Marine Glossary

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Williamson turn

A maneuver to bring a power driven vessel back to the site of a man over board. A Williamson turn generally consists of

[first note your present heading, and figure the reciprocal heading]

(1) Placing the rudder hard over to the side of the casualty,

(2) deviating 60 degrees from the original course and then placing the rudder hard over to the opposite side,

(3) when the heading is approximately 20 degrees short of the reciprocal course, the rudder should be placed amidships and the vessel steadied up,

(4) the engines should be stopped in the water with the person alongside, well forward of the propellers.

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Note that with modern navigation instruments we would have a man overboard button that drops a mark at the spot and links that mark to our vessel on the chart, if we knew when it happened and that would direct us back to that point. These special maneuvers like a Williamson turn is for getting back on the right track not knowing when the overboard occurred.

In a sailboat, the most effective operation in most cases is go head to wind, drop the sails and turn on the engine and turn around. If anyone actually sees the person go overboard their complete and total mission is to point to the person and do not take their eyes of them at all.