Personal overboard survival ideas

The devices shown were pretty clumsy, would be more than a handful in high winds/rough seas or if the victim was the least bit weak or injured.
They always “test” these things in ideal conditions!

 

Overboard .Single-handed .Any ideas ?

 

I'd add... under unrealistic conditions?

 

"Overboard . Single-handed .Any ideas ?"

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Overboard sigle-handed is -Achtung- strictly Verboten

1) A Sailboat desing with No need to walk around the deck at all, and nothing is anything: my suggestion is for the mast to be ca. 40 cm from the cockpit

2) A deep cockpit that offers comfort, thanks to a large backrest, and safety

3) A harness with a short rope

 

On crewed boats, I've used the following command:

- Nothing, absolutely nothing, is done alone:

a crew member is wearing a harness; the harness rope end is attached to a winch, and on the winch, holding the winch handle, there is a crew member attentive to his comrade.

 

For example

we used the gunwale and the vast ocean as WC, although in this case it was more open than closed.

With a harness, a rope, and a discreetly attentive comrade as a prudent precaution.

 

Why would you want to wear something that you end up having to climb into? You've just been ripped off your boat with your safety line breaking and it's being blown away from you faster than you can swim, so you certainly do want something inflatable that can get you out of the water to reduce the vicious heat loss of being in the water, but it should inflate around you into a survival cage of inflatable tubes and take advantage of already being attached to you fully. I'd make something with four tubes which provide enough flotation to keep you clear of the water and to keep doing so no matter how much you roll. I wouldn't immediately try to close the interior space, but instead wait for calmer conditions which could allow it to be detached from you and converted into a four-tube raft with all the tubes underneath instead of going round you, but retaining the option of returning to the original configuration if the stormy conditions return. I don't know what's stopping people making something like this instead of those impractical toys that only suit calm conditions when you're already safe on your yacht.

 

I like some of these ideas!

"something with four tubes which provide enough flotation to keep you clear of the water and to keep doing so no matter how much you roll."

I wonder if keeping clear of the water would be enough because of the wind chill effect? If someone is soaked and continuously sprayed/ splashed with water and hit with a howling wind in stormy conditions, would they be much warmer than being immersed? Maybe something is needed to block the wind and spray, like a version of a quick zip Man Overboard survival suit used on trawlers?

Also because of the mechanical pounding from sometimes huge Rolling waves, it might be better to be beneath the surface rather than on it? But designing something that goes beneath, brings on a great number of other possibly insurmountable issues which would have to be solved.. Perhaps studying craft designs of those that survived during the going over Niagara Falls craze, would yield some ideas, ha!

 

If I finally manage to sail out to sea, I'll probably wear a dry suit, which isn't very comfortable. Some kind of automatic vest. Mask and snorkel. The question is whether something like a micro raft makes sense, and where to put it on yourself? On your back?
Pilot Emergency Parachutes | Butler Parachute Systems https://www.butlerparachutes.com/pilot-parachutes/

 

Hornet-Lite https://kokopelli.com/collections/backpacking-collection/products/hornet-lite

 

Can You Drown While Wearing a Life Jacket? What You Need to Know https://www.trycrawl.com/common-questions/can-you-drown-while-wearing-a-life-jacket-what-you-need-to-know/

 

Michelin Man ? Maybe some drawing?

 

Most of my sailing has been single-handed. If my safety line breaks, then im pretty sure my spine has been snapped also in the process, therefore, swimming or climbing into anything is not going to happen.

I wear only a harness, no life jacket to inflate itself while being submerged on a fordeck. My sole endevour is to "stay on the boat".

I got smacked across the head in a gybe and knocked unconcious, I woke up with my face 2ft from the water, hanging over the rail, bought up short by using the reduced length of tether I use in the cockpit.

The idea of wondering around the deck, working the boat, wearing an inflatable raft is advertising playing on insecurities and nightmares. But to each their own.

 

Mabybe solution is non automatic inflatable vest . I've read that Australian EPIRB are non automatic.

Helmet ?

The only reason I'm thinking about micro raft , is the great progress in inflatable materials and the possibility of making new lightweight things.