"Jack Dale" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:07:21 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

Jack,

Thanks, we've all tried heaving-to and cicling. It's used with the
lifesling, but using it with the lifesling is IMHO a lot more effective
than
the one you describe. Yours has a lot of disadvantages (although the
advantages you cite can be advantages, depending on your initial heading
and
the quality of your crew) since you must get the main totally under
control
before you jibe. If not, you'll do damage and put people on the boat at
risk.

I agree. With a lifesling this works really well. Yes, the main must
be under control on the gybe. Since this is used from a close reach
or close hauled, that is usually not an issue. From a beam reach or
broad reach, we use an upwind MOB that ends with a heave-to.

We've found that unless you really trim for close haul, main all in, things
have a tendency to break. We try not to practice in wind over 25kts, but we
were out last Saturday, and it was blowing 30. Too high to be safe with the
boat, so we gave up pretty quickly. The wind machine on the SF bay kicks in
after about 3pm.

What you propose is fine if you're on the ocean, when getting out of sight
of the MOB is an issue. We had very poor results with any kind of heaving
to, due to current issues.

I find that most fin keel boats will maintain some headway when hove
-to. Current has not presented any issues, and we sail in areas with
serious cuurent problems. What current issues have you encountered?

The currents in the bay can be quite strong, but the real issue is room and
traffic combined with current. We had a real MOB near the Gate, and the
skipper tried heaving to. It didn't work. Part of the problem was distance
to one of the bridge stantions, the other 6 foot waves. This made it very
difficult to get to the MOB, although losing sight of him wasn't an issue.
He finally had to use a combination of sail and outboard to recover him.


Do you teach this method during the offshore cruises? Actually, I'm
curious
if any one teaches MOBs in offshore conditions? Does anyone try teaching
MOBs at night? Now that's a blast.

I taught this approach returning from Honolulu when I was a watch
captain on a Vic-Maui return. The skipper had used other approaches.
After the heave was used (with a lifesling) that became the standard.


We tried a couple at night to simulate the loosing-sight-of-the-person
issue. Attached a light stick to the vest of our dummy. In that case, the
lifesling technique (not deploying it of course), worked pretty well, but
we
had to sail quite a large circle, since it was hard for people to know
exactly when I would deploy the dummy. Even with the light, it was tough
to
see the MOB.

I am a huge believer in prevention. My crews are required to use
tethers and strobes when offshore and at night. No one allowed out of
the companionway without being hooked in. I have used light sticks at
night under sail and under power. Strobes are easier to see, so I
attach one to a MOB pole (Dan buoy) for practice. In case someone
does go over, our life ring has a self-lighting strobe attached.

Yeah, same here. I require the same when offshore at night, and tethers
during the day if conditions warrant it. Not like the last time I was out
there, however:

http://www.sailnow.photosite.com/out-the-gate6-25-2006/

The swells were at least 1 foot. :-) Very uncommon. Two of the crew took
anti-nausia stuff and all they wanted to do was sleep it off.

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