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Old 11-28-2012, 10:34 PM   #1
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Man Overboard Drills.

I have seen MOB drills done. We do not do them but I guess we should. I think my crew can turn the boat and pull the throttles to idle when she is close to me. She would have to know that I had gone over the side for all this to work.

I am doing some research for an article on this topic. Do you practice MOB drills? How often? If you do not practice, do you have any rational for that choice?

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Old 11-28-2012, 10:50 PM   #2
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We have a pair of MOB plans that use the Lifesling and the mast, boom, and boom fall and the dinghy (water conditions permitting) to get a person back on board. We have practiced the mast and boom part of the drill but not an actual MOB simulation, partly because of the temperature of the water.
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Old 11-28-2012, 11:12 PM   #3
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Is this product similar to what you use Marin?

LIFESLING Lifesling2 Overboard Rescue System at West Marine
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Old 11-28-2012, 11:26 PM   #4
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Yes, that's it exactly. You can also get a hardshell case for it instead of the fabric case. IIRC from one of his photos I think Mark has the hardshell case on his Coot. I've not examined a hardshell case closely but it might be the better choice in a rainy climate like ours. We put several grommeted holes in the bottom of our fabric case to let rainwater out.

Lifeslings are extremely popular in these waters. In fact I rarely see a life ring on a boat these days, only Lifeslings. We have ours fastened to the aft deck handrail. The mounting straps are just barely long enough to go around a teak handrail, and in fact I can't remember if my wife made extensions for the straps or not.

You need something with enough lift to get a person out of the water and onto the boat for a Lifesling to be of any value. In our case we would use the mast and boom. Sailboaters I've talked to about this have all said they would use a halyard.

Our plan calls for the person still on the boat to move the boom out 90 degrees to the starboard side of the boat and open the boarding gate in the rail. We replaced the original single-sheave, teak blocks in our topping lift and boom fall with multiple-sheave composite blocks so the effort required to lift something or someone from the water to the deck has been reduced to something that can be done with one hand. We didn't do this because of any MOB plan, we did it because it makes it a lot easier to launch and retrieve the rather heavy sailing dinghy that's carried in a cradle on the aft cabin roof, and more recently with the addition of a 100' boom fall, the launching and recovery of our swim-step mounted Livingston.

But should we ever have to lift someone out of the water the multiple-sheave blocks will make it a whole lot easier for the person on the boat.
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Old 11-28-2012, 11:32 PM   #5
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Thanks Marin and thank you to John for starting this thread. As a newer boater I'll be following this subject rather closely. This is a topic the wife and I have decided we want to know much more about.
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Old 11-29-2012, 12:15 AM   #6
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We have had a Lifesling onboard our boats for ever. Best thing was replacing the soft bag with a hard case. We also have a block and tackle in the case for lifting someone out of the water, it just attaches around any stanchion base on the command bridge. Works great, have never had to use it other than in drills on club cruises.
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Old 11-29-2012, 07:08 AM   #7
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Yes, that's it exactly. You can also get a hardshell case for it instead of the fabric case. IIRC from one of his photos I think Mark has the hardshell case on his Coot. ...
Yeah, the hardshell keeps the sling and rope dry, and doesn't collect dirt that can't be rinsed off.

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Old 11-29-2012, 07:30 AM   #8
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I have seen MOB drills done. We do not do them but I guess we should. I think my crew can turn the boat and pull the throttles to idle when she is close to me. She would have to know that I had gone over the side for all this to work.

I am doing some research for an article on this topic. Do you practice MOB drills? How often? If you do not practice, do you have any rational for that choice?

Cheers,
John Beatty
I haven't done any drills or even discussed it with my wife, but that's certainly something that we should do. I'm sure I could go back and get her but not the other way around. I have a swim platform and swim ladder so it wouldn't be hard to get an uninjured person back on board.
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Old 11-29-2012, 08:59 AM   #9
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My wife have done a few. Mostly stressing the importance of her being able to get the boat stopped, initiate the MOB on the chartplotter and DSC use. We also have a Life Sling and plan to practice some more this spring and get her comfortable with drive the boat back to a position in the water as well as on the charts. Even at 8 knots the boat would get pretty far away pretty quickly.
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Old 11-29-2012, 10:10 AM   #10
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I know how I would get a person back aboard but Like Marin stated the water is to cold to actually practice the maneuver.
I have a davit for pulling crab and shrimp pots aboard. If it can lift a dozen shrimp pot from 400 to 600 ft it can lift a person.
Plus I generally tow the dink.

