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In performing the former, the boat can get as much as four
or five boatlengths away on a beam reach. The fast return
calls for the skipper to begin a count of six while coming
to a beam reach and then tacking, which keeps the vessel closer
to the victim. In both cases, the boat is then maneuvered
onto a close reach for the approach to the person in the water.
Watching my boat sail away was not the panic-filled experience
that it could have been. After all, I knew they were both
willing and able to come back for me. Still, the farther away
they sailed, the more lonely I felt in the expanse of the
bay. So for those who've never been in the water in this situation,
remember this: Get back to the person in the water as quickly
as you can!
The Rescue
Once my rescuers tacked and were headed back toward me, another
concern arose. traditional rescue procedure calls for the
helmsman to bring the boat to a dead stop with the victim
along the leeward rail. But the closer the boat gets, the
less visible the victim is from the helmsman's position in
the stern. During the last boatlength, in fact, the victim
may be totally out of sight. Sending a spotter forward to
keep an eye on the victim is the logical solution. Perhaps
a better way to approach the victim is with some headway,
but no more than three knots, and slightly off to the side.
If the victim is conscious, he can be thrown a line and pulled
alongside.
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Whether to
place the victim on the weather or leeward side is still
debatable. To leeward, the victim is rotected from the
seaway by the hull but more exposed to flogging jib sheets
and the possibility that a wave will lift and then lower
the hull onto his head. To windward, the rail is clear
of lines and the luffing mainsail. The victim is more
exposed to the wind and waves, but presumably he has his
back to the elements.
Those same seas could ift him up to the deck on the weather
side. This last permutation would neatly solve what is
perhaps the most underrated element of recovering a crew
from the water, i.e. bringing them on board. Brute strength
fueled by adrenaline works fine if you've got more than
two or three helpers. |
For shorthanded sailors and husband-and-wife teams, however,
this approach is useless. Hence the use of de-vices like the
Lifesling. My boarding was performed using the aptly named
elevator technique. It requires only a length of line that's
tied off on one end and wrapped around a cockpit winch on
the other. The belly of the line is draped over the side so
that the victim can place his feet on it. The line is then
trimmed via the winch, raising the swimmer to deck level.
In theory, the elevator technique has many merits, primarily
its simplicity. In practice, it has some problems.
For one, getting my feet on the rope while bouncing alongside
the hull proved challenging. My upper body was also extremely
unstable and I needed a second line to hold onto in order
to make my reentry.
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