I have had a hard time understanding why I need to carry a throwable. PFDs are worn all the time, no exceptions.

Here is why I ask:

Boy (7yrs old) has been sitting up on the bow for about 2 hours. Generally smooth water, wind in the 5-7 range boat traffic considerable less than usually for a summer Sunday afternoon in the high 70s the low 80's. He is having a blast as we punch thru small to medium power boat wakes and occasionally fly the hull a little. Then, along comes a biiiiiig power dude doing all he can do to do 20 knots or so. We have the spin up and going good for the wind. I'm trimming the spin and driving the boat, crew not interested in the effort required to fly the spin. He is giving us room but not by much. Conflict with him is not the problem; it is the 4- 5 foot wake he just sent towards us. Boy does his best to hang on, but gets washed off and shot right out under the back beam. At this point it would have been handy to be able to throw the throwable to him since its bright red. Unfortunately, I didn’t even remember it was there. It gets tied on at the beginning of the season and taken off when the tramp comes off for winter. After about 200 yard or so the spin is finally put away and we are headed back to him. Pluck him out, hug him kiss him, laugh abut the experience - save the crying for later, we are guys after all – we all settle down. Give him 10 minutes and then sent him back out on the bow - must get back on the horse - with a watchful eye towards big boats.

This could have turned out really bad, thankfully it didn’t. It would have been helpful to be able to throw the thowable.

On one of my past tramps I had a pocket for it. Other ideas?

When I carry it (not often), I either wrap it around the mast and bungie in place, or tie between the hiking straps. In neither case could I get it loose and throw it in time in the scenario you describe. I could see a slip knot on the tramp arrangement, but that thing is always catching the mainsheet as you go side to side.

Last year I got a ticket from the VA Marine Patrol in our little tin boat for not having a throwable (left it on the dock in a hurry to go fishing) :-(. I was by myself in the boat, and had extra lifejackets which I certainly could have thrown, but he told me the throwable had to have a line already attached. Need to check up on that.

What is a non-attached throwable supposed to do for someone that has a lifejacket on? Gives them a little better visibility, maybe. Moral of the story; forget the throwable, get off the bow (at least when waves come). When I sail with young kids, like to have one older one on the boat; their job is to jump off if a kid falls off, just to keep them company. I guess I don't see floating in warm water on a nice day as a big danger. I'm with you; PFDs all the time every time.

I've typically in the past kept the throwable zipped into a Murray's tramp bag hooked to the tramp in front of the back beam. A quick zip and the throwable is out. The thing is whether you have a line ready to deploy to retrieve anybody hanging on the throwable.

Assuming everybody is wearing vests, there are a couple of options/thoughts.

One is that having a West Marine throw bag in an easy to grab place is a good thing. Practical Sailor rated these very well, you basically hold the line and throw the bag. Comes in 50' and 70' models. Velcro strap that to the boom or in some other easy to grab (and remember) location. I think having a velcro closed tramp pocket added for just that would be a good idea.

The other is that even though people may be wearing a vest, the design of the vest and the size of the person may mean that the extra flotation from a throwable might be a helpful thing, especially in waves. I'm guessing your boy's vest floats him pretty well, but something to consider.

Another is think about and plan for such situations when you're not on the water and think about how you would handle it. That puts the ideas and plan of aciton in your head ahead of time.

We can view these requirements in two ways - whatever you need to do just keep from getting a ticket or realizing the benefit that could be had from the devices if you can deploy them and keeping that in mind when you rig them to your boat.

Reminds of the old auto racing days. When they first required roll bars, the racers made these little minimal things that just cleared the body work but obviously would do nothing to protect them in a rollover. Met the letter of the law...

easy enough to have a pocket installed.

On the F-boat, we have a thingie similar to this:
http://www.life-safer.com/

Vest should ALWAYS fit or the peson should stay on shore. We had a guy Sunday with a jacket to small get seperated from the boat he was on. Swimming made his arm pull back and his head was barely visible above the water. We were VERY lucky we found him in the 3-4 foot waves on the bay when we got the boat righted. I will never let anyone go out with me with a jacket that does not fit. They should be worn ALWAYS and not stowed. You NEVER know what will happen.

Doug Snell

I use an over sized carabiner (with the open end down) and attach the throwable to one of the midships hiking straps. Now that I have finished working on my Hobie 18' magnum, I will probably come up with a way to put it under one of the wings.

BTW, buy the brightest throwable you can find (I always opt for the closed cell foam ones) and make sure that you put at least 6-8" of SOLAS reflective tape on it. With the bright color, you can find the throwable easily if it falls off accidentally. Also with the SOLAS tape, the person in the water can hold the throwable up in the air and then the person in the water can be found more easily....even in significant wave troughs in the dark.

Last thing, although is is unlikely: I always stencil my boat name and origin on the throwable, in case I loose it or just leave it on the dock.

