The red MOB button is at the same place on every cockpit screen: top left on the Helm's chart, and first in the header of Race, Route and the screens under More. While you are planning during a passage, it is in the bar above the Plan tabs. It works through the screen lock.
Raise it
- Tap MOB. One tap, nothing to confirm. Offwind marks the position at that moment.
- Shout, point, and keep someone watching the person. Then start your recovery drill.
That one tap does all of this:
- marks the position and time, and puts a MOB mark on the chart;
- raises Man overboard, a critical alarm that sounds and vibrates until you acknowledge it;
- if the track is recording, adds a MOB event to it;
- tells the other devices in your boat group, which show and sound the alarm too;
- sends a position report with the MOB flag over your link, as soon as one is available.
You can also raise it with Siri ("Man overboard in Offwind"), from the Shortcuts app or the Action Button, and from the Offwind app on Apple Watch.
If the phone has no position yet, Offwind still raises the alarm and says No position yet. Note the time and heading; the position is marked at the next fix. The first fix that arrives completes the mark.
Steer back
Open More, then Safety. The Man overboard panel is at the top.
- Steer is the bearing from the boat to the mark, in degrees true.
- Distance is how far away it is, in meters up to a kilometer and then in nautical miles.
- The line under them gives the time since the mark and how uncertain the position is. No drift estimate means the bearing is to where the person went in, not to where wind and current have carried them since. Allow for that.
The bearing and distance update with every fix.
Acknowledge the alarm
Acknowledging stops the sound. It does not clear the MOB: the mark, the chart symbol and the way back stay until you clear them. Slide Acknowledge on the alarm banner, or use the alarm on Safety. See Answer an alarm.
Clear it
When the person is back aboard:
- Tap Clear MOB under the man overboard panel.
- Hold the button that takes its place for two seconds, until the ring fills.
If you let go early, nothing happens. If you do nothing for five seconds, the button goes back to Clear MOB. Clearing removes the mark, the chart symbol and the alarm on this device. Clear it on the boat group's other devices too.
Limits
- It is not a distress call. Nothing is sent to the coast guard or other boats. Call on VHF channel 16 or DSC, and use your EPIRB or PLB.
- The position is where the phone or the boat's GPS was at the tap, not where the person is now.
- The position report needs a link. Offshore without one, it waits.
- If Offwind is closed from the app switcher, it stops using the position, so the way back stops updating. The mark is kept for when you open it again. See When you close the app.