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"Rescue:
It's Not Easy" by Craig Van Collie
(Article from Sailing Magazine - Dec 1994) |
On the night before I was to jump into San Francisco Bay as
part of an exercise on recovering lost crewmembers, I dreamed
of hulls slowly sinking in eerie silence and bodies floating
face down in cold, dark water. The fact that champion sailor
Larry Klein had just perished in the same part of the bay where
I would be portraying an overboard victim only added to my discomfort.
The tragic death of Klein and the near loss of several of his
sailing mates aboard an entry in the St. Francis Yacht Club
Big Boat Series on September 17 brought the issue of lost crewmembers
into sharp focus.
By coincidence, the special three-day symposium and demonstration,
sponsored by West Marine Products and the Modern Sailing Academy
of Sausalito, followed the mishap by only three days. Never
far from my thoughts, or those of the 30 others participating,
was the urgent reality of discovering what really works when
it comes to rescuing sailors who have fallen overboard. Frightfully
few of the skippers and crews of the boats I have sailed during
the past 30 years has ever practiced man-overboard techniques.
I have vague recollections of learning the timeless figure eight
recovery method years ago. Since then, however, I have never
felt the need to think much about what would happen if I or
one of my crewmates ended up in the drink.
The Plunge
Sailors do fall overboard, however. Mixed with the adrenaline
that immediately floods the body, this heightened state of alarm
compresses and elongates time, causes strong bodies to wither
and creates a highly distorted reality. As a victim in the September
demonstration, I had the advantage of knowing that I was going
to be immersed. I wore a life jacket and a full-body wet suit.
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The crew on
the Pearson 365 on which I was riding included top instructors
for both the American Sailing Academy and Canada's Royal
Yachting Association. Nearby, two powerboats circled,
ready to intervene in the case of anything unexpected.
To add to the margin of safety, we were sailing on a day
with moderate breezes, relatively calm seas and excellent
visibility.
I could not have picked a better time or place to fall
overboard. Even so, my stomach felt jumpy and my head
throbbed. After my initial jump overboard, my rescuers
sailed away from me for a few boatlengths, which is standard
procedure for both the traditional figure eight and the
more recently developed fast return method. |
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