Rethinking Inflatable the MOB Recovery
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Even in moderate breezes, rescuers often speed past the person in the water, prompting many experts to suggest practicing recovery in a variety of conditions, and using the engine, if needed, to make up for any lost momentum. Rethinking the MOB Recovery Spate of accidents calls for re-assessment of long-held rescue practices. By Two years ago, we raised concerns able to quickly climb back aboard. Mo- over high stakes sailing adventure ments later, another “pay for adventure” an overboard recovery failures charters such as the Clipper Round crew, Simon Speirs, was also tossed Mhave become a frequent head- the World Yacht Race (see January overboard. line, and details about these tragedies 2017, (“Risk Management and Renting Speirs was clipped in, but a longer hold lessons worth learning. Adventure,” January 2017). tether caused him to be pressed against Recent, back-to-back incidents have Recently, the UK Marine Accident the hull and dragged through the heavy involved safety gear malfunctions, Investigation Branch released their seas at 9.3 knots, even though the skip- shortfalls in boat handling skills, and evaluation of the fatal MOB incident per had immediately tacked the boat All photos by by All photos lapses in sound decision making. They aboard CV30 “Great Britain.” It lends to put Speirs on the high side. The re- have also caused several aspects of res- support to the issues we’ve raised in a maining five crew on the foredeck, all cue orthodoxy to come into question. multiple reports, and are raising again of whom had been involved in the sail We’ve previously covered rescue here (see March 2018, “Safety Teth- dousing effort, were unable to hoist techniques such as the Quickstep, ers Under Scrutiny”). Speirs back aboard. Figure-8, and towed Lifesling in great On November 18, 2017, the crew of detail (see January 2010, “Man-over- CV30 was comprised of one pro sailor CREW RESPONSE board Retrieval Techniques,”). However, and 16 amateurs. The boat had depart- The bowman handed him a halyard in the wake of the recent tragic incidents, ed Cape Town, South Africa, and was with an open shackle to clip to his it is time to reevaluate these skills. 1,500 miles from Fremantle, Australia harness, but the load on the tether The big question is whether these when the crew of the 75-foot, 35-ton made accessing the attachment point hallmark safety responses still meet boat scrambled to reduce sail. The paid very difficult. the needs of racers, cruisers and day captain was at the helm when a big wave While struggling to connect the sailors alike? Are jacklines and tethers slammed into the port quarter slewing halyard’s snap shackle and having keeping sailors safer, and are the nar- the boat to starboard, precipitating an been dragged through the water for row bows and wide-open aft decks on accidental jibe. almost five minutes, things got even modern race boats and cruisers sound The bowman, who was helping to worse. There was a loud snapping ergonomic advancements in sailboat wrestle down a piston-hanked, No. 3 sound as Speirs’s tether clip de- design or an accident-prone advent of Yankee (high cut jib) went over the formed and relinquished its hold naval architecture? side. He was tethered to the boat and on the jackline. SEPTEMBER 2019 7 TIPS AND TECHNIQUES A ten-foot length of line with a Tylaska shackle can be attached directly to the tether of a person in the water. Tether Lanyard Simplifies MOB Recovery or years, safety advocates have touted the use of a four- victim can clear the rail. Adding a preventer and setting up Fpart block and tackle attached to the end of the boom as the mainsail halyard as a makeshift topping lift will help tame the hoist of choice. It affords a great dockside demo, but put the boom, but there’s a far more efficient way to hoist a victim to use in a rolling seaway, a crew quickly notes that boat mo- out of the water. All it takes is a spinnaker halyard and a two- tion causes the boom to flail about and the hurriedly dropped speed self-tailing winch. It gets even more useful if you add mainsail further complicates using the boom as a hoisting tool. a 10-foot pennant with a spliced eye and a small diameter, The lack of a topping lift and the result of overloading a jawed, heavy duty, latching-type snap shackle. rigid vang can cause the outboard end of the boom to dip Adding the rescue pennant increases the reach of the spin- so low that the hoisting tackle is chock-a-block before the naker halyard and allows