Подъём человека за бортом

Prerequisites

• You have read the lesson Passing the ICC Practical Assessment, which shows how the man overboard exercise fits into the assessment day. This lesson goes much deeper.
• You can already steer and stop the boat you will be assessed on, ahead and astern, and you know its prop walk (see the lesson Motor Cruiser Handling for power, or your Day Skipper handling lessons for sail).
• For the sail category you can tack, gybe, heave to and luff up to spill wind. For both categories you know how to start the engine and check for lines in the water.
• You know how to make a distress call on VHF, or are working towards the RYA SRC (Short Range Certificate), which most charter companies abroad expect anyway.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson you will be able to meet these items of the ICC assessment syllabus (ICC-4a power and ICC-4b sail, Skills 5 and Safety 1):

• Observe the MOB or instruct crew to do so: give the immediate commands, appoint a spotter who points continuously, throw flotation and mark the position with the MOB button.
• Demonstrate correct direction and speed of approach: return under sail by the quick stop or reach-tack-reach, and under power approaching from downwind, heading into the wind or stream, out of gear before the casualty is near the propeller.
• Make suitable contact with the MOB: get a line on the casualty, stop the engine and choose the right way to get them back aboard.
• Use and instruct crew on distress alerting: decide when a man overboard needs a DSC alert and Mayday, send it, and cancel it if the casualty is recovered safely.
• Explain cold water shock and why a casualty who has been in the water for more than a few minutes must be lifted as near horizontal as possible.

Why the Examiner Cares So Much

The ICC syllabus lists only three bullet points under Man overboard, but it is the one exercise where a poor performance almost always means a fail. The examiner throws a fender and shouts "man overboard". From that moment they are watching four things:

1. Did you keep the casualty in sight, or make sure someone else did?
2. Did you choose a sensible way back for that boat in that wind?
3. Was the final approach slow and controlled, from the right direction, with the propeller nowhere near the casualty?
4. Could you have got a real person back aboard, and did you think about calling for help?

Getting the fender alongside is not enough. Arriving at 4 knots, running it over, or going astern towards it are all fails, even if a crew member manages to grab it.

The First Ten Seconds

Whoever sees someone go over starts the drill. On a charter boat with a new crew, brief this before you leave the berth, because the person who falls in may be you.

1. Shout "Man overboard, port side!" so the whole crew, including anyone below, knows at once.
2. Point and keep pointing. The skipper names a spotter: "Anna, you are the spotter, never take your eyes off him." The spotter does nothing else.
3. Throw the lifebuoy and danbuoy, or anything that floats, as close to the casualty as possible. Upwind of them is best, because it drifts down onto them.
4. Mark the position: press and hold the MOB button on the chartplotter or GPS, and note the time.
5. Decide how you will get back, give clear orders, and decide on the distress alert (see below).

The spotter

At 6 knots a boat covers about 3 metres every second. Thirty seconds of confusion puts you 90 metres away, and in a moderate sea a head in the water vanishes behind the waves well within that distance. The spotter points with a straight arm, so the helm can steer down the arm even when the helm cannot see the casualty, and calls out distance and clock direction: "Fifty metres, two o'clock." If the spotter has to hand over, the new spotter says "I have him" before the old one stops pointing.

The MOB button

The MOB function stores the position where the button was pressed and then shows range and bearing back to it. It marks where the person went in, not where they are now. Both casualty and danbuoy drift with the tidal stream, so after 15 minutes in a 2 knot stream they are half a mile down tide of the mark. In the Mediterranean, with little stream, the main drift is from the wind on the casualty and the danbuoy, typically a few tenths of a knot. Treat the MOB mark as the starting point of a search, not as the answer.

Many lifejackets now carry a personal AIS beacon, which transmits the casualty's actual position to your plotter as they drift. If your charter boat's lifejackets have them, mention it in your safety brief.

Cold shock and the clock

The rule of thumb taught on RYA courses is 1-10-1:

Cold shock is strongest in water below about 15 degrees C, which covers UK and northern French waters for most of the year and the Mediterranean in spring. Warm summer water in Croatia or Greece reduces the shock, but a person still tires, swallows water and cannot climb a high hull after a long swim.

