"KLC Lewis" wrote in message
...
In the past, I tended to agree with the old view that towing a dink behind
the mothership was "lubberly," and ill-advised. I still tend to think that
way when a hard dink is involved, but recently purchased a 9 foot Genesis
(Walker Bay) inflatable. With this monster sitting, inflated and
assembled, in our dining room last evening, it suddenly occurred to me how
much like a very large PFD this dinghy is, which has me reconsidering my
standard MOB routine.

At this time my standing MOB Rule is that upon crew going aglub, the first
thing to do is to toss them a horseshoe with floating line attached,
keeping an eye on them (or trying to) while coming about for rescue
attempts. Other than retrieving "Oscar" in the Navy (for non-squids,
"Oscar" is a stuffed manakin made of sailor clothing wearing a PFD, used
for Man Overboard drills) and PFD's or rings tossed overboard, I've not
had the misfortune (so far) of having to actually rescue an actual person.

But this inflatable dink has me rethinking things. By towing the dink when
weather allows, if crew should go overboard the dinghy could be cut loose
immediately. This would provide conscious MOB with a boat to swim towards,
and give rescue crew another marker (though one with more windage) to help
with locating the missing crew. The floating line in the water would also
give the MOB something to grab, and its streaming direction would offer
clues as to the current and rate of drift, assuming it's not being trailed
behind a wind-driven dink.

And, of course, trailing a dinghy in the water in fair weather could
become a handful if the wind picks up.

Any thoughts?


My initial thought is that the situations when someone goes aglub do not
usually lend themselves to having any useful help from an unattached dink.
The typical situation would be one of fairly high winds and seas, and losing
a dink in those conditions would disappear it almost immediately from the
area. A dink made of what you describe would be highly susceptible to being
wind-blown; thus, something with more windage would be a disadvantage. My
personal preference would be to throw multiple objects that float, which is
described as littering the water.

In addition, the generally accepted rule of preventing hypothermia is for
the MOB *not* to attempt to swim, as this uses up useful heat reserves in a
futile attempt to catch the boat. In practice, with a conscious person,
that's going to be ignored if the rescue boat is within a boat length or
less. If the person is conscious, I would talk to them as well as other crew
members, for one thing telling the MOB not to swim.

I certainly understand the tempting nature of using the dink, but I think
the deficit outweighs the advantage.

I'm fortunate that I've never experienced a true MOB emergency, but I've
been in the water on practice MOBs, and I've been aboard when others have
gone over deliberately. Well, I did push a woman into the water in the BVI
once, so I could get some recovery practice, but she didn't spill her drink,
so I don't think that counts. g

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com