So OK ... we are going to have to work on our Man Overboard drill a bit more this year. here's the latest from the naples j30 video lab.

Might I suggest an old pfd or a ball with a loop on it? That beach ball is gonna be a bitch to grab out of the water!

Part of the program would be for the 13 year old to call for hitting the MOB button on the GPS, call for a spin drop to the deck, call for the net or boat hook, then assigning the pretty girl to use the net to scoop up the ball ...

I didn't tell him about assigning the pretty girl to reach over to pick up the ball with the fish net part ...

At 13 he is on the edge of appreciating that component for the senior crew members. I'm thinking perhaps after a half dozen tries the senior crew will have gained all they could handle.

We are going to have to try this without spin up first ... though.

a life vest is too easy to pick up. it just sits there. We see beach balls out a mile or two off the beach when the wind is out of the east. We sort of act like a dog seeing a squirrel when that happens.

Quick Stop described in detail here works even with the kite up. Turn head-to-wind, ease pole to the head stay, drop and gather as you turn. Worked fine in the only real life MOB we've ever done. Had a good spotter who maintained visual contact throughout, but still missed on the first pickup pass. Hardest part was getting MOB from the water on deck, which took three people on leeward side of cockpit. MOB was safely back on board in less than three minutes.

"Quickstop Under Spinnaker:
As the boat comes head-to-wind and the pole is eased to the head stay, the spinnaker halyard is lowered and the sail is gathered on the fore deck. The turn is continued through the tack and the approach phase commences"

I'm thinking that the best plan would be to head up, release the forward edge of the pole down inside the bow pulpit, then release the spin halyard and gather the spin on the foredeck perhaps with a quick sail tie to something on the deck on the port side of the boat .... that is assuming we are going to try to pick someone up at the starboard gate.

Last year i had to drop one of our ~250 lb seniors from the crew because with the diminished strength of other aging seniors, including the skipper, there was no possible way we could return anyone to the boat that heavy in 2-4 ft waves. The year before I actually told him if he went overboard we would get him into the lifesling and have to tow him into the beach using the life sling while doing a Mayday MOB call, hopefully to get him closer to the beach. Most people don't realize how hard it is to get someone back on board with any decent boat motion going on.

How heavy was your MOB and was he able to help? One of the times I went overboard I dislocated my shoulder and was pretty useless.

MOB was probably 165-175 lbs. She could swim and hold on despite early season cold water conditions. Probably would not strong enough to climb out unassisted. We don't carry a fixed boarding ladder, so I've considered adding a safety ladder like what is shown in this Boat US video.

We failed to deploy horseshoe in time but another passing racer tossed one. It was a Wednesday Night race and surprising how many racers ignored the MOB and shouted at us to get out of their way as we returned to retrieve the MOB.

Decades of racing and the first MOB, so we now always have the horseshoe and throw rope ready to deploy. I also ask any new crew how well they swim. If there is any doubt they wear an inflatable PFD.