What would happen if I fell overboard? (Single handing)

[PhysicsTeacher]

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet:
Kill switch! Kill switch!

My sails are rigged with slight weather helm, so that if I do fall overboard (which I shouldn't, since I'm tethered in when I'm by myself), the boat will eventually round to irons. Since I was also wearing the kill switch clipped to my belt, the motor is off.
I've used my motor's tilt function to lift myself mostly out of the water as an experiment. It works. It isn't comfortable, but if I was seriously injured, I would at least be mostly out of the water, and have a decent chance of flopping my way over the transom.
Finally, I always carry a handheld waterproof VHF.

Anyhow, that's my $0.02.

[Stickinthemud57]

I see a lot of responses with comments about the difficulty of getting back in the boat after falling overboard. I can see this being especially difficult in the M and X.

My S came equipped with a fold-down boarding ladder, and one of the mods I did early on was to install a pair of stainless steel spring clips to hold it in the up position and attaching a pull-down rope to the ladder that can be reached from the water.

IMO, a boarding ladder accessible in a similar manner should be standard equipment on any boat when it is feasible.

[Ixneigh]

Regarding colder waters. An inflatable paddle board would be cheap life insurance. Almost no drag. A bit of a pita factor to be sure. But easy to store for people who use the boat, then leave her at a marina or other dry slip. It at least gets you out of the water and may buy you some time. How much I guess depends on the conditions. More importantly it gives a better chance of getting back aboard the yacht. I know my coordination and strength go right out the window if I’m wet and the temps are low.

[Jimmyt]

I see a lot of responses with comments about the difficulty of getting back in the boat after falling overboard. I can see this being especially difficult in the M and X.

My S came equipped with a fold-down boarding ladder, and one of the mods I did early on was to install a pair of stainless steel spring clips to hold it in the up position and attaching a pull-down rope to the ladder that can be reached from the water.

IMO, a boarding ladder accessible in a similar manner should be standard equipment on any boat when it is feasible.

Spring clips and deployment line are a great idea!

There is a swing down boarding ladder on the M. I can deploy mine easily from the water at anchor. It’s harder than the rig you have, though - especially under way. Getting back aboard the M is easy IF THE BOAT ISN’T MOVING - the scenario posed in the original post. If the boat has significant forward speed, the ladder trails out at between 45 degrees and almost 75 degrees - depending on speed. Of course, this doesn’t matter as it’s very difficult to get in a feet forward position when fully clothed and dragging along in the water. It may have been possible to throw an arm over the tilted motor and climb out enough on it to get my feet on the boarding ladder, but I didn’t try it. Lots of sharp edges and corners to injure yourself, and, I had crew bringing the boat speed down to allow me the safe use of the ladder. No need to panic and risk getting hurt. Had I been by myself, maybe.

Actually, if I had been by myself, I wouldn’t have been standing on deck, aft of the mast for an extended period, debating the spinnaker hoist.

[Jimmyt]

Regarding colder waters. An inflatable paddle board would be cheap life insurance. Almost no drag. A bit of a pita factor to be sure. But easy to store for people who use the boat, then leave her at a marina or other dry slip. It at least gets you out of the water and may buy you some time. How much I guess depends on the conditions. More importantly it gives a better chance of getting back aboard the yacht. I know my coordination and strength go right out the window if I’m wet and the temps are low.

This could be a workable solution. I’ve never tried to board one of these while being dragged, fully clothed. But, if you could get aboard the paddle board, it would keep you with the boat and give you a better position to attempt boarding the boat.

Good thought!

[Stickinthemud57]

Seeing all the comments about trying to swim while fully clothed, I would say the solution to that is obvious.

[kmclemore]

Seeing all the comments about trying to swim while fully clothed, I would say the solution to that is obvious.

Precisely. Skivvies or au natural works just fine.

A couple of years ago, in early fall, my wife and I were navigating northwards at dusk on Lake Champlain, headed to our slip. When we were about 3 miles away we ran out of gas. I usually am right on top of that, but for some reason the gauge had stuck and I was bone dry despite it showing 1/4 tank. We were now sitting smack in the middle of that long, narrow, but fortunately very quiet lake. I dropped anchor, switched on the anchor light, and instructed Jan to keep watch. I then stripped down to my skivvies, put all my clothes and my cell phone in a watertight bag, popped on a life jacket and jumped into the now very dark lake. I saw a light on the shoreline and headed for that, dragging the bag behind me on a short tether. It was about a 1 mile swim, and at 66 years old it seemed like a fair old challenge, but I was surprised to find that I swam the distance a great deal faster than I thought I would. The light, as it happened, was on the end of a private dock, so I quietly climbed up its ladder, stripped off the wet skivvies (thankfully, this was NOT the time for a security light to come on!), and slipped on my dry clothes. I made my way to the house and knocked on the door, wherein a nice lady about my age came the door with her Golden Retriever. I explained my situation and she said her husband would be home soon, so rather than call my buddy up in town, we could just wait for him. He arrived a few minutes thereafter and offered to take me and and a can of gasoline out to our boat on his jet ski, so off we went. Problem solved!

[Russ]

I made my way to the house and knocked on the door, wherein a nice lady about my age came the door with her Golden Retriever. I explained my situation and she said her husband would be home soon, so rather than call my buddy up in town, we could just wait for him.

Surely there were many questions. "How did you get here with your clothes dry?"

And what happened to the wet skivvies?

[kmclemore]

Surely there were many questions. "How did you get here with your clothes dry?"

And what happened to the wet skivvies?

Surprisingly not! I had also brought a small towel in the bag, but my hair was still pretty wet, so I guess they worked out what happened.

And as for the wet skivvies, they simply went into the bag that the dry clothes came out of!

[Russ]

\
And as for the wet skivvies, they simply went into the bag that the dry clothes came out of!

Ah.. so your hosts didn't know you were going comando?

[kmclemore]

Ah.. so your hosts didn't know you were going commando?

Folks rarely do!

[TrailerTrash]

https://www.cascadiadaily.com/2025/feb/ ... gjQ-zresxQ


Sadly, the lady in the water perished.

[Starscream]

Interesting topic. My boys and I have been discussing the issue for our planned Bahamas trip. We won't be single-handing, but each of us will be alone in the cockpit at certain times.

What we came up with is that we don't want tethers when sailing a water-ballast trailer-sailor. A knockdown or capsize with tethers could make things worse, especially if we go turtle. No expectations of that happening, but plan for the worst.

What we came up with is to attach personal MOB AIS locator beacons to our auto-inflating life jackets. We chose the MOB1 of Ocean Signal, because in addition to showing the MOB position on the AIS, it will issue a DSC call to our MMSI to alert the crewin the cabin.

https://ca.binnacle.com/p10435/Ocean-Si ... _info.html

You can also get MOB beacons that are personal EPIRB beacons on the SARSAT rescue system. We have a fixed EPIRB on the boat, along with the AIS MOB beacons. Hope we never test them.

[kurz]

just to ask: How many capsized you know about with ballast tank full???

Tethers could help if you deal with sails. Or if you fall over your own feet...

[NiceAft]

Good question Kurz.

It may be time for a poll. Who has heard of a capsized Mac with a full ballast? Emphasis on FULL ballast. If there were, it must be rare. Of course, rarity does not mean to not take precautions.