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Old 11-29-2012, 10:14 AM   #11
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My wife and I MOB drills a couple of times a summer. I'll toss a fender over the side and tell her we have a MOB, then sit back and see what she does. She's not real comfortable with boat handling yet, but getting there. She's OK with bringing the boat back to the MOB but still struggles with where to position the boat so the current doesn't just float her away from the fender.

Her level of competence (and confidence) with the boat handling is growing quickly and I suspect by next summer she'll be able to retrieve the MOB quickly.
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Old 11-29-2012, 10:16 AM   #12
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My wife and I MOB drills a couple of times a summer. I'll toss a fender over the side and tell her we have a MOB, then sit back and see what she does. .......
You know, that's a much better idea than me jumping overboard!

BTW: I have a line tied to my throwable PFD so I can pull it back and try again or help a person in the water get back to the boat.
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Old 11-29-2012, 01:14 PM   #13
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Most folks I know have never tried a MOB drill. The few I know who have all report that it is shockingly difficult to raise a person out of the drink.

We have a boom that can be used in conjuction with a sling for this purpose, but would take a bit of time to deploy. Additionally, this assumes the MOB is concious and can 'sling' himself.

Another alternative is to drop the dinghy down on the weavers attached to the swimstep, back into position, then attempt to haul the MOB into the dink. As the lifting height is substantially lower than into the big boat, there is a chance this may work - especially if adrenaline is flowing.
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Old 11-29-2012, 01:42 PM   #14
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We practised a lot with a floating object when we were sailors (partially filled large orange plastic OJ container works great, tie a loop of line the handle). It is a bit more difficult of a process to get back to your MOB when you are under sail. However I think it would be impossible to get an unconcious person out of the water with our trawler. We have a life sling but our only block and tackle is the davit for our dinghy motor, which I am not sure could handle my weight, let alone my husband's.

And as others pointed out, would you even know someone had fallen off the boat? We motored five hours last Thursday and at one point I realized I had been driving alone on the flybridge for awhile and my husband had not told me where he was going. I looked behind me at the river and thought if Matt had fallen in I would have no idea how far back that might have happened... Anyway, he was down below windexing. LOL. But you should really tell your partner what you are doing so they have some idea when to start looking for you.
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Old 11-29-2012, 02:35 PM   #15
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Right with you there Pineapple Girl.

I have a camera set up to view he deck. So i can usually find out where the mate is.
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Old 11-29-2012, 03:04 PM   #16
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When we took the USCG Auxiliary boating course when we got our Arima in 1987 the class on hypothermia was taught by the then-leading expert in the field at the University of Wasington School of Medicine. One of the things he stressed was how incredibly difficult it is to get a person out of the water. Even getting them onto a swimstep can be almost impossible. He had us try to simply slide a body on the floor and it was surprising how hard it was. One person pulling an MOB victim into a dinghy, especially one who is partially or completely incapacitated by hypothermia, exhaustion, or the shock of going into cold water is not going to happen, he said, no matter how doable it may seem in your mind.

This is why he and others recommended having some means of getting a lifting line on the person and then having the height and mechanical means of pulling them up. Hence the Lifesling, and there are other types of harness or lifting arrangements as well.
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Old 11-29-2012, 04:22 PM   #17
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Dayum I swear I just went through this type of event.

Marin you are correct in that most can not assist you in there own recovery from cold water. Just is what it is.
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Old 11-29-2012, 05:30 PM   #18
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My plan is to get the life sling around the person then lift him in with the dingy davit on the salon roof. But I have never practiced this. But my biggest concern is knowing someone has fallen over. I was told about a case where someone had fallen overboard and was picked up by another boat a short while later. The victim was able to tell them the name of the boat he fell from and they called them on the vhf. That guy was really lucky.
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Old 11-29-2012, 05:37 PM   #19
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I have a lifesling on the boat. If my wife falls overboard I believe I could get her aboard by the ladder on the swim platform.
If it is me overboard I'll probably wind up waving Bye bye.
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Old 11-29-2012, 05:42 PM   #20
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The only way to know if your plan will work is for you to try it once in mild to moderate conditions...it's the age old way of determining reality and practicing all in one.

I teach this stuff so if you have any doubts, PM me and I'll be glad to give you what you need.
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