Man Overboard Drills

During our vessel operations' class today, we practiced MOB (man overboard) drills on our navy launch on Indy 7. We ran our drills in groups of 4. Each group decided who would be helmsman, deckhand 1, 2 and 3. The helmsman steers the boat while the 3 deckhands rescued the victim from the water--in our case, Oscar the dummy. Each deckhand had an integral part in the rescue of the victim. Deckhand 1 called out "Man overboard", pointed to Oscar's location and tossed the life ring towards our victim. All of this, Deckhand 3 had to do with their eyes and hand pointed towards Oscar. If we lose track of where Oscar is, there's no chance that we can recover him. Deckhand 2 put on a harness and set up the rope ladder off the side of the boat so that they could, if necessary, climb over safely to help the victim up. Deckhand 3 assisted in anyway possible and spotted their fellow deckhands when they leaned over the gunnel of the boat to rescue the victim. In my group the captain was my classmate Steve, Deckhand 1 was my classmate Brianna, Deckhand 2 was my classmate Jared, and I was Deckhand 3. To simulate a man overboard situation two students threw Oscar off the port side stern without any warning. The rest of the class would be wrapped up in their own tasks and suddenly we'd hear "Man Overboard!" After each set of crew ran their drill we debriefed on the pros and cons of their execution. We were able to give constructive criticism and even critique our own responses. This lesson not only gave us real-world experience in a rescue situation but also was a great lesson on teamwork.