Midnight Re-boarding, can you? Alone

BandB.....in a man overboard situation fom an anchored boat?

I would think most would start for the boat and when it turned into a losing battle like fighting a rip current, plan b goes into effect like Archie just posted.

My "wake up and smell the coffee" moment came when I went swimming for the first time while anchored. I'd never boarded a boat from a swim platform before and it looked deceptively easy as the platform was only a few inches above the water and I'm a strong swimmer. After finally managing to use the trim tab as a makeshift step and nearly cutting my foot I made it. The following week I contacted Hopcar and he helped me order an undermounted telescopic ladder that deploys easily from the water.

Lesson learned, never assume anything is easy. It's called a boat and that automatically makes everything at least five times harder than it should be.

Can I self rescue in the op described scenario?? No way with that much current.

If alone or with one or two, PFD w/strobe and PLB. Even with company everyone may be asleep. Awhile ago, we discussed the ability to get back on the boat by yourself if you fell over. Most responders kind of blew it off; some because they were always accompanied, But never tested if their company could get them out of the water.

Sudden cold water immersion will make you gasp (not a joke, it means you just started to drown) and that will make you panic. Now, unless you are tied to the boat and have a flotation device will likely mean you are toast (cold toast) unless someone can haul you out. Could you lift your wife back onboard? Let alone your self. Even if your wife is petite, which in middle age is unlikely; can you reach down and pull a soggy, wet, incapacitated 140 pound lump back onboard?

(Not to suggest your wife is peeing overboard too often).

Britannia said:

You don't??

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With a zipper?

I'd probably die. That's why there are wide decks and strong railings.

Xsbank said:

Sudden cold water immersion will make you gasp (not a joke, it means you just started to drown) and that will make you panic. Now, unless you are tied to the boat and have a flotation device will likely mean you are toast (cold toast) unless someone can haul you out. Could you lift your wife back onboard? Let alone your self. Even if your wife is petite, which in middle age is unlikely; can you reach down and pull a soggy, wet, incapacitated 140 pound lump back onboard?

(Not to suggest your wife is peeing overboard too often).

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59 degree water may or in my opinion probably not cause the immersion gasp reflex. But a good point that colder water presents that problem.

Correct in the reboarding info. Realistically.....one person of almost any size or shape may have a problem getting someone back onboard without a lot of assistance from the person or mechanical advantage. Plus who wants to strain something and ruin a trip wh ed n tools can help.

Those are some nice rails on that Coot! When the water is cold where I live, the air probably is too so I'm not going to whip anything out. How ever when when it's nice and warm like it usually is here, I'm not wearing anything at night. I do have a nice under swim platform swim ladder that's easy to reach from the water but if I'm disoriented enough to fall in, I may not get to it in time in that current. I do think the adrenaline rush might get me there though. LOL.

Kevin

Any event like that at night, especially if not 100% awake, is fraught with risk, even in benign conditions. The answer is avoiding the event in the first place.
I will pee off the swim step at night, but it`s one hand for the ship clamped around a rail, and the other hand....
A ladder in the water is essential to get back onboard night or day without much effort and gymnastics.
I once had a crew member on my sailboat knocked into the water hit by the boom in daytime, my other crew dived into the water in case he was unconscious, all was well but things can go bad fast.

When anchored we always have a float tied to a 12' line trailing behind the boat (unless we're in a mooring field or a crowded anchorage. On our Mainship the boarding ladder comes out the rear of the molded in swim platform so it's only about 3" above the water. It can be pulled out and deployed with one hand.
John
MS390

I have cruised down the Mississippi a number of times. Actually I went solo a couple times. The current is more in the 5 knot or higher range. When solo I normally put out 50 feet or more of floating rope at night and working the anchor each morning. I figure that gives me a few more seconds to recover. Once past the rope there would be little hope, especially in the winter.

Our PNW cruiser has a flip-down ladder mounted on the swimstep. While it can be easily unlatched and deployed from the water we carry a dinghy on Weaver snap davits on the swimstep and in the stowed position or in the water attached to the davits this prevents the ladder from being deployed.

This boat has its original teak strip swimstep. I've seen the "retractable" ladders mounted underneath solid fiberglass swimsteps but don't know that I've ever seen one mounted under a teak strip swimstep. Perhaps it needs more support than these swimsteps provide.

With wide side decks, relatively high bulwarks and a full handrail all the way around the boat the chances of going overboard at anchor or on a mooring are very slim, but never say never, right?

