Opposite: details can be telling. Romain Gibon and Alban Mesnil just tied up in Cherbourg having won the 2023 Fastnet two-handed division as well as IRC 3 on their JPK 1010 Les p’tits Doudous En Duo. JPK 1010s took the top three places in the 100-strong two-handed division this year. Their boat is already tidied up, lines coiled and stowed, main neatly flaked. It is all looking shipshape and ready to go again. Left: it’ll do… during a drill the mainsail has been doused to port and hurriedly secured with the nearest long enough line. Below: a tiller tie-down is the simplest add-on that might prove to be a life-saver
MOB permits the boat to slowly slide towards the MOB while the halyard is being hoisted. If needed a quick hit of reverse can stop any forward progress.
Shortage of manpower A DH MOB leaves only one crew aboard. A cruising crew of three or four leaves two or three aboard. In both cases there is a shortage but for the DH there cannot be a full-time helmsman. At least a short- handed boat is equipped for one person to efficiently furl or drop sails. However, during the recovery there
neutral, drop mainsail (to port to clear the starboard deck). The hull is a threat to the life of the
MOB; approaching under engine is much safer than recovery under sail. Remember no one will be at the helm since the single crew will be on the halyard winch. In a light air MOB perhaps a case can be made for leaving some sails up, but our MOB plan is based on offshore conditions with wind and waves. There must be a means of securing the
helm so the boat assumes a stable heading and, if there is sternway, that the rudder/ steering system are not damaged. On my lightweight 37ft Lora Ann I fitted a short strop and shackle (above) that clips to the tiller; it is fast and easy. On a wheel I don’t trust brakes and prefer a lanyard. One might suggest that the autopilot
can maintain a preferred heading. How- ever, at very slow speed – perhaps even sternway – the autopilot cannot function. Without a helmsman, and with sails
down, it is essential to quickly determine how the boat will lie relative to wind and waves. This is critical for the beginning and end of the recovery when: 1) the crew must drop sails preparing to return to the MOB
2) the MOB is in the lifesling and the boat must be stopped while the halyard is hoisted. On Lora Ann we tested ‘lying ahull’ in
20-30kt with 4-6ft seas. We shackled the tiller, dropped the jib to port, cleating the sheets to quiet the sail. Then the main (luffslides are preferable to a luff groove system) was dropped to port and jammed between the lifelines and boom locked to port by the traveller. We secured one line across the mainsail,
but it was not necessary. This took less than two minutes and
both sails stayed remarkably docile, leav- ing the starboard deck cleared for action. Lora Ann rocked in the beam seas, but never varied from a True Wind Angle of 100 sailing at 0.5kt, sliding to leeward at 1.1kt (half leeway and half current (see B&G display overleaf). Lying ahull worked just as well a few weeks later on the much heavier 59ft Hound.
There are two big lessons: 1) while preparing to return to the MOB under engine, lying ahull minimises the distance sailed away from the MOB, and 2) while recovering the MOB (in the life - sling), lying ahull to windward of the
might not be enough muscle/winch power to hoist the MOB aboard. One must plan for the strongest/heaviest crew to be the MOB, so the minimum power requirement is for the weaker crew to be able to per- form the hoist. This might require a larger winch, or an electric winch or winch handle – fast becoming standard equip- ment on cruisers and some racers. One electric winch accessible by the starboard spinnaker halyard not only helps in an MOB recovery but also makes it easy to hoist a crew up the mast. Stern platform recoveries might be feasible for some boats, but in any seaway the stern is a dangerous place for the MOB and it is risky for the one remaining crew to go out there to assist. After the clockwise J-turn (see Part II)
has successfully ‘hooked’ the MOB, and the boat is stopped to windward and is lying ahull, the ‘Standard’ lift with the spinnaker halyard clipped onto the knot in the lifesling line is workable. Once stopped the helmsman grabs the lifesling rope, walks it forward to midships and starts to pull it in. After reaching the knot the line is secured to a cleat on the cabintop or rail. The crew then finds the spinnaker
halyard, clips it to the knot and hoists the MOB aboard. Alternatively, the MOB can be pulled all the way to the hull, manually pulled partway up the side to prevent sliding under the hull, and secured while the crew gets the halyard. The advantage of the ‘Standard’ lift is its
1:1 mechanical advantage for speed. The disadvantage is the number of moves the crew must make, adding complications, time and the risk of moving around. However, the ‘Midline Lift’ – despite
the 1:2 mechanical disadvantage – is my choice rather than the Standard Lift. The crew only has to walk the spinnaker
SEAHORSE 51
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