We always had at least one person stay on the boat when we stopped for a
swim while travelling down the coast. But, getting back on was easy, despite
the high freeboard. The boat was rolling back and forth on its beam, so
you'd just wait until one of the rails came down, then grab and hold. It
would lift you right up, then you'd step over the lifelines and you were
back in. We also trailed a line when people were swimming, since we were
still moving at a knot or two.

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

"Bart Senior" wrote in message
t...
I would tell the other boat to heave-to and I'd
do a mooring shoot on his stern and direct him to
toss any tool into the cockpit as I passed by and
bore away to heave-to on the other tack while I
grabbed whatever it was.

It does matter what it was you want to pass over.
If it was a beer, I'd want more than one, and I'd be
careful to not bust any cans open.

Also, I would not leave my boat unless it was for
an emergency to help the other guy. That is not to
say you can't.

When I anchored a few days ago. Everyone went
swimming but me. I knew someone had to stay on
board to help the others back on. It was very hard
getting the other adult back aboard. And even with two
of us, it was not easy to get a few of the kids back on
board.

Generally, I'm ultra cautious on the ocean, because any
sort of injury can have grave consequences. I've never
sailed solo on the ocean. I have sailed solo in rough
coastal conditions. It makes you think about all the
things that can go wrong.

Sailing solo with a fleet makes sense from a safety standpoint.
The best reason to sail in a fleet is to take turns keeping watch.
Set the squelch up with the volume high on your radio's and
each boat can wake up the others to avoid to collisions and
stay in contact.

Scout wrote

Bart,
Ok, so you're sailing offshore, way offshore. You're sailing
single-handed
but with another boat doing the same; your friend's boat is a few
hundred
yards away. There are no other boats around for at least 50 miles. You
need
some item (e.g., a cold beer or a torque wrench, doesn't matter) and
it's
on
his boat. How do you get the item? Would you ever abandon your boat to
raft
over to him? Under any circumstances?
It's a purely theoretical in the places I sail, but I'm wondering if
ocean
sailors ever leave their boat to autopilot.
Scout

"Bart Senior" wrote

Anyone every sailed in a fleet of boats?

On Thursday, I balanced the boat on a close
haul and snuck up on the kids sitting in the bow
while the boat steered itself, and waited to see
how long before they noticed no one was
driving.

It took about 3 minutes.[for anyone to notice]