WHEN I wrote about the man overboard recovery gear which I have been taking with me every time I go sailing for well over 20 years people asked for details.

Fortunately I have never had to use it in anger but after my last incident I made up the tackle.

During the last 50 years or so I have witnessed a total of five fall overboard, the last time I had three in the water all at once.

Sounds a bit disastrous but it was a lovely hot day coming into the River Plym to take a up a berth in the Yacht Haven marina.

Our student skipper was helming. It was the last day of the course and he was not really concentrating so we went aground.

He was not sure of what to do, so I took the helm, put the three crew on the boom, swung the boom out to heel the boat, and as we shot off the sandbank, the topping lift broke!

Fortunately the boat was a 30-footer, so the toerail was not too high and I hauled the three out of the water pretty quickly.

The obvious course would have been to reinforce the topping lift by taking the halyard to the end of the boom but we were on a falling spring tide and I thought it better to get off quickly.

The device is a 6:1 tackle with a triple block, becket and cam at the top end and a triple block, becket and D ring at the lower end  with straps to go under the shoulders and knees.   The karabiners clip on to the D ring .

I normally have it rigged to the spinnaker halyard and secured, ideally, inside the cap shrouds ready for use.  It can be taken aft of the spreaders but with some friction against the shrouds when recovering someone. By having it secured forward, there is no need to drop the mainsail, which could accentuate the rolling in any form of sea.

The essential is to have the becket and cam attached directly to the halyard, your hauler is then pulling someone out of the water by pulling down on the line which is much easier than hauling up.

Every pull on the line is secured on the cam, so those of lesser strength can take a breather if necessary.

Getting the halyard the correct length needs thought, because the straps need to be at the right position so that the person in the water can clip the Karabiners on to the D ring.

The advantage of such a system is that the body comes out of the water almost horizontal, hopefully preventing a stroke.

If the body is so heavy that the hauler is having real difficulty pulling him out, the fall from the device can be taken through a genoa car and on to a primary winch, and this will make the load much easier to manage.

Alternatively, if you can manage a fair lead, and the sea state allows, the line can be taken to the anchor windlass and the motor can ease the strain.

The whole set up cost me under £40  20 years ago. Now you are not going to see much change out of £200 but there is always the boat jumble!