Over a long sailing career and with a hundred thousand miles under my keel, I am fortunate to be able to say I’ve never been faced with a man overboard emergency. But, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen and knowing how to respond when it does is essential seamanship.
When we were young and racing dinghies, the standard maneuver should a crew fall overboard was to immediately jibe and round up, which would put the bow right on the person in the water. But jibing a dinghy versus doing it in a 45-foot cruising boat are two very different things.
In the 1980s the Seattle Sailing Foundation spent weeks working with experienced skippers to come up with what they considered to be the “best man overboard maneuver.” It was and is called the Quick Stop method. Instead of jibing right away, you immediately tack and leave the jib backed so it pushes the bow down wind.
As this is happening you have time to trim the mainsail amidships before jibing and rounding up to the person in the water. Out of the Foundation’s research the Life Sling was invented, which makes getting a soggy crew on deck, even on larger boats with high topsides, much easier.
Across the Atlantic in England, the Royal Yachting Association, which champions safe seamanship and boating education, has undertaken another experiment to prove which rescue maneuvers work best in an array of wind and sea states. Their findings are instructive, since a rescue in flat calm conditions will be much simpler than during a gale.
The RYA, like the Seattle Foundation, sought to avoid a sudden jibe during the rescue and explored ways to return to the person with only a single tack, a much easier and safer maneuver, particularly for new sailors. Plus, they placed emphasis on the on-going need to practice these maneuvers.
