I'm reasonably new to catamaran racing, but have been a singlehanding woman w/physical limitations for about 18 years now on monohulls. I have considered a lot of the issues discussed in this thread, and would like to comment on a few of them.
Let's see. First strength issues... I have fibromyalgia, and while I'm pretty strong, there's no way I could pull my 190 lb husband out of the water without assistance. So I got to thinking... What I would do on a monohull would be to circle back and round the boat up upwind of the POB so I can drift down close, (release the main sail?) let out the mainsheet, clip my boomvang upside down as far outboard as possible on the boom and let out enough line to reach the POB. If possible, I'd lead the line to one of my winches if the angle is right and haul away. This could be adapted to the Hobie, but without the winch. I'm gonna grab the boomvang off the 31 and play with this. It's similar to the modified mainsheet systems found on some cats (one system of blocks on the boom instead of three). I'd put it upside down so I had the free line (and cleat) facing me. This would work as long as the crew could assist minimally (catch the clip and clip in). I might have to attach additional line to the clip with a weighted ball to make throwing over a distance easier. Will this work? Tell you what -- when the water gets a little warmer, we'll test it out. I'm a firm believer in having whatever gear is necessary on board to take care of reasonably-expected emergencies. The challenge on an 18-foot cat is of course storage space and weight. But the boomvang could be used for so many other things (we could have used it the other day doing wing-on wing with the main and hooter in almost no wind). Backup main sheet system?
Tethers -- I ALWAYS wear a tether at night offshore. And rig jacklines. On a cat, maybe I'd run a jackline up the middle of the boat (threaded through the tramp lacing?) rather than clipping to any particular part of the boat. I'd prefer to keep the attachment point as close to the middle of the boat as possible to avoid entanglements. You can buy light harnesses made of webbing which attach to the tether. The one I use has an integrated self-inflating PFD, but as wet as you get on a cat, this probably wouldn't be a good idea. I'll have to look and see if they have any conventional PFDs with built-in tether connections, though I don't recall seeing them.
Never used chicken lines, but I can see how they could be useful. But with both the chicken lines and tether, I can also see how they might end up adding to your injury. Or trap you in a bad position till you can disentangle. Since there's no way of knowing in advance how you'll fare in a particular spill, I'd opt for the safety features and hope they actually helped...
The swimming thing -- I was crewing in a distance race in November, where we flipped just before the finish. I unclipped and jumped in, and chased the dry box with the captain's cell phone. The boat drifted away from me so fast I couldn't catch it. The captain got in the water and tried to slow it down, which allowed me to catch it. He wasn't much heavier than me, so there's no way he could have righted it himself and gotten back to me. I wasn't concerned for my safety -- the river wasn't very wide, and I could get in easily. But we were in third place, and I REALLY wanted to finish!
I think what I'm trying to say is that you should spend a lot of time on the 'what ifs' and test your theories BEFORE you get out there. I personally think I can do just about anything with the proper preparation, but I know my limits. Everyone has them, so before you start eliminating people on specific qualifications, give some consideration to how they might compensate. In short, don't write anyone off!
See you out there,
Shambie
