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?

Cheers,
John Beatty

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.

Is this product similar to what you use Marin?

LIFESLING Lifesling2 Overboard Rescue System at West Marine

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.

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.

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.

Marin said:

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. ...

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Yeah, the hardshell keeps the sling and rope dry, and doesn't collect dirt that can't be rinsed off.

xfedex said:

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

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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.

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.

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.

Sd

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.

GFC said:

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. .......

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Steve W.

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.

My wife has never asked me what she needs to do if I
I fell overboard. She must know how much I'm insured for.

GFC said:

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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Helping the admiral gain confidence in a crisis is the best reason for doing drills, and I really commend you for having the discipline to repeat the process. I'm inspired and will try to do the same with my admiral - she deserves it.

Incidentally, having dragged a half lifeless body on board I can attest that the hardest part is that lifting 175# of uncooperative human is really, really difficult to do, and not something that can be done by most females I know. Well, maybe Rosanne Barr, but no normal human female. That is hard to drill for, but some kind of system for dragging someone on board using mechanical means is absolutely necessary if a life is to be saved rather than a body conveniently tethered so it can be retrieved later.

If you fell overboard, unhurt, would you rather have personal locator beacon or a waterproof VHF handheld? I am leaning toward a VHF. What do y'all think?

xfedex said:

if you fell overboard, unhurt, would you rather have personal locator beacon or a waterproof vhf handheld? I am leaning toward a vhf. What do y'all think?

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vhf

Both of us wear PFD's while underway. We run a practice drill at least once a seaon. However, we have not actually deployed the lifesling that we carry. We do have a St Croix crane attached to the transom with a 4:1 tackle arrangement. I suspect that we will do some more drills this season trying to determine how to get the MOB on board. Good points.

Steve said:

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.
Steve W.

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That's about it for me too. My guess is that if we really do begin full time cruising next year, she still won't be ready for such an event. I've got twin 375 lb. davits and a swinging boom, each of which will have its own hand-crank winch mounted with more than enough reduction for her to lift me out. All I have to do is switch out the Lifesling for a hangman's noose, and I'm sure she will do her best to winch me out, even if only to watch me swing over the gun wales and smash against the side of the boat.

rwidman said:

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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As was mentioned, getting someone aboard can be incredibly difficult, and having a mechanical method to assist is critical, but also consider that folks are far more likely to fall overboard in less than ideal conditions. Trying to bring someone back aboard using the swim step can be deadly in any kind of seaway. As you get them close to the swimstep, it's likely it will be heaving up and down a lot. Should it come down on someones head, it's likely it will cause severe injuries. Retrieval methods are just one part of the entire process. Drills should start with a discussion of how to even determine if someone has fallen overboard. If it's just you and the wife, you need to be aware anytime someone goes on deck (wearing a life jacket in any but flat waters) The way we teach MOB drills in our training classes go something like this:

The person who sees someone fall overboard yells as loudly as possible "MAN OVERBOARD, MAN OVERBOARD, MAN OVERBOARD PORT SIDE" While doing this it's critical to do two other things, first throw anything that might float overboard to mark the spot and give the victim some to grab. Secondly, that person points to the victim at all times, until the driver has a clear view of the person in the water. Why? The average person floats with just a few inches of their head above the water. In anything but flat water, that person is only visible perhaps half the time, and pointing to them continuously is a big help in keeping them in sight. Once the driver has them in sight and is maneuvering the boat back to them it's time to get ready to bring them aboard. How you do that is dependent on your particular boat, but you must have this figured out prior to actually needing to do it, and you need to have more than one method if the first doesn't work.

So, what does the captain need to consider? Upon first hearing Man Overboard, he should hit the MOB button that's on most GPS units. Secondly he needs to determine the best way to reverse the course. On many twin screw boats boats it's quicker to stop, twin screw around and return to the victim. Simultaneously, he needs to broadcast a "Mayday" call if there is any chance the recovery phase will take more than a couple minutes. Calling for help ASAP is critical, you can always cancel the call later, but getting additional search boats in the area cam be the difference between life and death.

Once you have the person back aboard, what's your plan? Are they hypodermic? All wet clothing needs to be removed first thing. A warm sleeping bag will help rewarm them, but rapid rewarming can be deadly when cold blood from the extremity's reaches the heart it can cause a heart attack. Avoid heat packs or other rapid heating methods.

At all times it's good to be thinking about how you would react to different problems. What will I do if someone falls overboard, we have a fire, we begin flooding, or we go aground. Plan ahead..............Arctic Traveller

Good points all, and thanks to Artic Traveler for expanding on the subject.

xfedex said:

If you fell overboard, unhurt, would you rather have personal locator beacon or a waterproof VHF handheld? I am leaning toward a VHF. What do y'all think?

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Emergency locator. Satellites are always in view. VHF is just line of sight.

I was involved in some MOB trials for a UK magazine some years back. It really opened my eyes on a number of points, so here are a few of the lessons we learned.

• In anything but a flat sea, it can be really hard to see the casualty.
• Therefore, the moment anyone sees someone fall overboard, the following is vital,
  • They must shout MOB at the top of their voice and keep shouting until acknowledged.
  • They must continuously point (outstretched arm) at the casualty and keep looking at the casualty without even a glance away. Taking eyes off even for a momnet can lose them.
• Ensure you know how to bring the boat about efectively given the wind and sea conditions.
• Do you bring the boat upwind to shield the casualty to shield them?
• How to stop overshooting the casualty when coming alongside!
• How not to run the casualty over!
• Ensuring the props aren't turning ready to chop limbs off as the casualty struggles to get on board. The natural instinct appears to be to get to the transom/swim platform, whilst kicking legs into the props...
• Question for the skipper - do you turn the engines off? Saves noise and diesel fumes neither of which are good in this type of situation.
• How much the casualty is not listening to instructions - they are frightened and very likely panicking.
• How HUGE the boat looks and how frightening it is to see it bearing down on you from water level.

Finally, getting the casualty to follow your instructions and hopefully stop them panicking means you need to inspire confidence which in turn means you need to know exactly what you are going to do to get them on board. Being in a cold sea is not nice in any way shape or form.

Since the casualty will naturally try to cling to the boat (and therefore swing their legs underneath), the best bit of kit for them to cling to is a form of handle rather than the end of a rope.

So, there you go. We all learned far more than we thought.