How to get back into the boat when you are alone?

sveinutne

sveinutne

Member III
This weekend started with some new snow on Saturday, but on Sunday the weather was nice and I tested the Ericson, but only by motor, the mast is still in my garden. My wife was working this weekend, so I decided just to take her out by myself. After some motoring, I dropped the anchor at 18 meters, and killed the engine. It was so peaceful and quiet. I could hear the birds far away and there was no wind and no waves. The water was just like a mirror as it often does in the fjords. Then I started to think when walking around on the deck. What if I should fall overboard? How do I get back in the boat? Modern sailboats got a swimming ladder or something in the back but not the E-41. The thought of falling in the 5 degrees water and no way to get back into the boat started to scare me, so I started to think what I should make as an emergency ladder or way back into the boat. I pushed some of the fenders over the side as a start and started to think. Maybe the anchor line would be the only way back into the boat, but it would be hard. So I wonder if I am the only one with such thoughts or is there an easy solution to this problem? Well problem was my next thing, the battery was drained down to 12.6 volts, and the starter would not kick in. Without the mast I had not installed the antenna for the VHF, so I could not call for help with that. I still got my cell phone, but I did not want to call anyone at this moment, I had to look for other option first. Then I measured the voltage on the second battery, but it was even lower than the first then I remembered I had the battery charger still in the boat, and also a 600 watt inverter. So I hooked the inverter up to the second battery that was almost flat, but still could give some juice, and made it run the charger so the first battery got up till 12.8 volts. Then I tried to start the engine, and the starter kicked in and the engine started. Then I decided to always keep an inverter and charger in the boat. Now both batteries are charged till max, and I will try to keep it that way, but I am still thinking about how to get back into the boat if I should fall into the water?</SPAN>
 
MarcusJtown

MarcusJtown

Member II
Emergency ladder

Hey,

Check this out : http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|10391|109363|1235752&id=88159

The bag hangs from your rail somewhere, with a loop hanging down that you can pull from the water. We had a recent incident here where an older gentleman fell overboard at his mooring. It was early in the season and there were not any other boats in the water for him to swim to, or anyone around to help. You don't have much time in cold water before your strength is just gone...
 
sveinutne

sveinutne

Member III
Thank you, I will see what they are selling local her in Trondheim, but if I do not find one in the shop, I might make a look alike until I find something. Falling into freezing water is no joke.</SPAN>
 
toddster

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
It seems like a small swim platform at the stern with a retractable ladder might be a more robust solution. You'd never forget to rig it, and it wouldn't look like a forgotten fender.
 
Rocinante33

Rocinante33

Contributing Partner
Get a harness, a tether, and rig jacklines.......and always use them when you are single handed! Make sure you stay on the boat!
 
DanielW

DanielW

E-28 Owner
Some absolute essentials for your boat, and repeating a few things already mentioned :

1. A hand held VHF.
2. An extra battery solely for engine starting.
3. An alternator (maybe yours has kicked the bucket if your batteries were that flat after a motoring session).
4. A swim ladder that can be deployed from the water if you need to.
5. A mast (okay, only joking but get it back on ASAP, a sailboat isn't much use without a mast).

I'm also wondering how the hell you got the anchor up? I'm assuming that your 41 has a hefty anchor? If you were in 18 meters I'm guessing you had at least 50 meters of rode out. That's a hell of a lot to pull up by hand :0.
 
sveinutne

sveinutne

Member III
Thank you all for good advice. It is easy when you know what you need. I might look at this if I find a place to put it.
http://www.svb24.com/index.php?sid=ef92d47d768610b2c287d3b3075d90fd&cl=details&cnid=12147&anid=917
Yes I will also bring a hand held VHF.
I got a20 kg anchor but I pulled it up by an electric winch I have put in. So it was easy to get it up, so I got a third battery for the winch, but it is located close to the winch, so that would have been my last resort before starting the emergency generator.
 
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sveinutne

sveinutne

Member III
The electric winch

The electric winch is placed behind the seat, so I can sit and steer and still operate the winch. The plan is to use this winch for hoisting the bow anchor and the anchor in the back, and also control the Genoa.</SPAN>
To be able to run the electric winch from all position behind the wheel, I have installed two switches one on each side. You can see the left switch as the red dot.</SPAN>
 

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u079721

u079721

Contributing Partner
I thought a fair amount about this sort of thing the season that I spent single handing.

To start with I had jacklines, and never went on deck when underway without wearing my combination harness and inflatable life vest, and snapping into a jack line with a tether with a snap ring at my end. Rigged to this vest I kept a waterproof handheld VHF, a strobe-flashlight combination, knife, and whistle. I then rigged the stern ladder on my E-38 with a pull down tether leading to the stern waterline, and kept the top fastened with a strip of velcro so I could grab the tether and release the stern ladder. If I hadn't had the stern ladder available I would have bought one of those emergency rope ones that you see in the catalogs.

BUT, even given all this - if I had fallen overboard while underway, and were being dragged by my tether attached to the jackline, I very much doubt I would have been able to rescue myself by climbing back aboard a moving boat. So I made bloody well sure to keep my tether short and stay on the boat!
 
G

Glyn Judson

Moderator
Moderator
Shark bait.

