Deck Ops
genspec, some piece of advise from an old bloke..
1> while enroute study the "period" of the swell and the ripples (for wind). count the # of times the sea is heaving.
2> try to time your approach to the deck on the last swell if you are able to. the last swell is the time the boat stops heaving for a few seconds. call it sweet spot if you may. also whether you fly a frenchie or a yankee.. better to approach in a quartering fashion so you'd have good visibility and an escape route.
3> it the yacht's deck is aft-- your horizon ref would only be on your side line of sight.. so, try to get the horizon on your peripheral vision. try to have some view of horizon and deck in view. this way you'd see the deck coming up while maintaining level on horizon.
4> NEVER NEVER look down on deck.. why? your balance mech will tell your brain to correct with respect to what you see the decks attitude to be! this means, if the deck rolls to the right you'd see it as if you are rolling to the left.. and you'd be fooled to correct with a right cyclic-- THIS IS WHAT CAUSES THE VERTIGO AND DECK CONTACT!
5> if you encounter VERTIGO the procedure would be COLLECTIVE IN YOUR ARMPIT! Meaning, swallow your pride and make another approach.
6> if your machine has a cargo hook it's best to improvise a latching system from under the deck. this way even after you have removed the tiedowns there is still something securing you before you attain flight rpm. DON'T FORGET TO RELEASE THOUGH! On landing your deck guy can easily secure you from under the deck.
Yachts would definitely be smaller than tankers and tuna boats i've lived in-- so you could expect a lot more heave and roll.
First time I did Tuna boats.. I had 10yrs tanker and rig experience and it scared the sh..t out of me when it took me 2 attempts to land on a fore located deck!
Get yourself checked out if you have a chance.. nothing special to it and it's just procedure..