We do have a MOB procedure using the mast and boom, LifeSling, etc. But with our current boarding ladder setup it would be difficult to impossible for one of us to get back aboard unassisted.

Probably should add this to the "look into it" list........

Have a telescoping ladder mounted under the swim platform, that works very nicely.

I don't fall off my boat with a 2 knot current into 59 degree water and break my wrist. I fell off my steel charter boat while in the boatyard. From the washboard to the ground was about 10'. No worries, the steel dive ladder kept me from hitting the ground. Didn't break anything, but had some impressive bruises and swelling.

And no, my zipper was closed.

Ted

Art said:

WOW - So you want to make it easy, huh! - LOL

When aboard boat our 6' swim ladder at transom swim step is always available in either the down position or up position where simply a firm tug could bring it down. Knotted pull-uself-up thick knotted line is left in down position. 56 degree water saps energy quickly. Broken wrist is a real determinant for swimming or climbing aboard. Long as I made it to rear of boat, fighting the current with one hand and two feet, I'd find some way to climb back aboard. Some of my success might lie in the body weight carried at that time of life. I try to stay in a very fit 235 lbs... but some years, when no gym work was accomplished for a long time... I've been known to well exceed that number! -

Otherwise... Poppa Arthur, my favorite grand dad - died 1964, hope to see ya soon!

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Pretty much my sentiments and setup.

Yes, having the swim platform is an advantage and I have pulled the ladder down while in the water.

Much harder and dangerous in any kind of sea. In my first year of living dangerously, I was in the dingy and came up behind the boat in 4 foot seas.

Never did that again.

If I would fall overboard at anchor, I'd probably spend about a minute thanking my lucky stars that i was not underway in the middle of some ocean

I know the risks. Yes, I really know the risks.

But even in the worst conditions, when the stress makes it seem like I have to go every 10 minutes; I have found it impossible to pee inside.

In fact, I have found that having to go on deck to relieve my bladder has a calming effect on me.

Sitting in a usually dark pilothouse, one's imagination can really run wild. Having to go out on deck, stand there, hold on for dear life, while looking around for the half minute it may take, I have found that I always feel better, mentally.

If it's really bad, in big seas with a lot of rolling, I'll go down two steps to the side deck, though staying on the steps, as the decks are awash under such conditions.

Now, I will give you a tidbit never before divulged: coming up the English Channel this June under the most chaotic seas, >12', short period, 35 knots wind and a minus 2 knot current, we spent 6 hours to get 12 f...ing miles.

I considered peeing on the deck itself; not even venturing to the rail, just opening the pilothouse door and letting go; but I simply couldn't do.

It seemed too disrespectful to Dauntless. She has gotten me so far.

So, if one day, I get to see Poppa Arthur before Art, it is what it is.

Nice prompt from the OP.

When I opened this thread and read the first post I could answer the question in the first second. No chance. If I go over, I am gone.

Klee Wyck is not built to board from the water under any stretch of the imagine. I will think more about this and do have a ladder that is normally stowed but can hang from the gunwale. We use this on occasion when using the kayak. I could hang it at night when anchored.

To this point I have looked at it from the perspective of prevention and this is always forefront in my mind. Despite spending a large part of my life on the water before moving to the Puget Sound, I view my home water now as different. It can be deadly under ideal conditions. Rarely much over 50 degrees and that ominous color that belies that. Even when wearing a wet suit it sucks the breath out of me when I first enter it. Whether on deck, on the dock, in the dinghy, or in the kayak, I am always wary of it. I really like being on water like this, but will do everything in my power to avoid going in on an involuntary and sudden basis. Even with good preparation, I think my odds would be quite low, quite quickly. I do not view that as a reason not to be prepared though. We do wear inflatables a lot of the time and all of the time when conditions are sketchy, but thinking about this in this context, I am not sure if this makes the final outcome better or worse. At 50 degrees, there is a little time, but not that much for a warm blood like me.

Good post.

When my wife and I took the Coast Guard Auxiliary boating course back when we bought our first "real" boat, a 17' Arima fishing boat, one of the classes was devoted to hypothermia. It was taught by the then-leading expert on the subject from the University of Washington School of Medicine. To say it was very sobering is an understatement.

Going into the water here is to measure your life in minutes regardless of what kind of shape you're in. Having grown up in Hawaii I considered myself a very good swimmer and over there it was not uncommon to spend several hours messing around in the water. It was food for thought when we learned that the chances of surviving long enough to swim to shore (unless we fell in VERY close) are minimal at best.

