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While a bunch of boats were beating their way up choppy-sloppy San Pablo Bay in the topsy-turvy Delta Ditch Run this June, the Express 27 Elise decided not to race and instead headed to balmy Raccoon Strait just off Angel Island for some crew overboard drills, captured on silicon chips by photographer Sergei Zavarin.
Not too hard for two strong guys to pull a small woman back onboard. ©2010 Sergei Zavarin/http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com
Elise's skipper, Nathalie Criou, kindly satisfied our curiosity about the images Sergei sent us:
NCS: How did you end up doing drills instead of racing?
Nat: The weather was fabulous for MOB drills. The Delta Ditch race was a brutal beat, and it didn't look like the wind was changing. We decided to turn around and have fun sailing instead. (We also forgot our food on the dock which helped make the decision.) It was so hot that we talked about taking a dip, and from there it was only one small step to the drills. Most of the time when people do drills, they just go pick something that's floating around. Retrieving the person is the hardest part.
Uh-oh! Now Nathan's fallen off the boat. ©2010 Sergei Zavarin/http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com
NCS: Up in San Pablo Bay it was quite windy with big sloppy waves. What were the wind and sea conditions where you were in Raccoon Strait?
Nat: Flat water and nice little breeze. The wind and sea conditions changed even in San Pablo Bay (before we returned to SF Bay).
Nathan makes sure the crew of Elise can see and hear him. ©2010 Sergei Zavarin/http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com
NCS: What was the longest anyone was in the water?
Nat: My guess would be about two minutes max, when we had to rig the halyard.
The crew throw a halyard to Nathan. ©2010 Sergei Zavarin/http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com
NCS: And how long was the quickest retrieval?
Nat: 10 seconds to bring Nathan back onto the boat by rolling him on deck.
Probably about 30 seconds (Roger getting back to me).
Another rescue of Nat. ©2010 Sergei Zavarin/http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com
NCS: Did you find a particular method or sequence of steps worked better than others?
Nat: We were focusing on the retrieval, even though we did the full drill - rolling the person (grab a leg and an arm) onto the deck seemed to be the fastest way to get someone back onboard. Halyard stuff took much longer, but if you're shorthanded, it is better than nothing!
Nathalie lifts Nathan out of the water using the halyard. ©2010 Sergei Zavarin/http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com
NCS: And, wow, wasn't the water cold? Or was it so hot that day that it was refreshing?
Nat: Didn't feel cold at all (if you jumped right in), and it was super refreshing. I'd sign up for this any day with sun and little wind, or after a long downwind leg.
Sergei edited together two videos of the drills, one less than a minute long, the other four minutes long. See www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1UauOfQ0ZA (short version) and www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lWH1jGdaF0 (long version). Also see the slide show at www.slideshare.net/nathaliecriou/man-overboard-recovery.
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