Two practical lessons follow. First, plan to recover a casualty who cannot help at all. Second, do not let speed destroy control: a fast, chaotic return that runs the casualty down is worse than a slower controlled one.

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Returning Under Sail

For the sail category you may be asked to recover the fender under sail, under power, or both. Under sail there are two methods taught on RYA courses, and the examiner wants to see one done well rather than a muddle of both.

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The quick stop

The quick stop keeps the boat as close as possible to the casualty. It suits a crewed boat when someone has been seen to go over.

1. Immediately head up and tack, leaving the headsail sheet cleated so the headsail backs. The boat slows sharply and stays near the casualty.
2. Keep bearing away with the headsail still backed until the wind is on the beam or slightly aft.
3. Furl or drop the headsail if you can, and decide whether to start the engine (after checking for lines in the water).
4. Keep turning downwind in a tight circle and gybe under control, with the main sheeted in.
5. Come up onto a close reach towards the casualty and make the final approach described below.

The quick stop loses little ground, but it can be violent in a big sea, and the gybe needs a controlled mainsheet.

Reach-tack-reach

This method, also called the figure-of-eight because of the shape of its track, takes longer but gives a predictable, repeatable approach. It is the one most candidates choose in the assessment.

1. Put the boat on a beam reach straight away. From close-hauled bear away; from a run, head up. Do not gybe in a panic.
2. Sail away 6 to 10 boat lengths while the crew prepares. Never go further than the spotter can see.
3. Tack. Do not gybe: a tack is controlled and keeps the boat close.
4. Bear away onto a broad reach to get downwind of the casualty.
5. When the casualty bears about 50 to 60 degrees off the wind from you, turn onto a close reach towards them.

The final approach under sail

Whichever method you use, the last 50 metres should look the same:

• Close reach. On a close reach you can always slow down by letting the sheets go so the sails flap. On a broad reach you cannot, because the mainsail presses against the shrouds and keeps driving.
• Speed control with the mainsheet. Ease to slow, trim to speed up. The headsail should be furled or let fly so it does not drive the boat or block the view.
• Stop with the casualty just to leeward of the bow, level with the leeward shrouds. As the boat stops she drifts down onto them, giving them a lee, and the leeward side is lower and closer to the water.
• If it goes wrong, go round again. Arriving too fast, too far upwind or too far downwind is not a fail if you recognise it, sail clear and try again. Forcing a bad approach is.

Using the engine on a yacht

Most skippers of cruising yachts would motor back in real life, and many examiners are happy to see it, provided you do it safely:

1. Check that no sheets, lines or the lifebuoy line are in the water before engaging gear. A fouled propeller now could cost a life.
2. Furl the headsail and sheet the main in hard, or drop it, so it does not drive the boat or swing the boom across the cockpit.
3. Approach exactly as described for power below: from downwind, heading into the wind, out of gear before the casualty reaches the stern.

Returning Under Power

This is where ICC power candidates spend most of their exercise, and where sail candidates often lose marks when they switch on the engine and forget everything they know about propellers.

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The turn back

On a displacement motor cruiser, turn towards the side the casualty fell from. The stern, and so the propeller, swings away from them as the bow comes round. Then come back round in a wide enough circle that you can line up for the approach, keeping the spotter's arm in view.

On a planing boat, come off the plane first. Warn the crew, then turn tightly towards the casualty's side.

The direction of approach

Approach from downwind, heading into the wind, or into the stronger of wind and stream if the stream is stronger. The reasons:

• Heading into the wind, the boat slows quickly when you take the power off and you can stop exactly where you want.
• Approaching from upwind, the wind pushes you onto the casualty and you cannot stop without going astern, which brings the propeller towards them.
• In a tidal stream that is stronger than the wind, the boat and the casualty drift together with the stream. Heading into the stream lets you hold position relative to them with small amounts of power.

A motor cruiser has a lot of windage and little grip on the water at low speed. As soon as she stops the bow blows off downwind and she starts to drift faster than the casualty. So the contact must be quick: have a crew member at the bow shoulder with a boathook and a line ready before the final approach begins.

