Shoutout to Topmast in Kingston, ON where I just went through prep week for the RYA Yachtmaster exam. They refer to the maneuver you describe here as the ‘Falling Leaf’ because of the pattern the boat makes in the water as you are drifting downwind towards your person in the water. Back in the day, I was taught the figure eight and could nail it every time but it’s impractical in the real world. The Falling Leaf just works, thank you Fintan Hartnett!
It’s a great method once you know your boat well enough to be able to heave to at just the right moment to come to a halt at the right spot to drift down onto the casualty. The engine can help a bit but in windy conditions it won’t be enough to counter the power in the sails. My suggestion is that you try this as a first attempt if you are sailing upwind at the time. You can send a mayday, prepare a lasso line, get the engine on, mark the MOB on the plotter, throw a line, … and by this time you will know if you are going to reach the casualty. If it doesn’t work you are very close and can furl the jib for your standard figure of 8 method.
This is what John Kretchmer and several other sailors I know also advises. Heave to and turn on the engine. It seems pretty obvious to everyone except boards that decide what beginning sailing lessons should include. These assume no engine, but also quick recovery. They also assume one person on board who needs a bit of distance to spot and line up on the MOB for recovery. It's absolutely reasonable given a general case. Heave to and turn on the engine is just more practical. People do die when they fall off boats. One of the biggest problems is unless you know where they are, a head in the water can be very difficult to spot, even if they're waving. One important MOB practice is to immediately throw everything on hand that floats into the water. This is not just for the MOB to use for flotation but to create a debris field that is easier to spot. (I used to ocean swim. We'd get on the beach and then look to see others swimming around the last pier. So they were 100 150 yards out. We knew they were there, and where to look for them, They were still difficult to spot and easy to lose.) I wasn't even taught how to heave to. I'd read about it. Seemed simple enough. Added it to my To Try list. One day solo on a 28 foot charter I tried to go pee in the head -- impossible. So I went back up top. How do you heave to...? Turn into the wind until your jib backs. Everything just stopped. Easy. And in a monohull, you can just turn the wheel and wait and the boat will slowly turn around pick up enough speed that you can steer right back onto your course. You don't have to change the sails. On catamarans it doesn't seem to work like this. We always had to turn on an engine. When I was qualifying with a good instructor, he brought along a friend, not a sailor. This fellow was to be my spotter. (My center cockpit boat is high off the water so visibility to something in the water at the bow is poor.) He had no spatial sense. Everything was '50 feet' he didn't point in any effective way. I'd line up for a starboard recovery, but the float would always be on the port side. I finally ignored him and recovered my float. Heave to, engine on. And Life Sling. This is a tethered float on a long line, that sits in a plastic 'box' near the stern. "Man overboard!" Toss the float, heave to, which also turns the boat. The way the Life Sling works is: you sail a circle around the MOB, the floating line of the Life Sling wraps around them, they grab on. I'd suggest making a better video. It's needed.
I always thought it would be a good idea to have a ring out a 100 yrd behind the boat at all times just in case. Maybe the man can catch it maybe not, depends but still makes sense. Cruise ships should do it as well.
makes a lot more sense than the figure 8 technique they taught me... which is better for making sure that the crew can actually manuver a boat. but it depends on what course you are on when someone falls off. if you are sailing to windward, this would be perfect. if you are on a run, you'll already be down wind of them before you realize.... but i think it would still be a good first move. stop the boat as much as possible, before you get far from the MOB and you have a chance to think about what to do next
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Shoutout to Topmast in Kingston, ON where I just went through prep week for the RYA Yachtmaster exam. They refer to the maneuver you describe here as the ‘Falling Leaf’ because of the pattern the boat makes in the water as you are drifting downwind towards your person in the water. Back in the day, I was taught the figure eight and could nail it every time but it’s impractical in the real world. The Falling Leaf just works, thank you Fintan Hartnett!
It’s a great method once you know your boat well enough to be able to heave to at just the right moment to come to a halt at the right spot to drift down onto the casualty. The engine can help a bit but in windy conditions it won’t be enough to counter the power in the sails. My suggestion is that you try this as a first attempt if you are sailing upwind at the time. You can send a mayday, prepare a lasso line, get the engine on, mark the MOB on the plotter, throw a line, … and by this time you will know if you are going to reach the casualty. If it doesn’t work you are very close and can furl the jib for your standard figure of 8 method.
This is what John Kretchmer and several other sailors I know also advises. Heave to and turn on the engine. It seems pretty obvious to everyone except boards that decide what beginning sailing lessons should include. These assume no engine, but also quick recovery. They also assume one person on board who needs a bit of distance to spot and line up on the MOB for recovery. It's absolutely reasonable given a general case. Heave to and turn on the engine is just more practical.
People do die when they fall off boats. One of the biggest problems is unless you know where they are, a head in the water can be very difficult to spot, even if they're waving. One important MOB practice is to immediately throw everything on hand that floats into the water. This is not just for the MOB to use for flotation but to create a debris field that is easier to spot. (I used to ocean swim. We'd get on the beach and then look to see others swimming around the last pier. So they were 100 150 yards out. We knew they were there, and where to look for them, They were still difficult to spot and easy to lose.)
I wasn't even taught how to heave to. I'd read about it. Seemed simple enough. Added it to my To Try list. One day solo on a 28 foot charter I tried to go pee in the head -- impossible. So I went back up top. How do you heave to...? Turn into the wind until your jib backs. Everything just stopped. Easy. And in a monohull, you can just turn the wheel and wait and the boat will slowly turn around pick up enough speed that you can steer right back onto your course. You don't have to change the sails. On catamarans it doesn't seem to work like this. We always had to turn on an engine.
When I was qualifying with a good instructor, he brought along a friend, not a sailor. This fellow was to be my spotter. (My center cockpit boat is high off the water so visibility to something in the water at the bow is poor.) He had no spatial sense. Everything was '50 feet' he didn't point in any effective way. I'd line up for a starboard recovery, but the float would always be on the port side. I finally ignored him and recovered my float.
Heave to, engine on. And Life Sling. This is a tethered float on a long line, that sits in a plastic 'box' near the stern.
"Man overboard!" Toss the float, heave to, which also turns the boat. The way the Life Sling works is: you sail a circle around the MOB, the floating line of the Life Sling wraps around them, they grab on.
I'd suggest making a better video. It's needed.
I always thought it would be a good idea to have a ring out a 100 yrd behind the boat at all times just in case. Maybe the man can catch it maybe not, depends but still makes sense. Cruise ships should do it as well.
makes a lot more sense than the figure 8 technique they taught me... which is better for making sure that the crew can actually manuver a boat. but it depends on what course you are on when someone falls off. if you are sailing to windward, this would be perfect. if you are on a run, you'll already be down wind of them before you realize.... but i think it would still be a good first move. stop the boat as much as possible, before you get far from the MOB and you have a chance to think about what to do next
Yea both are important to learn,
Even if you go downwind you can use the engine to come back up and be positioned perfectly 💪
Bang on ! 100% 👌⛵️
Make it a condition that everyone on board wears a safety line and uses it