Practical lessons from person overboard incidents

In Mark’s own words

I've had 3 people go overboard from my boat and recovered them. I've picked 2 out of the water off other vessels and been involved in numerous searches for people.

The scariest point of a man overboard [incident] is identifying is that he is. Is he overboard? Is he on the vessel? Is he in the toilet or in his cabin? So if someone's overboard, that's really scary. What do we do? What do we do?

Well, once it's established that someone is missing, hit the man overboard icon on your computer, make sure your track's going.

I throw a man overboard light over, which is unattached to the vessel. Turn it on and throw it over.

Then I get a man up on the roof.

Turn the engine room fans off because inherently they draw air from up above your wheelhouse and they're very noisy - 3,000 revs. You can’t hear a thing on deck either. That’s why I got that emergency switch. Sometimes shut the main off.

The man on the roof doesn't take his eye off that floating light. It also gives the person in the water something to swim for and that's in my SMS [safety management system] which he has read and signed.

It’s a separate thing to throwing your life ring over with a light attached to it on a lanyard because sometimes they'll float differently, but a two-thirds submerged man overboard light will take the same track normally as a guy in the water. You'll always see that light a long way away so if he's swimming to that light or near that light you've got a chance.

I’ve learned to store this light under the wheelhouse seat. Every one I’ve attached to the rails in my time are weather-damaged by the time you need them.

Put the engine mode into neutral.

If your gear is deployed, winch it up, cod ends up and then always approach it from the down weather side, otherwise you'll overrun it if it's going the other way.

Once you think you know where this guy is, you can then deploy a life ring with a light, which is separate to the free-floating light. The floating one is the one he must go to because it will follow his track and you'll see they'll go 2 different ways. Just let it drift for a while depending on the weather conditions and always come up on the lee side.

For the guy in the water, adrenaline cuts in for all the good parts and helps them survive. But when they think they're getting rescued, it's just panic because they think, oh, you're leaving me, you're leaving me. But they don't understand when you've got a boat, you've got to turn a big circle.

So the guy on the roof is crucial, should be your number one man. He knows to not take his eyes off the guy in the water. So when you find that bloke, you actually circle away from him. You circle away from him so he can come up on the lee side and be more protected from the weather.

One of the most important things too is to have a mobile ladder that you can take from the transom up to the side on the lee side so you can retrieve someone because getting people back on the boat is not that simple.

Some people have stainless steel bars welded across the back so you can get up and down where the tri gear is. That's good, but if you have a mobile one you can go from side to side.

The foot of the ladder needs a rope forestay because the waves are going to want to keep blowing it backwards. It's got to be cleated off somewhere because when the bloke's recovering from a time in the water he is just burnt out. He's jelly and he can't pull himself out of the water even on a tyre. At least they can get hold of the ladder and recover their strength.

These are the things you learn by doing it. Training by absorption.

I’ve lost 3 overboard and found them all. One that was hanging in a net. He went out the end of the boom to do something. If you've got a problem with your gear, just slowly trail your gear so there's weight on the boards and run with the weather. Depending on the size of your boat and weather conditions, if it's sensible and you've got to steam 5 miles to a bit of calm water, do it. Don't try and do it in the rough.

There is the good old discussion about 'do I wear a lifejacket when working on the booms?'. Some say it hinders, some say it doesn't. I try and encourage my guys to wear inflatable lifejackets when they're out on the booms. It is also important to have good railings on your boat and booms. And good lights including the free-range man overboard light. That is the key to it.

Background

In 2023, we ran workshops in Queensland for commercial fishers. During the workshops, the fishers produced guidance on risk assessment considerations and lifejacket procedures. They also shared their advice and strategies for preventing and managing person overboard incidents, and saving lives.