Stay with the boat:
Stay with the boat:
When sailing short handed (one person on watch) on my Cascade 29 with a beam of 8’ I rig a tether with a snap shackle each side from a strong point forward of the shrouds long enough to reach a swim ladder at the transom, to allow a person who is overboard to disable the steering vane to slow or stop the boat and climb back aboard via the boarding ladder mounted there. A person overboard forward of the mast with a typical 6’ tether and bow to stern static line will be held to the side of the boat by the pressure of the water with no way to slow the boat and get aboard. A static cord on the centerline with a short tether to prevent falling overboard would be so restrictive that it would not be used all the time. I’m interested in hearing any comments about this.
Recover:
In an earlier life I was a firefighter stationed on a fireboat. We were often called to recover a floating body, usually several days dead. After my first experience with this delight I sewed up a canvas stretcher, about 7’ square, the near edge fastened to the rail, the far edge had a pole in a wide hem with a pole fastened to each end. It was then easy to scoop the body up and hold it against the side of the boat, out of the water, while we returned to the dock where we would turn the body over to the police. This same overboard recovery system should work on a sailboat using a sail for the scoop.
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