MOB! - the Hull and Humber incident

by Nancy Knudsen on 8 Nov 2009 The process used by the crew on the Hull and Humber Clipper to successfully retrieve their crew member lost overboard in the Southern Ocean recently cannot be used by a short handed cruising crew.

However, it's worth following the process, and taking note of some elements, especially those that could assist in a short handed retrieval.

What happened:
Arthur Bowers is a crewman taking part in all seven stages of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. The incident happened during daylight hours. He was apparently off watch and had the intention of going below into the saloon. He then unclipped his harness before going below.

In unruly seas (and maybe always as a habit), one should clip on before going on deck, using a strong point adjacent to the companionway. When going below, the process should be reversed, ie., go below, then unclip the harness.

At that moment a rogue wave struck the yacht, sending Arthur hurling down the deck, through protective guard wires and into the icy water. He was wearing a life jacket, which inflated on contact with the water, but he was not wearing an immersion suit. Being in the Southern Ocean, this meant that, apart from the difficulty of finding him, there was only a limited time available to retrieve him because of the temperature of the water. At the time that he went overboard, the wind was blowing 25-30 knots, the waves were six to eight metres high. Hull and Humber was sailing with the a Yankee headsail, a stay sail and three reefs in the main.

Piers Dudin, the skipper reported that the crew reacted quickly as soon as the incident happened. He was at the chart table, and pressed the 'MOB' button on the GPS system to mark the position instantly.

Do you know without thinking where your MOB button is? - it's the one button that you won't have time to look for if the need arises. If necessary, MARK it, or colour it in an easy-to-recognise colour.

At the same time, one of the crew continued to point at Arthur's position.

Not possible with only two hands on the boat if you are going to do anything else. Even more important to have pressed that MOB button quickly.

The crew then hove-to with the headsails, released the preventer, centred the main and then dropped the yankee and staysail. By the time this was achieved, the boat was 150 metres away from Arthur.

150 metres! How fast can you get your sails inoperative and out of the way? No matter what method you use to stop the boat as quickly as possible, you are going to be a considerable distance from the MOB by the time the boat is stopped.

They then started the engine and motored back (up wind on this occasion) to Arthur's position.

One of the crew then put on a harness, while the rest of the crew prepared a halyard to allow him to be lowered over the side to reach Arthur.

While this was being done, the boat reached Arthur, and began circling him attempting to be close enough to reach him. They circled him twice, then on the third lap came up close to him on the starboard side, but not close enough.

On the fourth circle, they achieved an almost stationary position next to Arthur, and the harnessed crew member was lowered by halyard to him. He then attached a staysail halyard to Arthur's life jacket, and both were hauled up.

Arthur held onto the helistrop and supported himself as he was hoisted.

Arthur had been in the water for 17 minutes. He was able to walk himself back to the cockpit and go below to get out of his wet gear. Another crew member had prepared a sleeping bag for him in the saloon.

It is interesting to note that, even with so many crew on board, they did not attempt to haul Arthur up the side of the boat. In safety videos put out by UK-Halsey Sailmakers earlier this year, it can be observed clearly that three muscled crew members had significant trouble getting a fellow crew member on board during safety training.

With a short-handed cruising crew, usually consisting of male and female, this is almost impossible, and if the one overboard is the male, even less possible. Raising an overboard crew member by halyard is the only practical solution, if you have been quick-reacting enough to know the spot and can then station the boat close enough to reach the MOB with a halyard. Use will have been made of the danbuoy and the MOB retrieval system, to bring the MOB close to the boat. Bear in mind that the halyard most likely would have to be rigged to a good winch to achieve the lift. Which winch would YOU use?

All sensible ocean cruisers do MOB drills, and will have their own methods refined. But by such examples as the above is our knowledge reinforced.

(It is sobering, but cannot be ignored, that in discussing this incident we have been talking about a conscious MOB.)