In a man overboard situation, why should you maintain eye contact with the person?

Maintaining eye contact with a person who has gone overboard is crucial for their safety and recovery. By keeping visual contact, you reduce the risk of them becoming disoriented or losing track of the boat's position. This is particularly important in open water where visibility may change due to waves, current, or the movement of the boat. If the person is focused on the boat, they are less likely to swim away from it, and this helps ensure that they stay in a position where they can be easily rescued. Additionally, visual contact allows the crew on the boat to better gauge the person's location and condition, facilitating a quicker and safer retrieval.

While the other choices touch on important aspects of a man overboard situation, they do not emphasize the primary safety concern of maintaining visual contact. Encouraging someone to swim or ensuring they can see the boat can be beneficial but are secondary to preventing them from getting lost, which is the fundamental reason for staying locked in visually with the person in the water.