5/15/04 Marina del Ray, CA

The Officers, Directors and Members of
US SAILING
are pleased to present the
ARTHUR B. HANSON RESCUE MEDAL
to the crew of
Trisha
for the rescue as follows:

On May 15^th 2004 at the start of the Point Dume Race, Trisha” an F-28 Cosair Trimaran was in transit to the starting area. Adrian Ricks the owner, climbed on to the swim step to raise the outboard motor in preparation for the start. Moments later the crew, consisting of Captains’ Dave Lumian and Johan Sandstrom heard a loud noise and turned to see Ricks rolling off the deck into the chilly water without a PFD.

Lumian and Sandstrom immediately began a quick stop MOB recovery. An estimated 60-70 boats transiting the area made keeping the now injured owner in sight a difficult task. After considering several methods of approaching the MOB including dropping the main and starting the outboard, the Lumian and Sandstrom decided that quick and properly executed “quick stop” method was called for due to the extreme danger of Adrian being run over by another competitor. After a quick and effective maneuver Lumian and Sandstrom where able to get next to Ricks to attempt to bring him on board. While they suspected injury, it wasn’t until they attempted to bring Ricks close to the boat it was learned that his arm had been dislocated and he was unable to effectively assist in his rescue. After three stages of pulling/resting /maneuvering they managed to get Ricks aboard. While Lumian headed the vessel back to the dock, Sandstrom began the task of attempting to warm to prevent any potential for hypothermia.

After returning to the dock Sandstrom fashioned an impromptu sling and Lumian took Ricks to the hospital where after being anesthetized his arm was reset and he was reunited with his Family.

Congratulations to Dave Lumian and Johan Sandstrom of Trisha for coming to the aid of fellow mariner in distress, tending to his immediate needs and saving the victim. US SAILING is pleased to present the Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal in recognition of this event.

Bill Munster
Safety at Sea Chairman
By Directon


Left to right, Johan Sandstrom, Dave Lumian, Adrian Ricks and Stanton W. Betts. Photo by Stan Betts.	Left to right, Johan Sandstrom, Dave Lumian, Adrian Ricks and Stanton W. Betts. Photo by Stan Betts.	Left to right, Johan Sandstrom, Dave Lumian, Adrian Ricks and Stanton W. Betts. Photo by Stan Betts.
US SAILING Board of Directors member Stanton W. Betts presented the Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal to the Crew of Trisha at a meeting of the Southern California Yachting Association (SCYA) on on January 15, 2005.

Nominator: Dave Lumain
From the Fairwind Yacht Club Newsletter, July 2004 Issue.
Reprinted with permission.
Man Overboard!

"I've been sailing forty years and I have never had anyone go overboard," I tell my sailing students as we discuss how to prevent MOBs and how to pick-up a victim who has gone over. Unfortunately I will never be able to make that claim again.

The wind was building nicely for the start of the Point Dume Race. I was crew for Adrian Ricks, the owner of 'Trisha', an F-28c Corsair trimaran. We were entered in the ORCA (offshore mutihull) class composed mainly of Farrier/Cosair sailboats (they are 20-25 feet wide while sailing, but fold up into 8 feet for trailering).

Adrian went over the transom to a swim step to raise the outboard engine. Unlike the F-27 which has an easy pulley for raising and lowering the motor, the F-28's outboard is attached to the stern.

Under mainsail only we were moving at seven knots near the start line. The first class was about to start. I heard a loud thud and looked over my back to see Adrian rolling off the deck and into the chilly water.

Now there were just two of us aboard Captain Johan Sandstrom and myself. There were dozens of boats whizzing by. I could see Adrian treading water.

I immediately began the Quick Stop MOB recovery. Favored by US SAILING, the Quick Stop is basically one big circle (see figure on next page), It is executed by tacking to a beam reach right away and leaving the jib backwinded, then falling off to a broad reach, going below the victim (relative to the wind), jibing and finally heading up on a close reach with all sails luffing. On the final approach, the boat should be going as slowly as possible, trimming the mainsheet briefly to maintain minimum steerage, or briefly back the mainsail to slow the boat down. The goal is to stop the boat right next to the victim keeping the wet sailor on the windward side of the boat.

BUT WE WERE UNDER MAINSAIL ONLY! While I've been taught and practiced the Quick Stop method a thousand times with students, it had always been with both sails up. I quickly thought through my options: Should I raise the jib? Maybe I might drop the main and turn the motor on? Or perhaps I should use another method that doesn't rely on a headsail like the Figure 8 method or the Oval method? I have also taught and practiced these methods a zillion times.

