Man Overboard

From 2004 through 2008 there were 1,010 fatalities resulting from falling overboard, second only to capsizing with 991 deaths, no other accident even came close to them. The best solution is to not fall overboard! Do not sit on the edges with your feet or legs hanging over the side. Practice good housekeeping by keeping the decks clear of clutter from un-necessary items that cause trip hazards. Wear your Life Jacket when boating alone, in bad weather or if you are not a good swimmer. All children are required by law to wear a Life Jacket when not in an enclosed cabin. Life Jackets are difficult (if not impossible) to put on once you are in the water, try it sometime, this is the reason you will want to be wearing your Life Jacket before you fall overboard.

Man Overboard Procedure

1) As soon as the victim goes into the water yell "MAN OVERBOARD" as loudly as you can. At the same time start throwing Flotation Device’s to the person in the water. A Life Ring, a Boat Throw Cushion or a horseshoe buoy are good examples of the Type IV Throwable Devices that must be readily available for fast deployment. By throwing out more then one flotation devices (cockpit cushions, life jackets, Fenders, etc.) you will leave a trail that leads back to the person in the water once the captain gets the boat turned around.

2) Do not take your eyes off of the man overboard (MOB) and point to them with your arm fully extended so the captain of the boat can steer to them. It is very important that you maintain constant eye contact with the MOB. A small dark head bobbing around in choppy water can be very hard to find once you lose eye contact, there have been cases where the person went in the water and was never seen again.

3) The captain should immediately slow the boat and start his turn as soon as it is safe to do so. If you have a GPS, now is the time to hit the MOB button (if equipped). This sets a way point that allows you to steer back to. Remember that with wind and currents the person in the water will not remain in that exact spot but it gives you a good point of reference. Between drifting out of location and the possibility of hypothermia, time is of the essence in retrieving the MOB. The more time that has elapsed the farther the MOB will be from the spot that they went into the water and if you loose eye contact the larger the search area will be making it more difficult to find the MOB. If you do not have a GPS, and hopefully you do have a Compass, you will want to take note of your compass heading before you start your turn and then turn the boat on a new course of 180 degrees from the original course, thereby back tracking your original course.

4) Deploy a floatable retrieval line that is attached to the boat, that way if you over shoot the MOB’s position they can grab the line. The best approach is to head into the wind when retrieving MOB’s, that way the wind will blow you away from them instead of over the top of them.

5) Get them back into the boat as soon as possible. This may turn out to be the hardest part of the rescue due to them being exhausted, injured or suffering from hypothermia. If your boat is small and you do not have a swim platform or ladder then your best bet is to pull them over the transom (back of the boat) for stability reasons. If all else fails and as a last resort you can put someone else in the water to help, make sure they put on a life jacket first and if possible get a life jacket on the victim as well and get lines attached from both the victim and the rescuer to the boat. If there is a delay in finding the MOB you should issue a PAN-PAN on the VHF Marine Radio channel 16.

It is a good idea to practice your man overboard procedures with a Life Jacket, Boat Throw Cushion or better yet a basketball which will give you a good idea of what a bobbing head in the water will look like, you will be surprised at how hard it is to see. Look away from the ball for 5 seconds and see if you can find it again, this will show you how important it is to keep looking and pointing at the MOB.