and sail away• Sail for about 5 or 6 boat lengths• Tack, aiming the leeward side of the yacht at the MOB

• Let out the headsail and mainsail sheets until the main flaps

• Keep the angle of approach as a close reach, so the sails can be powered and de-powered under full control

• Use one sail only in breezy conditions

• Approach the MOB slowly. Don’t be tempted to approach too quickly

• Pick up the MOB to leeward, aft of the mast

• In light conditions, approach MOB to windward and drift down towards casualty so they can be recovered on leeward side

(taken from the  Safe Skipper app  for iPhone, iPad & Android)

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Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

Man overboard: tactics that really work for couples

• Toby Heppell
• June 12, 2020

The YM team get wet to see how well the MOB process works for shorthanded sailing. Here are our findings...

A man overboard is one of the biggest fears for most sailors. Are you prepared for a shorthanded retrieval? Credit: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images

Even close to shore this can be a potentially fatal situation, which is why MOB manoeuvres are included in many training courses and exam situations.

Though many examiners for Yachtmaster have their own areas they like to focus on in an exam – the syllabus being too wide-ranging to cover everything in a single exam setting – MOB always features.

It’s also a good demonstration of boat-handling ability as well as a key safety manoeuvre.

Many of the suggested steps to get back to an MOB, however, assume more than one crew left aboard, which is of little use to the vast majority of us who spend our time sailing two-up.

We decided to test the MOB process on a relatively calm day in the Solent. Credit: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images

The question is, what happens when there is just one person left on board?

Is it possible to carry out the whole procedure to the letter, or are there non-essential or even dangerously distracting elements that should be omitted from your man overboard procedure if it’s just you on the boat?

We decided to spend a day on the water interrogating the MOB process from incident to having the casualty safely alongside.

Of course once an MOB is alongside there is still work to be done to recover them fully back onboard, which we will address in another article, but for the purposes of this article we are going to examine the boathandling procedure and techniques that are often overlooked by shorthanded crews.

AIS/MOB options: It is worth considering an AIS MOB beacon on your lifejacket if you are sailing shorthanded. Credit: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images

Ahead of the day, the key areas we were interested in were: the speed in which we were able to return to the casualty; distance between the casualty and the boat at any given time; and suggested actions that might hinder returning to the casualty if needing to return to them singlehanded.

Most of us will be familiar with the basic steps suggested to get back to a MOB, to sail away on a beam reach and return to the casualty on a close reach, controlling the sails and raising the alarm at the same time.

However, as each step of the process is laid out in so much detail, we wondered if this level of detail is in itself a hindrance, being overcomplicated for a situation that is, by its nature, fluid and stressful for a single sailor left on board.

When in the midst of a manuoeuvre to return to a casualty, there is a lot of information that needs to be remembered in a time of high stress.

We wondered if there were any steps that could be dropped or simplified to make things more intuitive for a lone crew member.

Starting point

To ensure we were using a robust man overboard procedure that most sailors will find familiar, we turned to the RYA recommended method for Yachtmaster candidates.

Pointing at the MOB is one of the key processes of MOB recovery. Credit: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images

This broadly breaks down into two sets of instructions; one for the skipper of the yacht and one for the remaining crew, as follows:

MOB process – Skipper

• Sheet in the mainsail and heave-to in order to take the way off your boat.
• Pass buoyancy to the casualty and mark with a dan buoy.
• Instruct a crewmember to point at MOB.
• Retrieve any warps from the water and start the engine.
• Furl or drop the headsail.
• Make ready the throwing line.
• Manoeuvre the boat downwind of the MOB, keeping the MOB in sight.
• Approach the MOB into the wind, so that the mainsail is de-powered.
• Pick up the MOB on the leeward side, aft of the mast.

MOB process – Crew

• Shout ‘man overboard’ to alert crew.
• Press the MOB button on the GPS.
• Throw a life buoy and dan buoy to the MOB. Mark the MOB with a buoyant smoke flare.
• Allocate a crewmember to point at the MOB in the water.
• Send a DSC distress alert and a Mayday.
• Keep pointing; don’t lose sight of the MOB.
• If the motor has been started,
• Prepare a throwing line.
• The skipper will bring the boat alongside the MOB, with the boat pointing into the wind and the propeller stopped.
• Get a line around the MOB and get them aboard.

Even a cursory glance at this list of processes reveals it would be nigh-on impossible for a single person to perform them all.

• 1. Starting point
• 2. Finding a process that works

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Informing the mind

Man Overboard Drill According to SOLAS

In the maritime industry, safety is of paramount importance, and preparedness for emergencies is crucial. A man overboard situation is a serious maritime emergency that demands prompt and coordinated actions to ensure the individual’s safety and the safety of others on board. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) mandates specific guidelines for conducting “Man Overboard” drills to adequately prepare crew members for such incidents.

Understanding the Importance of Man Overboard Drills

Man Overboard drills are essential to:

• Educate Crew Members : Familiarize the crew with the procedures and equipment needed during a man overboard situation.
• Ensure a Swift Response : Train the crew to execute a swift and coordinated response to a man overboard emergency.
• Enhance Safety Measures : Implement best practices to mitigate the risks and improve the chances of rescuing the person in distress.

SOLAS Guidelines for Man Overboard Drills

SOLAS outlines specific guidelines for conducting effective Man Overboard drills, including:

• Frequency of Drills : Regularly conduct Man Overboard drills at least once every month.
• Crew Familiarization : Ensure that every crew member understands their assigned roles and responsibilities during a man overboard emergency.
• Efficient Communication : Emphasize clear communication and coordination to execute the search and rescue operation smoothly.
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The Structure of a Man Overboard Drill

A typical Man Overboard drill includes the following steps:

1. Immediate Alert : Raise the alarm and notify the bridge and crew about the man overboard situation immediately.

2. Designated Lookouts : Assign specific crew members as lookouts to maintain visual contact with the person overboard while the vessel maneuvers.

3. Deploy Lifebuoys or Floatation Devices : Throw lifebuoys or other floatation devices to the person overboard to provide immediate assistance.

4. Activate Man Overboard Alarm : Initiate the man overboard alarm system to alert the entire crew and trigger appropriate responses.

5. Crew Training and Response : Conduct a drill to simulate the man overboard scenario, ensuring the crew knows their roles and responsibilities in this emergency.

6. Launch Rescue Boats : Practice launching rescue boats or lifeboats to carry out a search and rescue operation effectively.

7. Post-Drill Assessment and Debriefing : Evaluate the drill’s effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and conduct a debriefing session to gather feedback and enhance future response strategies.

Man Overboard drills are essential for maritime safety, ensuring the crew is well-prepared to handle emergencies and execute a swift response in a man overboard situation. Adhering to SOLAS guidelines and conducting regular drills significantly contribute to a safer maritime environment.

Disclaimer: The writers’ perspectives communicated in this article don’t really mirror the perspectives on OPJMLITE.  Data , whenever utilized, in the article have been sourced from accessible information and not been verified by any legal power/statutory authority.  OPJMLITE  and the author don’t guarantee it to be precise nor acknowledge any obligation regarding the equivalent. The perspectives comprise just the conclusions and don’t establish any rules or proposal on any strategy to be taken by the reader.

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