Dog Overboard!

     How would you feel if you let this loving face fall overboard and had no way to retrieve him?  Well, it would kill us!  So, how do we plan to get him back aboard safely?

The first step is keeping them aboard in the first place.  Our dogs are restricted to the cockpit, or down below, anytime the boat is moving. If they are in the cockpit during rough sailing, they're confined to the foot-well of the cockpit.  And if its really rough, they're attached to the boat with a tether and wear their PFDs just like the rest of the crew.

     Even with all our precautions, we know they may find their way overboard eventually, so we developed a plan for that eventuality.  Both dogs wear a sturdy harness whenever they're on the boat.  To help us retrieve a dog - or person - from the water, we added a Kato Marine swim platform to Charbonneau   The swim platform has other obvious benefits, but dog-overboard recoveries become easier by getting us closer to the water.   We also installed a radar arch with dinghy davits and a motor lift.  We can use either the davits or motor lift to easily haul 100 lbs of wet dog back aboard the boat, by clipping onto their harness.  

     We hope to never need this procedure but we fell better prepared by having a plan..  We tested our plan occasionally while safely anchored in a harbor - it works.  We are still brainstorming a way to provide a "self-serve" boarding method in case they fall overboard while we're ashore.  Initial thoughts are to use  webbing attached to the swim platform while anchored.  Both dogs are great swimmers, however,  and would probably just head for shore to see what's happening at the local pub.