by Cdnbond on Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:09 pm
Late to the party -- I can't over-emphasize the importance of boarding drills.
My uncle, who was a veteran boater, would rent a small day-sailor for a few weeks every summer and sail dawn-to-dusk alone on Barnegat Bay. And one day, early, he ended up over the side. No PFD. This was 40-50 years ago, so I’m not now sure of the details – If he got boomed or just slipped.
But, when sailing alone, he always towed 50’ of line with knots every three feet ending with a loop and a beat-up old Mae West. As was mentioned in Pete’s original post, he must have cleated the main sheet, and maybe had the tiller lashed, but some of those small day-sailors trim out to hold their position into the wind.
Problem solved? No – After pulling himself up to the stern, he couldn’t get back on board. Finally, he knotted a bosons seat in the line, put on the Mae West, steered the boat into some shallows and finally managed to get back on-board. After that, he started taking a rope ladder rolled up on the transom.
You’re probably asking why he just didn’t use all that rope to get on board. Turns out that on his first try he ripped one of the stern cleats right off the boat. You can imagine what the rental guy thought of that, but it turned out that the backing plates were missing.
I had a similar problem on our 19' cabin day-sailor after anchoring for a swim. All buttered up with sun screen, a gelcote deck is slippery as heck. Luckily I wasn't alone and not everyone was overboard, so we had help getting back aboard. After that we always brought a rigid boarding ladder if we were going to be swimming. Not a solution for a smaller boat, or course.
But when I sailed alone, I always towed my Mae West and had some rig to get back aboard.
Now, 40 years and 100 lbs later, you can be sure I'll be adding steps if/when I get that far.
--cliff
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Cliff Bond
In residence, Grant-Valkaria, FL
P.O.Box 1122
Melbourne FL 32902-1122