+xI missed the webinar first time around but have just listened to it on playback. Thank you to all who contributed to an interesting discussion.
The challenge of getting a casualty back on board was rightly mentioned as a significant concern, particularly for yachts normally crewed by a husband and wife team. Sailing course practices tend to focus on getting the casualty alongside the yacht and then stop there. A few years ago I took my work colleagues on a team building few days which we spent on a sailing yacht to put the group in an environment that was outside of their normal comfort zone; the majority had never been on a sailing yacht before. They got familiar with winches, working together to hoist and lower the sails and, as soon as we were in a safe area of sea, we completed an MOB drill with a weighed down fender as per normal sailing courses. We then worked on the teamwork and communication needed to pick up a mooring buoy. Once we were attached to the mooring buoy, I asked them to inflate the dinghy and to tie it alongside the yacht. I then lay in the dinghy drinking a mug of coffee and posed them the challenge of going back to the MOB drill and asked them how they would get me back on board simulating that I was now a casualty in the water alongside the yacht.
Dry and relatively comfortably laid out in the bottom of the dinghy, I got through several mugs of coffee as they worked through their new-found knowledge of winches, spinnaker halyards and blocks & tackles on a leaderless exercise on how to get my dead weight back on board. Other than extending the spinnaker halyard which was too short to reach the water, the block and tackle proved to be ineffective with too little purchase. The best solution turned out to be a strop under my arms and a second strop behind my knees, both attached to the spinnaker halyard. A single strop under my arms (or clipped onto the lifejacket D ring) was quicker (and more painful) but my legs got in the way of the guard rails and it was harder to manoeuvre me on board. Interestingly, the inexperienced team realised that we were in a benign situation and that with the sails up and in windy conditions, or if there were a sea running, as they hoisted me out of the water on the spinnaker halyard, I might swing away from the yacht out of reach. We discussed that I should have been attached to the mid-point of the yacht with rope or similar to stop me drifting away whilst the spinnaker halyard and strops were rigged. However, they concluded that with guard rails getting in the way it would be worth having several spare safety lines with clips at each end to help with the lifting process to keep the casualty close and under control in the likely heavy sea conditions of a real emergency situation.
During the OCC debate it was highlighted that practicing manoeuvres was a good idea. For anyone wanting to practice getting an immobile casualty back on board a yacht I would recommend they simulate that with the casualty lying in a dinghy tied alongside the yacht when anchored or secured to a buoy. It wasn’t 100% authentic but it was close enough and, most importantly, it allowed rigging the strops and the lifting technique to be practiced safely without risk of the simulated casualty getting hypothermic or drifting away. It was a very worthwhile exercise.
Hi Reg,
Thanks for the acknowledging the webinar: it is appreciated.
And I commend you on addressing the challenge of getting a crew back on board in such a realistic fashion: elsewhere on the OCC Forum I describe a COB drill that mimics the “real” thing in much the same way.
There are a couple of pre-departure preparations that make crew retrieval a tad easier: Simon has mentioned having a long enough halyard that enables the COB to clip on while in the water and, at the other end, gets to a winch*. I think that is wise and is the way Alchemy is set up: 2 halyards (spare and main) are overlength, one for a port side pick-up and one for a starboard and each can get to a winch.
The other preparation is the swap out your lifeline turnbuckles for lashings. This allows the lifeline’s lashings to be quickly cut and the lifelines dropped to the deck. This facilitates retrieval dramatically: the COB is only needed to be raised to just above deck level: he can slide along the hull. The lifelines no longer add another 30 inches of raising and now pose no hazard to the COB equipment getting hung up on the small diameter life line. (Obviously, but worth mentioning: without lifelines, crew need to be careful not to add to the problem by falling overboard. Emergency procedures/attitudes could be another worthwhile topic.)
I will mention another item to consider: an Ewincher. Getting a soaking wet and very tired/scared crew out of the water is no mean feat. The Ewincher turns every winch into an electric winch. We have had ours for 3-4 seasons now and keep finding ways to appreciate it.** It would definitely facilitate COB retrieval.
My thoughts, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
*Some advocate using a block and tackle and Lifesling, an otherwise good product, sells one to go into their COB deploy bag, I believe. The challenge is: 1. you have to use a halyard anyway to get the b&t high enough to use and get the COB to deck level, 2. A fully clothed crew with lifejacket sopping wet is going to be a physical challenge to hoist. At 4-1 advantage one will, at best probably, pulling 40-50 feet of line at a 50 pound effort each pull.
**Getting dinghy on board, windlass motor dies, getting crew up the mast, and, of course, any winch work for handling the sails is made easier.