[Public-List] going solo

Tue Jun 5 14:21:31 PDT 2012

I guess I have a different image of what goes on in this solo-sailor
overboard scenario.
I  would be in my harness, in a PFD, with  4' line.   If I pitched off
the leeward bow ( I did this racing once), I would expect to banging
along the side of the boat, not trailing behind. I don't picture that I
have to work to go forward, just to go UP.   I think this would be the
case unless I fell of the transom .

That said, climbing up can be challenging enough, but just a little heel
makes it more than doable. 

 So now for my story....we were racing my boat back from Queenstown, MD,
with 3 - me, my daughter and another Alberger.  I was doing foredeck,
Rachel main and Ray was steering. We had a moderate breeze and a
moderate reach and I put the spinnaker up, but neglected to secure the
bag. As it rolled overboard I grabbed at it and somersaulted into the
water.  I would guess we were going at least 4 knots. I think reached
for the rail as I went in , because I was holding on to it when I came
up. I grabbed the leeward forward lower, and slung one leg up then the
other, actually helped by the boat speed. Rachel and Ray did not know I
had gone in and didn't know why I was lying on the leeward rail dripping
wet.

-----Original Message-----
From: public-list-bounces at lists.alberg30.org
[mailto:public-list-bounces at lists.alberg30.org] On Behalf Of
richard.hazlegrove at wellsfargo.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 4:43 PM
To: public-list at lists.alberg30.org
Subject: Re: [Public-List] going solo

To Chris's comment about how fast the boat must go before it becomes
impossible to re-board;  I recall some years ago that one of the sailing
magazines - Practical Sailor? - performed a series of tests with strong
swimmers and Coast Guard supervision. They determined that the maximum
boat speed was very low for these swimmers to pull their way back to the
transom using a line dragging in the water. If I recall correctly, at
anything above about two knots, one had to be in very good shape to do
this.  Above three knots these athletic swimmers could not do it. I
concluded that this was not much of a strategy in anything other than
light air sailing.  Certainly not in conditions that had made me want to
drag a line.  Better to figure out a way to disengage the autopilot and
hope the boat rounds up.   

-----Original Message-----
From: Kris Coward [mailto:kris at melon.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 1:13 PM
To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all
Subject: Re: [Public-List] going solo

Why take chances? It's not that hard to tie a bowline around the arm of
a tiller pilot, lead it through a snatch block clipped on to the nearest
stanchion, and tie a float to the end of it. It's only a little trickier
to set something up that's triggered by tension on your jacklines. And
having a handheld VHF on a good lanyard; that doesn't require any
special rigging at all.

As for the relative perils of being tethered to a moving boat vs. being
boatless, I think the only way to settle this is for each of us to
tether ourselves to our boats (in warm water, with someone capable and
trustworthy at the helm), hop off into the water, and see how fast the
boat has to go before it becomes difficult to hold a survival position
or keep one's mouth out of the water (or for an extra challenge, to do
both).

We should have warm enough water up here for me to give it a try in
about a month or so..

Cheers,
Kris

On Tue, Jun 05, 2012 at 12:03:23PM -0400, Lawrence Morris wrote:
> Kris
> 
> All good points. Even without a plan I will take my chances being
attached to the boat than the alternative
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> Larry Morris
> 
> On Jun 5, 2012, at 11:35 AM, Kris Coward <kris at melon.org> wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, Jun 05, 2012 at 07:46:35AM -0400, James Allocco wrote:
> >> I agree with George that for me an auto pilot is a must when single
handing
> >> and get dock lines and fenders ready, etc. I would suggest
jacklines and a
> >> harness when single handing in heavy weather.
> > 
> > I'd also recommend that if you're single handing with a harness,
> > jacklines, and an autopilot, you consider how difficult it'll be to
get
> > back aboard if you don't have some means of making the boat stop (or
> > calling for help that can make the boat stop).
> > 
> > I have something of a history of dropping the boarding ladder, and
tying
> > the lifering to the pushpit with the heaving line to go for a swim
when
> > becalmed (NOT while single handing). In terms of gettign a sense
that
> > the boat is really speeding back up and the swim should end, I've
> > already found myself considering it unwise to expect to be able to
climb
> > back up the boarding ladder at speeds higher than 3/4 of a knot.
Based
> > on that (and the fact that the original world record for men's 100m
> > freestyle was swum at an average speed of under 3 knots), I can't
really
> > imagine pulling myself back aboard if the autopilot is holding a
course
> > where the boat's making 4 knots through the water.
> > 
> > Whether it's a handheld radio tethered to your harness, some line
rigged
> > up to disengage the autopilot if the jacklines are placed under
enough
> > tension, some trailing object that you can grab to kill the
autopilot,
> > or (ideally) some combination of the above, if you don't have a plan
to
> > stop the boat so you can climb back on, you're probably better off
not
> > even being tied to it in the first place.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Kris
> > 
> > -- 
> > Kris Coward                    http://unripe.melon.org/
> > GPG Fingerprint: 2BF3 957D 310A FEEC 4733  830E 21A4 05C7 1FEB 12B3
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-- 
Kris Coward					http://unripe.melon.org/
GPG Fingerprint: 2BF3 957D 310A FEEC 4733  830E 21A4 05C7 1FEB 12B3

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