First, having an personal AIS beacon on each crew that is water activated is the best solution. Having said that, nothing is "perfect". These devices depend on being properly rigged, the victim may have to hold them up (a bit), etc. But they, along with PLB (Personal Locator Beacons) are really game changers. Now the victim to survive long enough. If you've ever been in the water in short 4' wind blown waves, immersed in 50° warter, etc. you'll know that survival in water often isn't a function of how many days before help comes.

Secondly, a lot of what makes sense to perfore a recover has to do with sea state, time to get back, visibility, time-of-day, etc. It affects both the best strategy, tactics, as well as, the likelihood of success. As a wiser man than me who slipped overboard in the North Atlantic (and was pulled back in himself) -- the FIRST THING SOME SHOULD DO IS HIT THE MOB button, if you have one.

Thirdly, if you were going to return to the point on the chart where the MOB waypoint was set. You should have some idea about (or, at least a range of) when the MOB event occured. If you are travelling at 7 knots, then you're moving 700'/ MINUTE. If you come on deck and (horrified) notice that the helmsman is not there, the real question is "WHEN" did the person go overboard? The MOB waypoint, while VERY IMPORTANT as a reference, is only the time at which you hit the button. 700' is huge distance... Having a record of your path is as essential as the MOB point in many cases unless you. (So ALWAYS have your 'track' option on if you have a chart plotter; and, if you don't, then you need to be able to recollect that it really do an effective recovery -- or assist in getting one started.

Fourthly, depending on the circumstances, the return path will be affected. (e.g. i) if you were on deck, and hit the button as the person went overboard and you're motoring in light wind as not much sea way, then it's much different than when you're in 6' short waves and discovered that someone went overboard "a while ago". The only thing is that you are reasonably certain about is the MOB waypoint shows "where" when you hit the button .

I think that the search and recovery "retangualar box" works well to recover floating bodies (alive or otherwise) from wreckage. It doesn't work well (in many, if not most, circumstances for a single slow moving rescue vessel desperately seeking to save someone that is out-of-sight.

I think you need to think about what happened and return on a line that takes into account what the circumstances were. Try and figure out what the drift might be (e.g., was it along the line of your return, or perpendicular to it.) How fast would someone be drifting and what are times involved. In this case you are dealing with something that is reverse "dead reckoning". Without current or drift, you would simply return on the charts line of travel. At some point, you also need to call for help (earlier than later) if it can make a difference. (MAYDAY....)

I repeat, if you are concerned with this, get personal MOB AIS homing devices and an EPIRB. Wear inflatable vests, etc.

Best of all - Don't leave the boat!

[P.S. - When I first became interested in sailing, I asked a buddy who was a racer on offshore boats about his experience... (Long before loran or chart plotters) racing boats with full crews in off shore conditions had dual floating MOB poles with life jackets and drogues with strobes on the tops of poles. You dropped the first pole when you saw the person go over board and then you dropped the second one a few moments later. You returned to the strobes and used them as a "range" to recover the MOB. You'd see one pole rise out of a swell or wave, then the other. The theory was you'd keep track of the strobes as they alternately popped-up and -off as you steered back. Not a pleasant thought on a dark and stormy.]