It happened so quickly

In our report on Tréguier marina we made the point about the strong tidal flows which pass diagonally through the pontoons. Given this, mooring should always be into the current.

Well, there was an incident two days before we left.

Man Overboard

A large yacht chose to moor on the other side of our 30m pontoon. This meant mooring with (not into) a 2-3 knot current with its added effect of pushing the yacht away from the pontoon.

As it approached, I went to help and asked for the stern warp to stop their forward motion.

Instead, I was thrown a breast warp and asked to secure it. By the time the warp was passed, the current had already drifted the yacht 6’ from the pontoon.

By now, it was a no-win scenario. His position and the tide combined to make a retreat impossible, and mooring was going to be a challenge.

The tide took control

With the breast attached, the tide took control, swinging the stern out and the bows in. The tension on the breast line was unbelievable.

Lin (and Richard from Yacht Whileaway) were trying to fend the bows off the pontoon which in itself was impossible given the force of the tide against the hull even though the skipper was applying full opposite bow thruster.

Two crew managed to jump off the bows onto the pontoon to help, and someone came running over from another yacht.

”It happened so quickly”

Lin suddenly saw one of the yacht’s crew in the water just a few feet to her left and some four feet ahead of the bows. He was just managing to hang onto the edge of the 2½’ high pontoon with his fingertips although the tide was doing its best to tear him away.

His saving grace was that he was wearing his life jacket which had inflated.

Although Lin was shouting ‘man in the water’ no-one could hear. There was far too much noise from the bow thruster and general shoutings.

Making secure

Taking the yacht’s bow warp she made it off on a cleat, knelt down and stretched to feed the end under a shoulder, around his back, under the other shoulder and up. He was now looped and tethered and less likely to take off.

When she began shouting again, I heard. Leaving the breast warp to the others I went to Lin, saw what had happened and that the MOB was temporarily safe unless the yacht began moving forward. Telling him not to go away, I ran to Play d’eau’s warp locker, chose one and fed it around him in the same way Lin had. Lin could now retrieve her warp and I’d be able to ‘walk’ him to the lower pontoon to attempt a recovery.

Retrieval

Looking for ladders, there weren’t any.

Speaking to him, I said, ‘Come on, you’ve had a dunking, now you’ll have a swim. I’ll walk you to the lower pontoons where we’ll get you out. Let go of this pontoon, relax and enjoy the ride.’

The tide was tugging at him, strongly. We crossed the walkway and stopped by a lower pontoon. More help having arrived, we managed, after a struggle, to pull him out.

He still had his new boots on, although one had been sliced through in two places.

I walked him back to Play d’eau where I told him he’d have a shower. Standing in the aft cockpit, I deflated and removed his life jacket. After he’d taken off (almost all) his clothes, I led him to the guest shower and shut him in with soap and a fresh towel.

It took another ten minutes of straining on a stern warp by the skipper, his crew and three others, to bring the yacht’s stern in and moor up.

MOB lessons learnt

You may not hear the cry ‘MOB’. General noise can drown (forgive the pun) any shouting.

Wearing a life jacket, and one with a crotch strap, probably saved his life if that doesn’t sound too melodramatic.

Retrieval was hard, even from the lower pontoon.

One boot was sliced in two places which just goes to prove that barnacles are razor sharp and grow on the underwater parts of the pontoon – those parts you use when trying to get out.

There are no pontoon ladders at Tréguier marina.

All in all, a salutary lesson.

Piers and Lin
From the Sick Bay of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

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