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Nominated by Bill Jarvis:
Copied, with permission, from the SailNet
Beneteau Bulletin Board.
I got to execute an honest-to-god rescue the other day.
We went out in 20-25 kts, 3-5ft seas (and building) to dutifully take
our turn as committee boat for the day's racing. Because the wind was
coming from an unusual direction, we were headed out about a mile and a
half offshore to a spot we wouldn't normally be in to set up the
starting line.
As we approached the starting area, I noticed some SCUBA divers off
to one side.
1st thought: "Hey, there are some of those maniacs who dive from
sea kayaks."
2nd thought: "Hey, there aren't any sea kayaks."
3rd thought: "Hey, there isn't a dive boat anywhere around
here."
From this insightful chain of reasoning, I brilliantly deduced that
the divers' frantic waving wasn't a "You idiot, get the heck out of
here! Can't you see our dive flag?" but was instead a
"HELP!"
I motored over closer to the divers, and asked if they needed any
help.
"Need any help?" I asked.
"...gasp..., ...sputter..., YES!" they replied.
So we began the recovery operation. I had the divers reel in their
dive flag so the line wouldn't get in the prop. Once that was done, I
attempted to bring the boat head-to-wind in neutral alongside the divers
so that we could recover them off the swim platform. That wasn't
happening. By this time, the wind had picked up some, the seas were
building and the nose of the boat would blow down pretty quickly once I
took the way off. So finally, what I did was to lay a-hull just upwind
of the divers. The boat was stable this way, and we had a drift rate of
about a knot or so. We tied a few lines to the boat and tossed them to
the divers as safety lines to keep them nearby. One at a time, the
divers were able to climb up the swim ladder with our assistance and
collapsed on the foredeck.
It seems that they were drift diving and their buddy in the boat that
was to pick them up wandered off while they were down (he claimed the
floating flag submerged as they went down). They'd been on the surface
for about an hour wondering what to do when we found them.
The only other boat that showed up for the race that day broke their
rudder and retired, so we scrubbed the race and took the boat home. On
the way we found the divers' boat wandering around about 1.5 miles from
where we were. Boy did he look sheepish.
From this I learned a couple of things: If one of the divers hadn't
had a 4 foot long inflatable blaze orange signaling tube, I would never
have seen them. With their BC's fully inflated, only their (dark haired)
heads stuck up out of the water and their (black gloved) hands. Even in
the middle of a Florida day with the sun beating down, there is no way
to see a person in 3 foot waves from more than about 200 feet away. If
it had been night, forget it. A lifejacket is not sufficient to ensure
you can recover a MOB. Make sure everyone has signaling capability that
works night and day. I went out and bought one of those inflatable tubes
the next day. $20 seemed cheap.
Aside from visibility issues, I also learned some more about boat
handling. We've always done our MOB drills on nice days with calm seas
and not too much wind. I strongly recommend practicing on not nice days
- you'll find out some things about what your boat will or won't do.
Finally, I always suspected it, but I really learned to appreciate
our scooped-out transom's swimmer recovery capabilities. Many sailboats
would have been seriously hard pressed to pull three 200lb tired guys
with full scuba gear on board. It was almost easy for us, though.
Net net, we scooped up three very lucky guys, no one got hurt, and I
now supposedly get a lifetime supply of fresh crab. We'll see.
Additional Information:
Our adventure took place on Sunday, July 22nd. I am a member of the
Gulfstream Sailing Club (GSC), located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Our web
site is http://www.gulfstreamsailingclub.org. Our adventure is
documented on the web site by the Principle Race Officer for our club (Garie
Blackwell) who was aboard that day. GSC is a non-locational club, but
you can find the contact information on our web page.
Unfortunately, we didn't write down the divers names or phone numbers
so I won't be able to pass that info along. We didn't make a mayday
call, although we did call SeaTow and discuss the situation with them as
we'd observed them towing an apparently-empty boat off the water some
time before the incident occurred. Subsequent to the rescue, I
advised SeaTow that we had the divers safely on board.
All three divers were wearing BCD's. The air temperature was in the
80's, and the water temperature was around 80, so I don't believe that
hypothermia would have been a major concern for an extended period of
time but if I recall correctly, none of the divers were wearing wet
suits and all were somewhat chilled by the time we recovered them.
Commotion is not equipped with a Lifesling, but I am strongly
considering purchasing one now as it's use would have been helpful in
this situation.
Ross
35s5 #55 "Commotion" |