Good ideas but under the wing will catch too much water when heeled.

We don't have to have throwables.
We have special rules about sport boats and surf boards and such so we are not weighed down by too much crap.
I sailed in violent weather for 25 years without wearing a life jacket. It is the getting old that has made me get prepared.
I never once, in all of my capsizes felt I needed a life vest.

I know that is not the cleaverset idea..I am just sharing my experience.

Some of my very best memories of summer sailing are big winds, my boat, me and a pair of board shorts.

Now I have VHF PDF Tools Food Drink Tow Line Kitchen Sink.........but no Throwable.......and no kid on the bow......but I think the best thing that could happen to a little boy is be swept off a bow......and realise how the World looks from "off the bow" and how exciting it is to confront more than getting on the bus to go to school....he will be all the better for it.........and his dad will be reminded just how prescious he is.

I do think a speeding catamaraan is no place for a throwable. Even only ten metres is too far to swim with a vest.
All of my visitors on big or small boats are told NOT to swim but to stay afloat and try to be visible so the boat can come back anad get them.

I am not saying anything should or shouldn't be....just that there are many ways of looking at things and fear and insurance companies are not always the most realistic.

In the U.S. a throwable is required on boats over 16' USCG Regulations! I agree that on a catamran they are almost worthless. That is why most cat sailors just tie them on.

You would not be sailing on my catamaran unless you wore your PFD.(unless it was a drifter).

On a larger trimaran 28' sailing aross Lake Michigan at night we wear our PFD's with lights & wistle. NOR requires PFD's to be worn accross the start & finish lines. (Queens Cup, it's as old as the Americas Cup)

I also fell of a 26' monohull as foredeck man when the lifeline attachment point broke. I was wearing a lifejacket but was smart enough to hang onto the spinnaker pole.

Treading water is hard work, make it easy on yourself wear your PFD. I also find that the USCG and Police Marine patrol will leave you alone if your wearing it.

I disagree that they are worthless on a catamaran. They are if you think of them as something you throw as speed along as somebody fell off. But consider bad conditions and how tough it is to get your boat close enough to somebody so they don't have to swim. For the cases where it is tough to get that close, loop back to the COB, park then throw the throwable with a line attached. You won't need to drive close enough to hit/scare them...

Along that same line I had been thinking that you could trail the throwable (or anything that floats) on a long, floating line behind the boat and just sail in a circle around the person in the water. That way the line comes to them, and they can grab it, and you can pull them in to the boat. It's the same way a waterski tow boat gets the tow line back to a skier who has fallen.

I am glad I asked this question. Thank you all for your replies and ideas.

Is it required that a throwable have a line attached?

The reason I wanted to throw it was because I wanted all the other boats in the area to see the bright red thing going thru the air and then floating in the water, hopefully altering them that something was wrong. My son was just floating there barking orders about getting the spiny down and telling us to gybe.

This might turn into a good place to stow my polypro tow-line. Hmmm . . . to tie it off to the boat…?

I carry my throwable in a rear tramp pocket, with the throw strap exposed and easy to grab. When I didn't have a tramp pocket, I used a bungie over the cushion to the tramp lacing. I've always tried to keep them ready to deploy.

I've used it at least once. One time I came upon a capsized small row boat or canoe or kayak. Two adolescent girls were fumbling around without any flotation available to them except the boat. I tossed the cushion, then came back around and tossed two PFD and instructed them to put them on.

As far as a line attached, there are differing schools of thought. My thought is that you may be going so fast that if the throwable is attached to the boat, it may be yanked away from the overboard person. Here is how I handle it:

I keep a 50' floating poly line available that I can tie to the cushion if I want to. When I go on my serious Channel Island Cruises, I take a 50' or 100' (can't recall) floating poly line and tie it off to the boat on one end. On the other end I tie a 500ml pop bottle to it and fill it half way up with water. This can be thrown and it will float.

I tie the rope into one continuous "daisy chain." and shove it all into my rear tramp pocket.

My plan: Toss a throw cushion toward the person in the water and then make a turn to come back. When close enough, toss the water bottle to them.

GARY

I have a story that goes with this thread,
I had arrived two days early at the lake venue of an away regatta. The idea was to familiarise myself with the venue and set up the boat. It was mid week and I was out sailing in light winds, with no another boats on the lake.
Its a huge piece of water and I'm roughly mid lake when I spot something strange some few hundred meters away so I sail over to investigate. It turns out to be a guy swimming in his life jacket.
I pull him on board and he tells me he has a small 'trailer sailor' [mono] and while returning to the **** from the bow he slipped and fell overboard. He's on his own and so the boat slowly sails away leaving him stranded.

We sail off in the direction of the wind and find his little boat wedged in the shoreline weed some odd k's away.

He's a very happy and grateful chap when I leave him back with his boat.