I quickly disregarded other methods: The Figure 8 return is my favorite on a monohull, but it is tricky to execute on a beamy multihull. The Oval return is very reliable to perform on most sailboats regardless of the number of hulls, but, like the Figure 8 has the disadvantage of sailing away from the victim before returning and, given the 60-70 boats zipping by, it would leave Adrian exposed to being run down by another racer. I ruled out dropping the main and lowering and starting the outboard because it takes several valuable minutes to perform, and the dropped sails may create a loss of
visibility as well as drag prop fouling lines and sheet in the water. Adrian needed to get out of the water and back onboard right away.

So I continued the Quick Stop. Due to the extreme danger that Adrian faced from the sailboats speeding by him, I decided to make the circle tighter and smaller than usual. A properly executed Quick Stop, like other under sail MOB practice, takes about 60-120 seconds from first splash to stopping next to the victim.

It was difficult keeping track of our wet skipper. Sailboats frequently blocked my vision and Johan, my fellow crewmate, was below retrieving flotation and lines so I didn't have a designated pointer. I slowly circled our skipper, jibed and headed up to where I remembered Adrian being.

"Where is Adrian?" I shouted to Johan. There were so many sailboats positioning for the race start that I could not see Adrian! A chill went down my spine. "Where is he?"

When several boats parted, there was Adrian, treading water. But it really sunk in as I approached Adrian. The potential for running over Adrian and knocking him unconscious (or worse) is extremely real. As predicted, Adrian's head bobbed above the water like a weighted Myler balloon floating on the ocean.

A frequent debate amongst sailing instructors is "Which is better? Pick up the victim on the boat's windward, or leeward side?" The advantages of being under control, sailing slowly and keeping the victim to windward proved wise. Due to the trimaran's windage, one or more of the hulls could have easily struck Adrian in the head if we had approached him off our boats leeward side.

I approached at less than a knot stopping right next to Adrian, just like in the textbook. Many, many times I have told my students that the victim will only have their neck and head above the water. It becomes very scary when it happens with a real person rather than a fender!

From the time Adrian hit the water it took me about a minute to stop right by him. Next was the hard part: Getting Adrian back into the F-28c. I imagined it be easy. Using some line we'd fashion a loop, have him step onto the loop, grab the boat's windward ama and roll gently into the trimaran's soft trampoline.

However, during the fall Adrian's left arm was dislocated, rendering it useless while leaving him in absolute agony. He was also exhausted. On to Plan B!

Johan handed Adrian a PFD and asked him to put it on. He could not do it, his left arm was limp and in pain. So Johan tethered Adrian to a line. Captain Sandstrom then walked Adrian back to the transom. Without a useful left arm and drop dead tired, Adrian could not even raise himself onto the sugar-scoop swim step. Trying to pull Adrian up by the arms produced howls of painful protest.

Johan looped a line under Adrian's arms and drew the line taut to prevent Adrian from slipping back into the water. It took 3 "stages" of pulling and resting before we got Adrian into the cockpit.

In the meanwhile, our boat was NOT-UNDER-COMMAND as all 3 of us were busy at the stern. Because we were essentially in the heave-to position we managed to not run into the race committee boat - but we came close.

Once Adrian was in the cockpit, I headed 'Trisha' back to the ramp where we had launched the boat only an hour or two ago. I became concerned that Adrian might become hypothermic. On our way back I coerced Adrian into stripping off his clothes, toweling off and changing into a dry set of clothes. Given his one-armed condition he required considerable assistance doing simple things like taking off wet clothing, using the towel and redressing. Johan place his exceptionally warm jacket over Adrian to prevent him from getting cold.

Hypothermia is serious business; it starts with shivering and can end with unconsciousness and even death. It's an out of control eighteen-wheeler going down a mountain, that just keeps getting more and more dangerous as it accelerates. Often the victim is sinking fast, but will insist that he's just fine.

In the initial stages the victim is shivering, teeth chattering, goose bumps and cold. Medium hypothermia can render the victim disoriented and unable to hold anything in his hands. In its advanced stages, a hypothermic victim stops shivering, becomes cold and clammy, loses consciousness and may have experience a seizure or cardiac arrest. I was glad that my sailing instructor training, as well as my training to be a Red Cross Lifeguard, has made me aware of the symptoms and appropriate treatment, for each level of this life-threatening condition. Fortunately our skipper did not become hypothermic.

Back at the launch, we docked the boat. Johan fashioned an impromptu sling for Adrian's left arm, while I ran to get my car in the parking lot. Johan and multihull guru passerby Mike Leneman (just back from the Bahamas) put away the boat while I drove Adrian to a nearby hospital emergency room. He was quickly processed, given painkillers, anesthetized briefly (five minutes?) and his arm was reset. Upon gaining consciousness, all pain was gone! I drove Adrian home to his worried wife Patricia (who 'Trisha' is named after).