Personal overboard survival ideas

First post Cobham Survivor+ is quite close to your idea .

 

You forgot "cookie-cutter shark" repellent features. ;-)

 

When putting out to sea alone, one needs to accept the fact that they are venturing into an inherently dangerous and potentially deadly place.
Becoming separated from their vessel is always a possibility, and depending on water temperatures and prevalence of sharks in the area, a flimsy survival raft/suit will only possibly give you a bit more time to loose your mind as your body shuts down.
I’ve lived a full life, love being on the ocean, and when the time is ripe, I am hoping to end my final voyage by joyfully committing myself to the sea, Unencumbered!

 

@skarabocraft @ kapnD
I agree with you that the ocean is not a pleasant place to be in an inflatable crockodile.

But a bit off topic of man overboard, why do 100% of recreational, also "expedition" boats rely on inflatable rafts that are unable to move?

I grew up on "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman" aka "Battle of the Planets" and Zoltar always had some small backup vessel integrated with the main machine and in every episode he escaped.

 

When you hit the EPIRB button the GPS coordinates give the position that can be passed on to the nearest vessel, and although real-time tracking is now much improved, a raft that could drift at a large rate, may be miles from the original position when a vessel turns up some hours later.

Personally i have always had a dinghy with positive flotation and a sail rig, but then the last few boats i took off shore also had positive bouyancy or water tight bulkheads. The best life raft is the one you actually sail on. Personally i have never liked the idea of throwing an expensive box over the side and pulling a cord and nothing happens. An excess of safety gear and sat-phones has put many people in the "invincible" mind-set, as if they were driving Volvos.

 

Exactly

For peace of mind, a very compartmentalized wooden boat with bow compartments filled with

expanded polystyrene

Passive safety is two topics:

A) Impact against an 'object' and resistance to sinking after a major leak

B) Impact of a wild/rogue wave and capsizing

B1) watertightness
B2) the sailor's ribs
B3) rapid flight of batteries, frozen chickens, or canned food and impact in the sailor's skull
B4) falling overboard: harness
B5) righting the sailboat
B6) if the rig/Mast survive

I marvel at people who dare to cross an ocean in a wagon with sails and a hull full of holes. They call it a yacht. Because I'm very fearful, I don't dare sail in anything larger than a 6-meter boat*

*: "bote" in spanish = boat, pot**, canister

---
**: No ... jar ... jam jar
---
I mean something very tight and well closed

 

In this 1-ton vehicle, no one thinks the pilot is going to fall.

The thing is, we come from a tradition of Victorian-era yachts.

---

A guy with money, a bow full of sacks of sail, and some burly crew members running around the deck

 

I remember when we were young in the last century, we dragged heavy suitcases through train stations and airports.

Question

It was technically so difficult to put some fuxx wheels on the fuxxx suitcase.

No

It was pure inertia from the past when the aristocracy traveled and an army of porters carried heavy trunks.

 

In the last century, this was science fiction.

There was no technical difficulty, there was a centuries-old inertia.

 

The smallest Yacht (ca. 1880)

Crew:

1 "master"
1 "steward": butler, accountant and purchasing manager
1 "mate"
1 cook
3 "seamen"

 

1 Ton Curtiss Air-craft (1915)

(ca. 2025 version)

The pilot's head, only the pilot's head, sticks out of the cockpit.

The pilot also wears a harness with a 1-meter (!) rope; he can't fall overboard into the sea.

The mast is 40 cm from the cockpit.

The StaySail goes up and down on a rope; there's no damn furler to break.

And the Bowsprit pivots aft.

21st-century wheeled suitcase.

 

This is how we sail on small sailboats.

1) The crew as necessary ballast Upwind, which could be replaced with an electric pump and two ballast tanks.

2) The position is very exposed, and if the waves rise, it can be a bit unsettling; you lose enjoyment due to the unease.

3) Getting in and out is very uncomfortable, and you end up hating the small, low-backed seats that are useless.

In fact, it's best to cover the cockpit:



(Bill Churchouse, Azores, Jester Challenge 2008)

 

(Roger Taylor)

Sailing inside the sailboat with a Jester-style Chinese rig

This is a very good solution to avoid falling overboard.

My suggestion is a deep cockpit with a seat with a huge backrest.

+ A harness with 1-1.2 meter rope, and a light boat that is very difficult to capsize thanks to a closed Mast:

 

I remember Skip Novak deep cockpit , he pointed this out in the context of Vinson of antarcica (YTutbe). Some of sports boats have well-protected work stations.

 

The list of misfortunes and sufferings is always more or less the same.

1) Falling overboard
2) Losing the Mast
3) The rudder breaks
4) The Keel, OMFG, falls off
5) Hitting something strange and leaking a lot of water
6) Inability to stop the boat safely
7) The sailboat trips over itself while trying to surf big ocean waves, tips over, tries to capsize, and in the worst case, the stern tries to fly over the bow in a 'beautiful' somersault.

Oh, I forgot

8a) Collision with a Big merchant ship in the middle of the ocean and

8b) a fishing boat near the coast.