Out of gear early

This is the most important rule in the whole exercise. Plan to be in neutral about two boat lengths before the casualty and coast the last part. If you need a touch of power to keep steerage, give it only while the casualty is well ahead of the bow and nowhere near the stern.

• Never go astern towards a person in the water. If you overshoot, go ahead and away, come round and try again.
• Twin engines: both in neutral for the pick-up. If a small nudge is needed, use the engine on the side away from the casualty.
• Outboards and outdrives are just as dangerous as shafts, and the skeg and leg are hard objects at head height for a swimmer.
• Once the casualty is alongside, stop the engine before anyone works near the stern or the bathing platform. Neutral is not enough: a gear lever can be knocked.

Where to pick them up

On a yacht the convention is the leeward side, by the shrouds. On a motor cruiser, bring the casualty to the bow shoulder on the side the helm can see from the wheel, so you can judge the last few metres yourself. Some powerboat schools teach the windward side so the drifting boat does not ride over the casualty; others the leeward side for the lee it gives. The examiner will accept either if you can explain why you chose it and you have the engine stopped before the boat drifts down onto the person.

Making Contact

Contact means the casualty is attached to the boat, not just within reach. A cold person cannot hold a rope for long, and a boat drifting at a knot will pull away from their grip in seconds.

• Throw a line or heaving line so it lands across them, then pull them to the side.
• A lifting strop or Lifesling (a buoyant horseshoe collar on a long floating line) can be towed in a circle round the casualty until the line reaches them; they put it over their head and under their arms. It is ideal for a short-handed crew, but keep the line well clear of the propeller.
• A bowline loop dropped over the casualty's head and shoulders and pulled tight under the arms works when they cannot help.
• Clip on to the lifting becket of their lifejacket if it has one; many do.

Never send another person into the water unless there is no other option, and then only wearing a lifejacket and tethered to the boat. Two casualties are worse than one.

Getting Them Back Aboard

Getting someone back aboard is often harder than getting back to them. A wet adult in clothing and a lifejacket can weigh more than 100 kg, and the freeboard of a modern charter yacht or motor cruiser can be well over a metre. Ask yourself the question in the diagram below.

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A fit, conscious casualty

If they have been in the water only briefly and can climb, the stern ladder or bathing platform is the quickest route. Stop the engine first: a stern pitching in a sea next to a turning propeller is deadly. Give them one go. A casualty who fails twice is tiring and needs to be lifted instead.

A cold, tired or injured casualty

Someone who has been in cold water for more than a few minutes should come out as near horizontal as possible. In the water, the pressure on their legs helps maintain blood pressure. Lift them vertically and blood pools in the legs; a chilled heart may then fail. This is called post-rescue collapse, and it can kill a casualty who was talking to you in the water.

Ways to lift:

• Halyard and winch (yacht). A spare halyard or the main halyard on a two-speed winch, clipped to a lifting strop or the lifejacket becket. Better still, two lines, one under the arms and one under the knees, lifted together.
• Parbuckle. Tie the foot of a sail, a net or a strong blanket along the toe rail, pass it under the casualty and haul the free edge up, rolling them up the side.
• Bathing platform (motor cruiser). With the engines stopped, two crew can haul a casualty flat onto a low platform by their lifejacket and clothing. A line with a bowline loop can serve as a step for a casualty who can still help a little.
• The tender. In calm water, a casualty can be rolled into an inflatable dinghy first, then lifted from there.

Find out on handover day what your charter boat has and how you would lift a person. Examiners often ask "how would you actually get this person on board this boat?" and a specific answer scores well.

Aftercare

Once aboard, check breathing and start CPR if needed. Keep them lying down, handle them gently, remove wet clothing, dry and insulate them (including the head) and give warm sweet drinks only if fully conscious. Never alcohol. Anyone who has inhaled water, been unconscious or become hypothermic needs medical assessment ashore, because lung damage and heart problems can appear hours later. Ask the Coastguard for medical advice by radio.