a rescuer to clip onto a victim’s har- The double-action clip had been sail—he too was pitched over the life- towed alongside at speed has a danger caught under a bow cleat laterally load- lines. Fortunately, he had both his long all its own. ed and failed due to the unanticipated and short tether clipped and was quickly The safety valve in such scenarios is angle of pull (see March 2018). hauled back aboard. the ability to immediately tack into a With the headsail only three-quarters It took three approaches and a total heave-to position or at least slow down of the way down, and an override on of 32 minutes to recover Speirs, who by coming head to wind. Unfortunately, the mainsheet winch, the CV30 was far was unresponsive when brought back when racing with a spinnaker up, run- from under control and ready for tight aboard. The recovery was completed in ners set and/or a preventer engaged, MOB recover maneuvering. half of the time of the rescues on Lake such an abrupt change in direction and The crew’s response to the situation Michigan during the 2017 and 2018 change in rig load, can lead to more included deploying MOB gear, elec- Chicago Mac Races. It was twice as fast trouble—even a dismasting. tronically marking the position, start- as the recovery of Sarah Young’s body ing the engine, and coping with run- in the 2015-16 Clipper Race. The MAIB DRAG-AND-DROWN EFFECT ning rigging damage that hampered report mentioned that since the intro- The drag-and-drown effect first came to maneuverability. duction of the CV-70s there have been the forefront in the 1999 doublehanded The initial attempt at recovery failed, 15 reported MOB incidents in which Farallon’s Race when Harvey Shlasky the partially doused Yankee started to crew have gone overboard tethered to and Van Selst were pitched from the self-hoist in the strong breeze and pitch- jacklines and quickly hauled back on J-29 they were sailing during a severe ing seaway. And just as another crew board. It seems that not separating from knock down. Both men were tethered went forward to cope with the flogging the boat can be a big plus, but being and wearing inflatable PFDs. Selst’s life 8 SEPTEMBER 2019 WWW. COM TIPS AND TECHNIQUES TIPS AND TECHNIQUES ness, Lifesling or tether. There’s an extra value provided by keep the victim from this approach. The small-jawed snap shackle will trap a later- becoming an active ally loaded and twisted free tether clip (see adjacent photo). pendulum. They can Plus, it’s easy to set up by a rescuer rather than needing the be accelerated by victim to secure the halyard. pitch, roll and yaw For example, in the CV30 incident, Simon Speirs was and their three cous- dragged alongside the big sloop for five minutes while those ins surge, heave, and on the foredeck were unable to haul him back aboard. The sway. bowman had the right idea when he went for a spinnaker The best way to ac- halyard. Unfortunately, Speirs’s webbing attachment point complish this is with on his inflatable PFD was pulled taught and was so hard to another crew using a access that Spiers was unable to clip on the halyard. To expect short line to keep the a victim being dragged in the water to make this connec- victim from swing- tion—whether or not the tether is taught—is bound to fail. ing as the rig gyrates An alternate approach, afforded by the halyard pennant in the seaway. Ideally, eliminates the victim’s role in attaching the halyard. This ap- there’s enough crew proach eliminates the need to connect directly to a ring or to handle the vessel webbing on the victim’s inflatable life jacket. and still have at least The halyard snap shackle is clipped to the spliced eye in the two people avail- pennant and the pennant’s snap shackle is clipped around able to cope with the the victim’s tether webbing by a person on board. As the halyard connection halyard is tensioned, the PIW’s head and shoulders lift out and winching up the If the hook disengages from the of the water. victim. jackline or hard point on deck, In the CV30 situation, the fouled, laterally loaded jackline The double hand- the lifting lanyard will still be clip failure may still have occurred. But the victim would have ing crew that loses a attached, since the tether hook remained attached to the boat via the small diameter, ro- person overboard be- (blue) can’t pass through the bustly built, snap shackle (Tylaska T-12 pictured). Such a heavy comes a single hand- Tylaska snap shackle. duty snap shackle would have prevented the damaged tether er and faces a major clip from slipping through its latched jaws.