Fake Feather Overboard!
July 23, 2021
Lk St Clair
So far we've been incredibly lucky with Feather aboard...in that she's actually stayed aboard. The few times (including tonight before we launched) that she's ended up in the water, it has been from the dock.
The statistics for a Man Overboard are pretty grim: (https://www.great-lakes-sailing.com/man_overboard.html)
With years of kayaking experience between us, Chuck and I are fairly certain that we can stay calm in the case that one of us goes overboard, and we're very good about being appropriately geared up. Even more importantly, we regularly talk about what we will do if....
For the sake if this discussion, we should consider Feather a non -swimmer, at least for now. So far, when she has fallen off the dock, she has stayed on top of the water, but mostly it seems she's trying to climb on top of the water, more than that she is comfortably swimming in it. Just like the practice that I'm writing about now, we owe it to Feather to get her more practice swimming, both in and out of her life jacket, but that will have to be another blog post.
So tonight, in mild conditions, our goal was to do MOB (DOB) drills. The drills we ran tonight were for the scenarios when the person overboard can be no help at all to you in their rescue. Based on my kayaking experience, this is often easier than having a conscious but panicked person trying to "help" you rescue them, but that discussion, too, will have to wait for another blog.
The plan: Chuck brought a clean 1 gallon, black plastic jug aboard to act as a Feather/person stand in. This is about the size of a person's head, which for an incapacitated person would be all one could expect to see above the water. In this sense, it was pretty accurate, but the weight, of course was much lighter than either man or dog.
He also brought a 5 gallon bucket, which would probably be closer but still not as heavy and definitely not as squirmy as Feather, but we didn't get to using that.
If you read the link, I attached above, there is a good explanation of what to do in the case of a two person crew, with a third person overboard. Chuck and I have the complication that, at least for now, the " more experienced partner" has to remain at the helm. I can't steer well enough to let him do the rescuing. All the more reason to practice. Our dark humor joke on the trip was that off one of us went overboard, we both hoped it was me, or we'd both be dead anyway.
The drill: After talking it through, we put Fake Feather through the ringer, dropping her overboard, setting her on the side of the rails and letting her fall overboard, tossing her violently overboard. We practiced keeping our eyes on "her" at all times, and we deliberately didn't look for here until one or two minutes after she went overboard. Even when I tried to keep eyes on her, I often lost her in the waves and had to scan again to find her. It was not easy...and we didn't even have significant waves to obscure our vision. Can you see "her" in the picture below?
Once we located the head in the water, we altered course to pass, preferably downwind of the "victim", and I hooked her and hauled her aboard with the boathook- which obviously wouldn't work for real, but it might be a way to grab the life jacket of an incapacitated person until you could call for help or toss a rope, or come up with a new plan.
Anyway, we ran this drill about 3 times under motor (much easier), and four times under sail (harder because you have to deal with sails). Wen timed ourselves for fun. The best time was two minutes, (which felt like much longer). The worst was about 15 minutes. We were successful every time, even in the twilight last run, when I thought for sure that we were going to be contributing to the Lake's litter problem, but then finally, Chuck spotted her.
And all of this, of course, was under pretty ideal circumstances. Am I sure we could rescue Feather if she did go overboard? Absolutely not. But there's something to be said for muscle memory, and for having been through something before, even if its just a weak facsimile.
In short, I'm so glad we practiced, and I think I'd like to do at least one run every time we go out. Maybe next time we'll use the bucket.
If you haven't done this, do it!
Resources for MOB drills:
https://sailingmagazine.net/article-1343-crew-overboard-recovery.html
If you prefer videos, this is one of a series:
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