We’re excited to partner with NauticEd, your go-to resource for online boating education! Together, we’ll deliver key updates on USCG regulations, relatable insights, and practical tips in exclusive articles featured in the Dockwa boater newsletter, The Running Fix. Subscribe and stay tuned for more articles that keeps you informed and inspired!

Man Overboard: Real Stories, Hard Lessons, and What Every Boater Must Know 
Part 1

Crew (“Man”) Overboard (MOB) fortunately happens infrequently, but in your sailing career, it could happen to you. MOB means that someone has fallen off the vessel and (hopefully) is bobbing in the water as it sails away. It can be life-threatening, meaning that MOB is a high-stress event, especially for the person in the water, and often the crew will panic. Even at slower speeds of five knots, the distance between the MOB and the vessel increases rapidly. And given waves, or poor visibility, it is very easy to lose sight of the person. Distance, mistakes in the fog of fear, plus the coldness of the water increases the chance that you might not be able to recover the person alive. MOB is serious.

Every skipper must have a plan and practice for this eventuality, including that the skipper will go over. On every outing, the skipper should brief the crew on following the skipper’s command and remain calm in that eventuality. Next time you go out, simply throw a PFD overboard and try to recover it. You may find that recovery is not so easy as envisioned. Skippers should train spouses or regular boat buddies on the procedure to recover themselves should the skipper fall overboard, because no one can tell who, how and when they will go overboard.

While MOB can occur in many scenarios, it is commonly the result of someone slipping on a wet deck, equipment failure such as an accidental gybe or errant line or boom, or simply from sailors not paying attention as the vessel lurches, or from taking a risk of relieving themselves over the side. Once the MOB begins, fast and rehearsed action is essential, as it can avert a real tragedy, starting with a loud shout, whistle or horn blast and a yell of “Man Over Board!!” In many cases the only hope which the person in the water has are their fellow crew and their boat. By the time other boats arrive it's often too late and the process has moved from “rescue” “to recovery.”

MOB is Aptly Named...

Take this example: Sailing 10 miles off the Mediterranean island of Corsica, one particular crew relaxing on the foredeck heard a faint splashing sound. They turned around to see that Roger, the helmsman, was not steering anymore. Fortunately for Roger, they decided to investigate, and discovered him floating and waving his arms frantically 100 meters behind the boat. Roger had made a near-fatal mistake of setting autopilot, then casually taking a whiz off the back of the boat without telling anyone and without the aid of a jack-line attaching him to the boat. 

MOB is called Man Over Board because of this exact reason. Men taking whizzes off the back; they lose focus, their muscles relax, their center of gravity is too high above the safety lines…. Seafaring lore holds that most male bodies found floating at sea have the zippers undone, as the distraction of relief and the attempt to focus on too many actions at once have caused many men to topple over the safety lines and into the ocean…

The key to increasing the chances of recovering your friend/family member alive is practice – then more practice and then practice. After all, why wouldn’t you? There is a reason emergency services in public safety conduct safety drills. Besides which, practicing can actually be fun. 

How to Handle a MOB

After determining there is a MOB, The first order is to appoint a crew member to keep a close visual watch on the MOB at all times. If you lose sight of them there is a vastly higher chance you will actually lose them. And an empty bunk is not a happy thing to look at for the rest of the voyage. You must say these words to the appointed watch crew member:

“No matter what happens on the boat, no matter what else is happening, and no matter what anyone says, you see or hear, DO NOT take your eyes off the MOB, even for an instant. If you do, we could lose him.”

Next, you must throw over some – any - temporary flotation, as well as a flag marker if available in the general direction of the MOB. It does not have to be precise. The MOB can try to swim to it. Try to make sure at least one item is connected to the boat. Other items may simply be visual markers for where the person is. Next, get a position fix. (Most GPS systems have a MOB button. Activate it immediately by holding it down.) Now you must initiate your plan for recovery.

It is vital at this juncture that you gain control and the attention of the remaining crew. Some will be inclined towards panic, particularly those like parents, partners, with an extremely close bond with the MOB. They may even try to jump into the water and double the rescue effort. Use the names of people when issuing your orders, and make the orders specific. For example, instead of  “Someone get a throw line,” say  “John, in the port aft lazarette, there is a long white throw line. Get it out now, please.”

The biggest thing to remember as the captain and leader of the crew is to keep your crew calm. Though it may be challenging, give complete, concise and unemotional, non-confusing orders. Envision your blood level temperature sinking from hot to cold; your crew need you to be icy and professional in this critical moment. Your crew will pick up on your confidence and follow you, if they see you’re in control. 

Often you are called upon to perform triage immediately, identify those crew who are losing their composure, and stop it immediately and firmly, even if it requires changing your tone or raising your voice. Establishing control and calm is imperative, and the closer your crew are to each other the more distraught they will be at the prospect of losing a crew member. And having to watch it.

Methods of Recovery

When it comes to the boat maneuvering itself, there are many strategies and methods researched to give you the best chance of recovering a MOB. Every helms-person, vessel owner, and/or person in charge should practice different rescue procedures to the point that they can become confident with them. As the skipper it is your call as to which recovery method you feel is the safest, based on the conditions and your experience. One rule of thumb is that you must constantly assess how to avoid putting the remainder of the crew in avoidable peril. 

1. The Heave-To Method for Sailors

Heave-to is a very effective MOB recovery method for sailboaters, and should be considered as a first option, especially if the victim can easily swim back to the boat. When you heave-to, the abrupt steering maneuver almost instantly stops the boat dead in the water. The faster it is done, the less distance the boat sails or moves away from the victim, and in a perfect scenario the victim is able to swim back to the boat. 

But remember, MOB events rarely occur in perfect conditions. If there are breezes strong enough to sail then often there is breeze enough for waves, and currents. Heaving to requires little or no effort by the crew, because the jib is left alone and only the mainsail is let out after the boat is tacked.

To Be Continued in Part 2... Stay Tuned!

Meet the Author: Grant Headifen, Global Director of Education at NauticEd

My mission for NauticEd is to provide the highest quality boating education available - and deliver competence wherever sailors live and go. 

• Take NauticEd Online Power courses
• Take NauticEd Online Sailing courses

Be the first to access boater stories like this one by subscribing
to our boater newsletters,The Running Fix and Dock Talk!