Boater's Tale of Survival at Sea Has a Theme Psalm - Los Angeles Times
This article about a man who did something relatively innocent while taking his yacht on what should have been a short and routine trip to the boat yard is an excellent illustration for several key points I make in my book, Crewing aboard a Superyacht. The article points out that Craig McCaib should not have been piloting his boat alone, and I agree with that, but I would also add that the really stupid thing he did was leaning out to look at the props while the engine was running. Duh! When you think you've run over a lobster pot, wouldn't you at least put the boat in nuetral before you lean out over the stern to see if you have a line wrapped around your prop? In my book I point out that many men go overboard while whizzing over the side. Stupid, but perhaps more understandable? Or maybe this guy was actually whizzing over the side and they made up a story about the line around the prop?
Two horror stories come to mind from my own experience... Well sort of from my experience. I got very close to the action in both cases without actually being there. The first one took place in Gustavia Harbor, St. Barths. I worked on a day by day basis on several of the day-tripping boats that ran between Philipsburg St. Maarten, and Gustavia, St. Barths. There's a whole fleet of them. They generally power into wind in the morning and drop a load of sea-sick drunk tourists at the dock in Gustavia where they spend the day exploring the charming island. The boat and crew spend the day doing maintenance, having lunch and preparing for the return trip to St. Maarten in the afternoon. On one of the boats, a young female crew member went diving to clear a line from one of the boat's props. Normal safety procedures were not followed, and the Captain was not aware that anyone was in the water. He started the engine and put it in gear. The poor girl was cut in half. This is a true story, and while I was not in St. Barths that day many of my friends were, and we all learned a horrible lesson about always, ALWAYS making sure EVERYONE connected with the boat knows when you're working near the props. Large signs taped on the engine room door, and on the wheel are also advisable.
Horror story 2: When Handsome Husband and I took the yachtmaster course one chilly December on the Hamble (Southern England), one of our fellow students was a guy named Willie. I don't remember his last name or the name of the yacht he'd crewed aboard, but this one is documented somewhere. Willie was the guy who worked the foredeck on a maxi-yacht competing in the round-the-world Whitbread race. In this race, the really hard part comes in the Southern Ocean. The seas are huge, the wind is strong, and it's cold. During a sailchange on the foredeck, Willie was swept overboard. He told us that although all crewmembers had proper harnesses and floatation devices, they didn't use them because they were too restrictive and got tangled in the lines and sails during sail-changes. As professional yacht crew, we've all practiced the man-overboard drill ad nausium. It's not too difficult when you're rescuing a little bouy on a calm day with your engines idling. Try rescuing a person in 30-40' seas when you're running downwind at something approaching 20 knots. The engine in this story was off and wouldn't start immediately. The main halyard stuck and wouldn't let the mailsail down, because without the engine they couldn't bring the boat into wind to let it down the easy way.
The crew lost sight of Willie, who was fighting for his life in the chilly water. Willie says the engineer eventually cut the main halyard with an ax, so the yacht could come about and beat back to where they'd lost Willie. There was little hope of finding Willie. Of course Willie only learned all this later. When he went overboard, he was wearing rubber Wellington boots and foul weather gear over the standard jeans, shirt, jumper (sweater). No floatation device... Willie took off his rubber boots and held them upside-down, and that is what saved him. He'd been in the water so long that the Albatrosses were dive-bombing him, and that is how the yacht crew found him. They saw the birds and followed them. Getting him aboard the boat again was very dangerous, and they nearly lost him for good at that point because he let go of his Wellies to grab at the lines the crew were throwing at him. He was very weak and doesn't remember doing it, but he managed to wrap a line around his hand and they did pull him aboard. He had been blinded by the cold at this piont. As a body's core temperature goes down, various functions shut down, and apparently when you go blind, you're very near death. Willie said they wrapped him up with the biggest hairiest guy on the boat, because he was the warmest. And Willie survived.
SO, be safe all you sailors out there! Miracles do happen, and people are sometimes rescued when they go overboard or do something stupid, but sometimes they die. Don't ever forget that your safety is your own responsibility.
