Flash Poll: Man Overboard!
Have you ever had a person accidentally overboard situation? Do you practice for such an event? Tell us your stories below. —Eds
Substack is the home for great culture
Have you ever had a person accidentally overboard situation? Do you practice for such an event? Tell us your stories below. —Eds
First time I was involved in a MOB I was 10 years old and sailing with my father and younger brother on our 14ft West Wight Potter in the Solent. My brother fell overboard, my father immediately jumped in to "save" him. Leaving me on board by myself to rescue both of them....We all lived happily ever after.
Last time was a COB (cat) that fell off a catamaran I was delivering. Owners were distraught. I was at the helm and motored backward so we could pick up the cat on the transom steps. 2 things I learnt. Cats don't understand when you shout "swim to the stern" But they do have a long tail to grab.
I was racing on Table Bay on my 38ft "Black Cat". We had a development crew (teenagers, mostly from poor neighbourhoods) but had a hotshot Kiwi sailor aboard as well. We were coming down onto the leeward mark with spinnaker drawing hard. I called for the Genoa to be raised before dropping the spinnaker. The Kiwi was jumping the Genoa halliard at the mast, too fast for the kids to keep up in the cockpit. The halliard bunched up at a deck organiser and jammed, so we couldn't get the Genoa up & spinnaker down. We were about to pass the mark doing about 8 knots when a boat appeared from behind the partially-raised Genoa & I was about to T-bone it. I dodged around his stern with a quick side-to-side with the tiller. One crewman was standing on the quarter and the sudden movement threw him overboard about 15-20ft from the mark, with boats rounding behind us. We got the halliard sorted and the sails changed then sailed back for our crewman, who was swimming and dodging boats. He had our protest flag in his pocket and it floated off. He swam after the flag between the boats. The powerboat that was observing the mark roundings went in to pick him up. He refused the rescue because assistance would have got us disqualified. We picked him up, under sail, a few minutes later & continued with the race.. Very easy rescue with the flat seas and a scoop stern with swim platform.