To say nothing of the effect the shock of initial immersion in the water would have....

The doctor/professor also had us try to manhandle a person that can't provide any assistance on his or her own, like trying to pull him or her up onto a swim step just a foot or two off the water. In a nutshell, for the average person in average shape, it's almost impossible to do.

When much younger... I've more than once purposely swam in 50 +/- degree water in Maine's Penobscot Bay. Man, that is cold stuff. As I recall; for me... about five to ten minutes was more than enough, while in my late teens / early twenties!

The Admiral likes to talk about the males that are found with their fly's open.. I have suggested that there are other reasons one could fall over the side of the boat besides peeing.. were any found with a big smile across their ashen face?? she finds no amusement in my theory..

In My last delivery, the side deck was awash much of the time and it was the perfect place to relieve one's self behind the safety of the rail.. without fouling the side of a beautiful boat.

To the O.P. very few of us could manage to get back aboard with all the factors listed.. the only thing that could be worst is if one's significant other was whacking at you with a paddle while you try to clamber back aboard..

HOLLYWOOD

The broken wrist and 2 knot current would probably do me in.

I don't know about cold water because I don't cruise in cold water, but I'm sure that would kill me pretty quickly as well.

Does anyone use a tether when on deck in snotty weather like sailboaters use?

hollywood8118 said:

The Admiral likes to talk about the males that are found with their fly's open.. I have suggested that there are other reasons one could fall over the side of the boat besides peeing.. were any found with a big smile across their ashen face?? she finds no amusement in my theory..

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I trust this has nothing to do with the broken wrist.

Yes, the steps are bolted on to the hull,

and with a roll of old rug lashed to the rudder stock, our cat has climbed aboard , unassisted more than once.

Worried about falling overboard while peeing over the side, stick a funnel on a 6' piece of garden hose lean back against the cabin, hang the end of the hose over the side and go in the funnel, no problem. Unless some one uses the rig to fill the water jug!

What is this obsession with peeing over the side? Does none of you have a working head on board? I don't get it!

Richard

Richard, some of our less "evolved" members still feel the urge to mark their territory.

Britannia said:

What is this obsession with peeing over the side? Does none of you have a working head on board? I don't get it!

Richard

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And, no body pees while swimming in open water either!

Great topic. Always good to think through your options should the worse happen. Here's a blurb about the man that died New Years Eve in Annapolis a few weeks ago.

"Officials say Reynolds, .... were out on his sailboat when he fell overboard in the lethal, 50 degree water and never resurfaced.

“Once you go overboard and your body temperature drops, you start to become hypothermic,” said Sgt. Junior Johnson, Maryland Natural Resources Police."

Key phrase here never resurfaced. You can't grab onto the ladder or anything else if you don't come back up to the surface.

Britannia said:

What is this obsession with peeing over the side? Does none of you have a working head on board? I don't get it!

Richard

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The very fact we're then discussing them falling overboard and not making it back shows further how totally illogical it is. I guess they're the same ones who on land go outside and pee in the bushes.

BandB said:

The very fact we're then discussing them falling overboard and not making it back shows further how totally illogical it is. I guess they're the same ones who on land go outside and pee in the bushes.

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Because we can....



HOLLYWOOD

hollywood8118 said:

Because we can....



HOLLYWOOD

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....and it may have something to do with growing up on boats and doing it for decades off boats with no head facilities aboard or nearby.

to many...it is completely normal...

especially when the boat you are on has one of those skippers that always says...you pee in it...you clean it.

psneeld said:

....and it may have something to do with growing up on boats and doing it for decades off boats with no head facilities aboard or nearby.

to many...it is completely normal...

especially when the boat you are on has one of those skippers that always says...you pee in it...you clean it.

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I've just never grasped not changing with the times. Perhaps it is because I've depended on technology where you have to evolve constantly. We embrace changes that are possible. I try to analyze any resistance I have to change and decide whether it really makes sense. If it's just frivolous then who cares and I think most think of peeing overboard being that way, but then the evidence points to the inherent danger and that would change my view on it. On the lake, we never wore life jackets of any type. When we first started coastal cruising we didn't find the thought of doing so pleasant. We shopped and shopped for the most comfortable inflatables and others we could find. There are now conditions in which we put them on without hesitation. We still don't like them, but we realize the importance. I understand peeing over the side of a 14' jon boat in less than three feet of water. I don't understand though how that should lead to going out on deck alone at night to pee over the side of a boat with waves and current, no one on watch, and the risk of going over.