All, This thread reminds me of the article I read decades ago of a single hand sailor who lived to tell of being washed over the side in the vicinity of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. He was an older man without the upper body strength to pull himself back aboard on his short tether and harness. It was hours that his large boat sailed with no one at the helm as he was being trolled behind, time enough to realize that he had gone from single handed sailor to Great White shark bait. His boat eventually sailed herself aground on the reef and locals paddled out to return him to shore. As to the placement of a boarding ladder, an account of an E31 owner is further evidence that a mid-ship ladder it preferred. He was single handing his boat, hull #41 from Nantucket to Portland ME when his prop wrapped a stray poly line and a lot of marine growth. He free dove the prop and eventually cut the line free. Many of our E31's are fitted with rudder steps as was/is his and while tired and more than ready to get aboard, he paddled to the stern only to have it hobby horse down on his head nearly knocking him out. He was dazed and eventually regained his senses enough to drag himself aboard via those ladder steps. Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA
 
u079721

u079721

Contributing Partner
M

MarkA

Please Contact Admin.
I'm curious to hear how you guys run your jacklines. I hear too often about people being dragged, but the goal is to NOT GO OVER! Jackline placement is key. So, how do you do it?
 
u079721

u079721

Contributing Partner
MarkA said:
I'm curious to hear how you guys run your jacklines. I hear too often about people being dragged, but the goal is to NOT GO OVER! Jackline placement is key. So, how do you do it?
Click to expand...

Mine was strictly a do-it-yourself type of job, but it seemed to work. I had a length of webbing twice the length of the boat with a loop in the middle that I fastened around the headstay fitting at the bow, and led aft on each side deck to the stern cleats, where they were tied through the opening in the cleat. I did not try to keep it super tight as I found that was more likely to trip me, so what I always did was tie off to the line on the high side of the boat. That way I was pretty sure I would not have been able to reach the water on the lee side - though I would have been in big trouble had I fallen off the weather side. For entering the cockpit I kept another length of webbing tied around the base of the mast below leading up to one of the headsail cleats on the cockpit coaming. That way I could be tied off as I entered and left the cockpit. In practice I found that I only used the side jacklines when I went forward. After one hairy night trying to tie off a reef in the dark I decided to mostly not leave the cockpit when single handing at night, which meant either motoring or motorsailing with just the genny.
 
P

PatTormey

Member I
other options..

Staying on board is a great idea, so jacklines are the solution for single handing.. And I just installed a permanent swim ladder too.

When at anchor you can also rig you jib sheets loose around the winch and cleated then let both loops in the water. They are a stepping platform if you can then reach the rail. I'm told you can even crank the winch and raise yourself back into the boat, certainly someone on board could

If it's you in the water and anybody else on board you can rig your main sheet while still on the boom over the side as a crane/hoist, if you have a Topping lift.
I use snap shackles on the main sheets just in case, and it comes in handy for handling batteries while on the hard.

Pat
Blue Skies
E25+
NH USA
 
M

MarkA

Please Contact Admin.
The Practical Sailor analysis of the Chicago-Mac fatalities has me wondering. http://www.practical-sailor.com/issues/37_16/features/2011_wiingnuts_capsize_10758-1.html

Two fatalities, tethered to a mid-cockpit jackline, with auto-inflating PFD's, in a capsize. Perhaps they were knocked unconscious, or perhaps they were either trapped by their tethers to the mid-cockpit jackline, or trapped by their inflated pfd's or two or three of the above.

So what? Damned if you do, and damned if you don't?

1. I don't want to fall out.

2. If I do, I want my pfd to inflate automatically in case I'm not capable of doing it myself.

3. I don't want to be trapped in an inverted cockpit or cabin.

Is it too much to ask for all three?

I just scored a couple Mustang MD3184 harness/pfd's on eBay for less than 1/2 Defender prices. Looking at the pfd's the inflation/deflation tube is mid-chest level, or slightly lower. To deflate these in case of unwanted inflation inside an inverted cabin or cockpit, one must lie on their back with their head slightly lower than their waist in order to completely deflate them to swim down and out for safety. Why? Scuba BCD's have always had purge valves on the highest part of the shoulder so people could deflate while in the natural head-up position!

As for the tethering issue, I suspect mid-cockit is still the way to go as long as the tether clip will release under tension, or a decent knife is attached at all times.

Any thoughts? I'm still trying to figure out the right system for my boat.

I hope this is not a hijack of the thread.
 
M

MarkA

Please Contact Admin.
PatTormey said:
Staying on board is a great idea, so jacklines are the solution for single handing.. And I just installed a permanent swim ladder too.

When at anchor you can also rig you jib sheets loose around the winch and cleated then let both loops in the water. They are a stepping platform if you can then reach the rail. I'm told you can even crank the winch and raise yourself back into the boat, certainly someone on board could

If it's you in the water and anybody else on board you can rig your main sheet while still on the boom over the side as a crane/hoist, if you have a Topping lift.
I use snap shackles on the main sheets just in case, and it comes in handy for handling batteries while on the hard.

Pat
Blue Skies
E25+
NH USA
Click to expand...

Why didn't I think of that?
 
M

Mort Fligelman

Member III
Getting back in the boat

Mark:

Not meaning to be a wise guy......far from it.....I think that the gist of this entire thread basically concerned an accidental fall overboard, specifically when single handed.....

All of the suggestions given herein are valid......

Using the example of Wing Nuts, or a canting keel dropping off are at the end of a spectrum I would doubt any of us are likely to encounter......we are talking about a boat that had no business going offshore....a stability rating that might as well have been ZERO in those conditions.....the other a Maxi racer to the Nth degree with a system that was highly complex so as to have many ways to go bad......both resulting in a total capsize, in heavy weather and pedal to the metal conditions.......grand prix racing......

Frankly, I would feel safer on almost any Ericson sailed by members of this forum.......if prudently sailed..... and full attention paid to conditions and proper equipment ........as to single handed sailing I have done same very cautiously, but find I am not that enamored of my own company.....I find it boring, and not worth the effort of undocking and docking.....

All of this my .02 worth.....and it is not worth that....

Regards
 
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