This article about a man who did something relatively innocent while taking his yacht on what should have been a short and routine trip to the boat yard is an excellent illustration for several key points I make in my book, Crewing aboard a Superyacht. The article points out that Craig McCaib should not have been piloting his boat alone, and I agree with that, but I would also add that the really stupid thing he did was leaning out to look at the props while the engine was running. Duh! When you think you've run over a lobster pot, wouldn't you at least put the boat in nuetral before you lean out over the stern to see if you have a line wrapped around your prop? In my book I point out that many men go overboard while whizzing over the side. Stupid, but perhaps more understandable? Or maybe this guy was actually whizzing over the side and they made up a story about the line around the prop?
Two horror stories come to mind from my own experience... Well sort of from my experience. I got very close to the action in both cases without actually being there. The first one took place in Gustavia Harbor, St. Barths. I worked on a day by day basis on several of the day-tripping boats that ran between Philipsburg St. Maarten, and Gustavia, St. Barths. There's a whole fleet of them. They generally power into wind in the morning and drop a load of sea-sick drunk tourists at the dock in Gustavia where they spend the day exploring the charming island. The boat and crew spend the day doing maintenance, having lunch and preparing for the return trip to St. Maarten in the afternoon. On one of the boats, a young female crew member went diving to clear a line from one of the boat's props. Normal safety procedures were not followed, and the Captain was not aware that anyone was in the water. He started the engine and put it in gear. The poor girl was cut in half. This is a true story, and while I was not in St. Barths that day many of my friends were, and we all learned a horrible lesson about always, ALWAYS making sure EVERYONE connected with the boat knows when you're working near the props. Large signs taped on the engine room door, and on the wheel are also advisable.
Horror story 2: When Handsome Husband and I took the yachtmaster course one chilly December on the Hamble (Southern England), one of our fellow students was a guy named Willie. I don't remember his last name or the name of the yacht he'd crewed aboard, but this one is documented somewhere. Willie was the guy who worked the foredeck on a maxi-yacht competing in the round-the-world Whitbread race. In this race, the really hard part comes in the Southern Ocean. The seas are huge, the wind is strong, and it's cold. During a sailchange on the foredeck, Willie was swept overboard. He told us that although all crewmembers had proper harnesses and floatation devices, they didn't use them because they were too restrictive and got tangled in the lines and sails during sail-changes. As professional yacht crew, we've all practiced the man-overboard drill ad nausium. It's not too difficult when you're rescuing a little bouy on a calm day with your engines idling. Try rescuing a person in 30-40' seas when you're running downwind at something approaching 20 knots. The engine in this story was off and wouldn't start immediately. The main halyard stuck and wouldn't let the mailsail down, because without the engine they couldn't bring the boat into wind to let it down the easy way.
The crew lost sight of Willie, who was fighting for his life in the chilly water. Willie says the engineer eventually cut the main halyard with an ax, so the yacht could come about and beat back to where they'd lost Willie. There was little hope of finding Willie. Of course Willie only learned all this later. When he went overboard, he was wearing rubber Wellington boots and foul weather gear over the standard jeans, shirt, jumper (sweater). No floatation device... Willie took off his rubber boots and held them upside-down, and that is what saved him. He'd been in the water so long that the Albatrosses were dive-bombing him, and that is how the yacht crew found him. They saw the birds and followed them. Getting him aboard the boat again was very dangerous, and they nearly lost him for good at that point because he let go of his Wellies to grab at the lines the crew were throwing at him. He was very weak and doesn't remember doing it, but he managed to wrap a line around his hand and they did pull him aboard. He had been blinded by the cold at this piont. As a body's core temperature goes down, various functions shut down, and apparently when you go blind, you're very near death. Willie said they wrapped him up with the biggest hairiest guy on the boat, because he was the warmest. And Willie survived.
SO, be safe all you sailors out there! Miracles do happen, and people are sometimes rescued when they go overboard or do something stupid, but sometimes they die. Don't ever forget that your safety is your own responsibility.