The Mayday Decision

A person in the water is in grave and imminent danger, which is the definition of a Mayday situation. HM Coastguard, and the rescue centres abroad, would much rather stand down a lifeboat than launch it late.

When to send it

Send a DSC distress alert and a Mayday at once if any of these is true:

• You have lost sight of the casualty, or never saw them go.
• They will not be back aboard within a minute or two.
• You cannot get them aboard with the gear you have.
• They are injured, unconscious or hypothermic.
• It is dark, foggy or rough.
• You are short-handed. Pressing the distress button takes seconds and is the best use of them.

If the casualty is a fit swimmer, two boat lengths away on a calm day and climbing the ladder within a minute, a Mayday would be cancelled almost as soon as it was sent. Most skippers would recover first. If in doubt, send it.

How to send it

1. Lift the cover on the red DISTRESS button of the DSC radio and hold it down for about five seconds until the alert is sent. If time allows, select the nature of distress first: most radios offer "man overboard".
2. The DSC alert goes out on channel 70 with your MMSI and GPS position. Wait briefly for an acknowledgement, which the radio shows.
3. Then make the voice Mayday on channel 16.

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. This is yacht Blue Heron, Blue Heron, Blue Heron, MMSI 235 123 456. Mayday Blue Heron. Position 43 degrees 10 minutes North, 016 degrees 25 minutes East, about a mile west of Hvar town. Man overboard. One person in the water, wearing a lifejacket. Recovering under engine. Four persons on board. Over.

Hand the radio to a crew member to keep the rescue centre informed. If you are abroad and cannot get through on VHF, the European emergency number 112 on a mobile phone reaches the emergency services, but VHF remains first choice because every vessel nearby hears it.

Visual signals also count. If you have no radio, a red parachute rocket or hand flare, orange smoke by day, or slowly raising and lowering your outstretched arms are recognised distress signals under the collision regulations.

Cancelling

If the casualty is recovered and well, tell the Coastguard on channel 16 and cancel the distress. Never leave a Mayday hanging: rescue crews may still be launching.

Worked Example

Scenario: motor cruiser off Brittany

Priya is taking her ICC power assessment on a 10 m twin-shaft motor cruiser. Wind north-west Force 3, flood stream setting east at about 1 knot. Her crew are her partner Tom and the examiner.

The shout. At 7 knots heading west, the examiner throws a fender over the starboard quarter and shouts "man overboard, starboard side". Priya immediately says "Tom, you are the spotter, point at it and do not stop." She throttles back, presses the MOB button, and turns to starboard, towards the side the fender went, so the sterns swing away.

Planning the approach. The wind is from the north-west and the stream is weak, so the wind decides. She brings the boat round in a wide circle until she is about 80 metres south-east of the fender (downwind of it), then turns north-west to head straight into the wind with the fender just to starboard of the bow, on her side of the wheelhouse.

The approach. At 3 knots she reaches about 20 metres from the fender and puts both engines in neutral. The boat coasts. The bow starts to fall off to port, so she gives the port engine a brief touch ahead, well before the fender is near the stern, and returns it to neutral. Tom, who has passed the spotting job to the examiner, picks the fender up with a boathook at the starboard bow shoulder.

Explaining the rest. The examiner asks what she would do with a real person. She says she would get a line on them with a bowline loop, stop both engines, bring them aft to the bathing platform, and haul them on flat with two people, because they would have been in 14 degree water for several minutes. She would have sent a DSC alert and Mayday as soon as Tom was spotting, because with only two crew she could not risk losing time later. Result: pass.

Scenario: yacht in the Ionian

Mark is on a 38-foot charter yacht for a club-run sail assessment. Wind north-west Force 4, no stream to speak of. The fender goes over while he is close-hauled on port tack.

He names a spotter and presses the MOB button, then bears away onto a beam reach. After eight boat lengths he tacks, bears away onto a broad reach, and when the fender is about 55 degrees off the wind he comes up onto a close reach. He has the crew furl the genoa. His first approach is too far upwind; he recognises it, bears away and goes round again. On the second approach he eases the mainsheet, the boat slows to almost nothing, and the fender stops just to leeward of the bow by the shrouds.

