The Quick turn is the traditional response to the Man overboard emergency on a sailboat. Despite many new approaches, it is still a robust strategy and often the best method. Certainly when the crew is short handed, or when the vessel is in heavy weather, the Quick turn method has a lot of merit because it avoids a jibe.

As is shown in the drawing, the Quick turn is essentially a figure eight. On a sailboat it consists of the following steps:

1. Call loudly “Crew Overboard”
2. Assign a person to keep the victim in sight and clearly point towards him or her.
3. Hit the MOB button on the GPS
4. Start the engine and leave it in idle
5. Change course to a beam reach and hold for 15 seconds
6. Head into the wind and tack, leave the jib fluttering
7. Veer off until the boat is at a beam reach
8. Turn up wind until the vessel is pointing at the victim, at this point the vessel should be on a close reach.
9. Slacken the main sail until the vessel comes to a stop with the victim in the lee side of the boat
10. Hoist the victim on board with a sling, the spinnaker halyard can be very helpful if it is available.

See also

• Man overboard
• Fireman's chair knot
• Jackline

External links

• NZ Coast Guard Man Overboard Procedures for Pleasure Craft
• Sailing USA
• US Navy - Naval War college in Newport
• Article in Sailing World
• Article in Yachting Magazine
• Quick Stop Method
• Sail Net, an online sailing community

Sailing manoeuvres