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Man Over Board Drill 11/24/2023

When you get into a situation were you must rescue a crew member who has some how fallen out of your boat. You will need to very quickly save this person from the water. Its your promptness on whether this person survives or not. There are many factors to take into consideration when a person falls into the water. Here we will explain how to rescue the person considering the wind an the direction you should follow to slowly come up along side the man over board to provide them with some way on getting back into the boat as long as they are still conscious.


Pointing to the man over board
Pointing to the man over board

Here is Jan, keeping a eye on were to tell the skipper the boat should steer an is constantly keeping an eye on the man overboard to see if the stream current moves the MOB, In the circle you can identify an object in this Mob drill we used a Fender to represent an actual person. Jan is making sure we follow her direction until the boat is right beside the man over board. There always needs to be one person making sure they have visual eye contact with the person who has fallen into the water. Even on rough conditions that person who has fallen into the water should be wearing an approved life jacket.

passing a pole to the man over board
passing a pole to the man over board

We are using a fender to show how the boat should steer along side of that person ( MOB ) an offer either a rope - pole or hand to safely try an get them to an entrance or door of the boat to help them come back on board. If your man over board is not conscious then you will either have to get into the water an have him or her lifted on to the boat. If the person is heavy due to clothes being wet. You can use a rope to tie around that person upper body making sure that no ropes are in air passage way around the next or the rope is not to tight around the upper part of the chest.

The person who has jumped into the water to help try to rescue the man over board will also need to keep air passage way clear an keep that person head from being in the water. What that means head must be pointing up to the sky.


passing a pole to the man over board
passing a pole to the man over board

Len again demonstrating how to pass a pole to the man over board. In this exercise we have used a fender to demonstrate how to approach the man over board. The last thing you want is to have two people over board especially if the weather is bad an the conditions are getting worse. The person who is already on the boat can check the weather an either secure them selves by a rope on some part of the boat or have someone hold the rope of harness if the weather is not that bad. We all aim not to be in these situations but sometimes having these skill s can save lives an prevent some one from losing their life.


Man over board drills should be done at least once a month even with new crew coming on board.


In our other articles we will explain how to use a harness in really bad weather conditions. The skipper is in charge of the vessel so its his or hers responsibility to ensure that the boat is turned around an make sure you dont approach the MOB to fast otherwise the boat will run them over.


The real life man over board dummies are used in courses that we conduct to teach you how to rescue any one in any situation. If the man over board has suffered injury whilst falling out of the vessel or in the water. Each approach is categorized as different. Any different steps are required for rescue .

Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia
Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia

Here the dummy is fitted with water proof clothing an boots -

Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia
Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia

Here the dummies represent the different sizes from a fully grown person to a child or baby.

Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia
Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia

Here is an example of a man over board who has serious injuries. The device you see next to the swimmer is a water floating stretcher. The injured person is seated in the stretcher an then raised onto the vessel conflicting minimal stress to the victim.

Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia
Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia

Deploying the dummy from the vessel can be done by one person who has been given this job. Normally its the person who never loses site of the dummy an steers the skipper towards the man over board after the boat has completed a full 360 or turn to head upwind or down wind to the MOB.

Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia
Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia

Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia
Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia

There is also rubber dummies that you can buy to actually have the same weight as a human. The dummy above would be at 50 kilograms. The dummy replicates the human. When training for this MOB drill you get to understand the weight behind a human as opposed to using a fendre an you sometimes need two or three crew members to help hoist or jack up the man over board.





Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia
Man over board dummy - Learn To Sail - Alternative Sailing Australia



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