Random reminder

Press, 28 May 1981, Page 20

Random reminder

GOING BY THE BOOK

'rhe man overboard procedure on a Sailing yacht at. night is an efficient and well-tested system involving a crew, each member of which should know his place and his job.

Deck crew -- anyone, for that matter -■ must get a lifebuoy.'light attached, to the man in the. water as soon as possible. The helmsman notes the course of the yacht, and works out a reciprocal bearing to steer, allowing for drift and. leeway, to pick up the man overboard. The rest of the crew douse sails and start the motor, if there is one. to make the return to the man in need easier.

Even when the man is located, andthis is not always easy, extreme care must be taken in picking him up. It is a good idea, if possible, to nudge the boat up towards the man from downwind using the motor, so that the action of wind and sea doos not throw the boat dangerously into contact with the man, who may well be unconscious.

It doesn't always work out according to the book, as a party of yachtsmen who spent a recent week-end at Port Levy found. They dined and wined well.l as is the woiit of most week-end; yachtsmen at anchor, and eventually} turned in for a heavy sleep. Throe of the; lour wore, awakened in the morning by a; loud and persistent knocking on the h'nlli from somewhere near' the waterline? They went out into the cockpit to find: the fourth member of the party standing, in the sea with water up io his armpits,! the tide having gone out. ( He had gone out to take the night air; and perform more necessary functions in the small hours and had fallen in. Not: a rescue procedure in sight and everyone else sleeping like patent logs, he tried to climb hack aboard, but, for various reasons not all connected with the height of the ship’s sides, he couldn't do it. So he swam ashore and slept on the beach. i

This does, on the face of it, seem a reasonable alternative to the textbook rescue method.