Boatman Goes Overboard in Race at Cabo : Sailing: In a matter of seconds, Matchett goes from pilot house to sea.

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico —  After more than a dozen sailing races to Mexico and a half-dozen to Hawaii, Bill Matchett thought he had experienced everything. Then, in last week’s race from Long Beach, Matchett went overboard.

“I’ve done a lot of miles, been in lots of (bad) conditions in the Atlantic (and the) Pacific, and never thought I’d be the kind of guy to go over the side,” he said.

But over the side he went, when he least expected. He was saved only because he and the boat’s crew knew exactly what to do.

Matchett, 40, of Vista, was aboard the MacGregor 65 Fastrack from the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club in Newport Beach. Last Monday morning, two days after the race started, he was sitting in the cockpit eating a bagel and waiting to take his turn at the helm.

The conditions were fresh--winds 18 to 20 knots, with seas six to 10 feet and building--but not of any particular concern as the sleek, narrow boat rode the waves well behind a full spinnaker.

“I was overheated and sitting in the cockpit with my foul-weather pants peeled down around my waist to cool off,” Matchett said.

“I looked at my watch and it was five minutes to 9. I told Mike (Paselk), ‘I’m going to relieve you at 9.’ ”

Paselk is one of the owners, along with Mike Turi and Alex McKay. Besides them, there were only three others aboard--Matchett, Paul Burks and Seth Wohlford. Three crewmen had dropped out the week before the race. Matchett, recruited three days before the start, was the only replacement they could find.

“The boat was under good control, going really quick, and it was starting to blow up 27, 28, 29 (knots of wind) in the puffs,” Matchett said. “We were surfing off (the waves) at 18, 19 knots. It was fun, exciting . . . just exactly what you live for.

“On a MacGregor 65, you tend to bury the bow when you hit a wave, so as you go up (a wave) you steer off a little bit so you don’t punch the wave in front of you and water comes over everything.

“I noticed the nose starting to wander down, just a little bit. I turned to look at Mike, and Mike goes, ‘No steering.’

“Instantly, the boat just went straight down, (spinnaker) pole in the water. It happened so fast I wasn’t even aware of the process happening--just bang.”

In a second, the boat had flipped over onto its windward side. Sailors call it a “round-down.”

“I was ejected,” Matchett said. “All I was aware of was that I was flipping over backward, in water. I felt the lifeline hit my back, put my hand down trying to grab something.

“I grabbed the lifeline, but the water had caught my foul-weather pants and just jerked me straight off the boat.

“I come up and look and the boat is already 30 feet away, masthead in the water, just starting to come back up. I’ve got on foul-weather pants, a one-piece . . . fleece suit that’s really heavy and I’m going down.

“I’m trying to get up to breathe, and the waves are breaking over me. I come up again and the helmsman’s back is turned to me. He doesn’t know I’m in the water. I yell, ‘Help!’ Nothing happens. I come back up, take a look and yell, ‘Man overboard!’ as loud as I can.

“As he turns, I hit the water with my hands, and he sees me. At that point I go straight into trying to get my clothes off because I’m going down, big-time.

“It takes me two or three minutes to get my foul-weather pants and the fleece suit off. They’re down around my ankles and I can’t kick. In the time that takes, I’m exhausted.”

It’s critical that when someone goes overboard, someone else on the boat keep a constant eye on him to pinpoint his location.

“I look at the boat and (Paselk) is watching me,” Matchett said. “Somebody had cut the spinnaker halyard with a knife, and somebody dropped the main(sail). Mike is pointing over his head, and I look over and there are the two man-overboard poles, about 60 yards away.”

Ocean racers are required to carry long poles mounted on buoys with life rings or horseshoes and strobe lights attached. They are carried on the stern rail for quick release.

“I started swimming for them,” Matchett said. “I’m a windsurfer, so I’m used to spending a lot of time in the water, very tired. And I was very tired, so I’d float on my back, sidestroke.”

After reaching the poles, Matchett said he grabbed one and looked at his watch.

“It was one minute after 9. I probably went in at about three minutes to 9. It seemed like a very long time.

“Mike saw me get to the horseshoe, and at that point they realized I was going to be all right. They turned their full attention to cleaning up all the sails and everything.”

Matchett released green dye from the horseshoe and a stain started to spread to mark his location.

“The boat’s so far away now that I can just barely make people out,” Matchett said. “Every time I come up on the top of a wave, I’m waving the pole. I get the sense that they see me and know where I am.

“They had a lot to do. Normally, when a boat rounds down at that speed, you break the spinnaker pole, you break all kinds of gear, lines are just everywhere--a total mess.”

What had happened was that the steering cables had pulled loose from the U-clamps connecting them to the steering wheel.

“They’re trying to drag the spinnaker back on board because they’ve got to start the engine,” Matchett said. “They can’t even drive the boat at this point.

“It was pretty impressive. They got the sails down, all the lines back on board. They had to take the wheel off to fit the emergency tiller on, get the engine going and make sure all the lines are back on board so it doesn’t foul the prop. They’ve got only five guys on board, and in that amount of wind and breaking water, it’s a really hard job to do.

“They did all that, turned the boat around, came back and picked me up. When the boat came back to me it was 9:07--really fast.”

As the boat approached, Matchett yelled.

“Going my way?”

What saved Matchett was that he and the crew did all the right things and in the right order. They had drilled for such emergencies, as required by the rules.

“I realize now that when it’s dangerous is not when you think it is,” Matchett said. “You’re going to go over when you least expect it. When everything’s fine . . . when something strange happens.”