The examiner asks him to repeat it under engine. He checks for lines in the water, starts the engine, drops the main and returns from downwind into the wind, neutral two lengths off. The examiner notes his first missed approach as good seamanship, not a fault.

Common Mistakes

• No spotter, or a spotter who also handles sheets. The single commonest reason real recoveries fail.
• Gybing in a panic on a run instead of heading up to a reach. An uncontrolled gybe can injure the crew who are left.
• Final approach on a broad reach. You cannot stop. Always finish on a close reach under sail.
• Approaching from upwind under power, then going astern to stop. The propeller ends up next to the casualty.
• Leaving the engine in gear until the last moment, or in neutral but running while someone works on the bathing platform.
• Starting the engine with a sheet over the side. A wrapped propeller leaves you helpless at the worst moment.
• Forgetting the Mayday, or treating it as a last resort. A distress alert takes seconds and can be cancelled.
• No plan for the lift. Getting alongside is half the job; know how you would get a real person out on this boat.
• Lifting a cold casualty upright by the arms or a single strop. Lift horizontally whenever you can.

Summary

• Shout, point, throw, mark: name a spotter who does nothing but point.
• The MOB button marks where they went in; the casualty drifts with the stream and wind.
• Cold shock (1-10-1): plan to recover a casualty who cannot help.
• Under sail, use the quick stop or reach-tack-reach and finish on a close reach, stopping with the casualty just to leeward of the bow.
• Under power, approach from downwind heading into the wind or stronger stream, in neutral about two boat lengths off, never astern towards them.
• Make contact with a line, stop the engine, then recover: ladder for a fit casualty, horizontal lift for a cold one.
• A man overboard is a Mayday situation. Send a DSC alert and Mayday unless they will be back aboard within moments, and cancel it if all is well.

Check Your Understanding

1. What are the first four actions when someone goes overboard?

Answer: Shout "man overboard" and the side; point and appoint a spotter who keeps pointing; throw the lifebuoy and danbuoy; press the MOB button and note the time.

1. Why does the MOB button not show where the casualty is 15 minutes later?

Answer: It stores the position where the button was pressed. The casualty drifts with the tidal stream and wind, so they will be down tide and downwind of the mark.

1. Under sail, why must the final approach be on a close reach rather than a broad reach?

Answer: On a close reach you can stop by letting the sheets go so the sails flap. On a broad reach the mainsail presses against the shrouds and keeps driving, so you cannot slow down.

1. During reach-tack-reach, why do you tack rather than gybe?

Answer: A tack is controlled, keeps the boat close to the casualty and avoids the risk of an uncontrolled gybe injuring the remaining crew.

1. From which direction should you approach a casualty under power, and why?

Answer: From downwind, heading into the wind or into the stronger of wind and stream. The boat then slows quickly when the power comes off, and you do not drift onto the casualty or need to go astern.

1. When should the engine go into neutral, and when should it be stopped?

Answer: Neutral about two boat lengths before the casualty, coasting the last part. Stop the engine as soon as they are alongside and before anyone works near the stern or bathing platform.

1. Why should a casualty who has been in cold water for some time be lifted horizontally?

Answer: In the water, pressure on the legs helps maintain blood pressure. A vertical lift lets blood pool in the legs, and the chilled heart may fail (post-rescue collapse).

1. Give three situations in which you would send a DSC alert and Mayday straight away.

Answer: Any three of: you have lost sight of the casualty; they will not be back aboard within a minute or two; you cannot get them aboard; they are injured, unconscious or hypothermic; it is dark, foggy or rough; you are short-handed.

1. How do you send a DSC distress alert, and what do you do next?

Answer: Lift the cover and hold the red distress button for about five seconds (selecting "man overboard" first if there is time). The alert goes on channel 70 with your MMSI and position. Then make a voice Mayday on channel 16.

1. The casualty is back aboard, warm and unhurt. What must you do about the Mayday?

Answer: Tell the Coastguard on channel 16 and cancel the distress, then follow their instructions. Never leave a Mayday outstanding.