Are your topsides climbable?

Greenheart

Greenheart

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Is anybody watching that loony stack of crud called "Adrift"? Film4, right now.

A pack of twits dive off their yacht, but there's no line or ladder by which they may climb back aboard. So they succumb, one by one, to the ocean, while they can meanwhile hear their infant yelling on board. Standard Hollywood crud, but it raises an inevitable question that no yachtsman can go to sleep without considering...

...how easily could you get back aboard your own yacht? :confused:
 
I was at eye level with the water line at the weekend when I was pampering her bottom and reached up to the deck and realised that I was just a bit short and the first thing that went through my mind was that film even though I have not seen it.
looks like there will be loose lines around the toe rail this season and a line to a ladder.
 
I have 3' of free board at the lowest point and in my younger days (different boat than mine but same type) I could lunge up and haul out, it took a lot of effort; could not do it now though.

I do always put the dinghy over the side at an over night anchor in case anyone falls over but that's about it. I don't have a permanently fixed boarding ladder and usually there is a wind vane on the stern, so I could get back on board via the framework.

However, apart from the dinghy at anchor, nothing special.
 
It seemed to me that boat had additional buoyancy so was floating very high out of the drink. But I think it's based on a true story.

I can reach and fold my stern boarding ladder down, as I've done twice after falling in the marina :o

n700039302_1349003_2390454.jpg
 
Weird, isn't it?! I believe it's such a lousy film (I've not seen it either, and I've already switched channel to something more interesting) that it's unlikely to hold anyone's attention on account of characterisation...but the idea behind it, is hard to ignore.

And, in the best Hollywood tradition, if you leave a line over the side for getting aboard in emergencies, you may be sure that someone (or some thing) will climb up it, too!! :eek::eek:

Imagining "what I'd have done", I can't help thinking that if two of the swimmers took a firm hold of each other's free hand, whilst bracing themselves against opposite sides of the hull at its narrowest point, stern or aft, then they'd have effected a solid enough form for a third swimmer to climb up over them, and reach to the rail. Got to be worth a try, no?
 
Adrift

I loved that movie. Nail biting as they squandered one opportunity to get out of the mess after another. My boat has half the free board but no one has yet managed to get up there unassisted either. So the issue is simple: "Do not go overboard unintended". All those nice ideas like trailing a rope are only there to ease your mind. Just try to hold on to the rope whilst the boat is making 7 kn, let alone claw your way back to the boat and then up the stern....wishful thinking.
 
dancrane said:
Is anybody watching that loony stack of crud called "Adrift"? Film4, right now.

A pack of twits dive off their yacht, but there's no line or ladder by which they may climb back aboard. So they succumb, one by one, to the ocean, while they can meanwhile hear their infant yelling on board. Standard Hollywood crud, but it raises an inevitable question that no yachts can go to sleep without considering...

...how easily could you get back aboard your own yacht? :confused:
Click to expand...

Impossible to get on mine without the ladder, which cannot be deployed from in the water.
I need a solution to this, trying to find one of these rope ladders in a tube devices that can be easily deplyed as fitted to some boats.
Any ideas?

As an aside, can you get back onto your marina, which is probably the most likely place for you to fall in? Shepperton marina on the Thames has a safety ladder scheme. Ladders that can be deployed from the water or are left down have a coloured ribbon tied to them. If you fall in you just look for a ribbon. Anywhere else do this?
 
dancrane said:
And, in the best Hollywood tradition, if you leave a line over the side for getting aboard in emergencies, you may be sure that someone (or some thing) will climb up it, too!! :eek::eek:
Click to expand...

On the cat we have steps that go right down to the waterline, the bottom is the largest to make easy to back on board without the need for a ladder.

Despite living in crocodile country and often seen cruising close to the boat, nothing has ever boarded us, not even a sea snake.......Yet,:eek:

Good luck and fair winds.:)
 
dancrane said:
Imagining "what I'd have done", I can't help thinking that if two of the swimmers took a firm hold of each other's free hand, whilst bracing themselves against opposite sides of the hull at its narrowest point, stern or aft, then they'd have effected a solid enough form for a third swimmer to climb up over them, and reach to the rail. Got to be worth a try, no?
Click to expand...
Yeah. I suggested that a while ago.

I suppose the film would have been a bit too short :D
 
I hadn't thought about it until capsizing my tender a couple of years back and realising there was no way of climbing aboard even when warm and rested. I've now fitted a large boarding ladder to the transom and supplemented it with an Ocean Safety 2.4m rope ladder. This extends deep into the water, hopefully, allowing somebody to climb easily up to the fixed ladder.

http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/liferaft-accessories/ocean-safety/kim-2-4m-webbing-ladder.bhtml

I'll try it when I relaunch.
 
The subject came up at work a couple of months ago, and it turns out one of my colleagues had done exactly this. Two of them on board, delivering a yacht back after a race. Becalmed, they decide to jump over for a swim, then realise they haven't rigged the detachable boarding ladder. Obviously my colleague did eventually manage to grab the toerail and heave himself up, or he wouldn't have been telling me the story, but it sounds like a close-run thing.

Pete
 
The boarding ladder on our Sadler 32 folds up and becomes part of the pushpit, so would be no good to man nor beast if anyone went in and wanted to get out.

The solution was simple, a piece of rope with two big plastic beads on it. This rope is lightly (with a small piece of twine) secured so the end hangs 6-8 inches below the deck, the rest lies behind the toe rail. This rope then goes with slack to the quick release shackle holding the ladder in place. Then onto the line that is used to pull the ladder up, and therefore can be used to pull it down.

It leaves a little bit of loose rope around the pushpit, but it's a tiny price to pay for having a way to get out of the water should I ever go in.
 
Surely you wouldn't go for a swim without at least letting your anchor down? And then that would give you something to climb back up.

Obviously you have to have the right sort of anchor. But think about the product placement potential.
 
I have a similar system as Snooks.

The folding ladder is part of the pushpit. When down the lowest rung is under the water.

Being on the transom it does not slide under the boat when in use as it would at the side.

There is a line from it which is just out of the water and it can be pulled down easily either from the tender or from a swimmer in the water.

I was only able to do this as I made the pulpit myself when I was building the boat.

To do this retrospectively would be a bit more difficult.

Iain
 
I have a friend who's wooden dinghy capsized when they were getting into it from their boat, although the dinghy was righted it was full of water and capsized again, there was no way that they could get into their boat again. Sadly he died in the water, but luckily my friend managed to get ashore.
 
I have a telescopic ladder that is accessible from the water. 2 rungs below the waterline is JUST enough if I get my knee on the bottom one. I frequently use it to get aboard after swimming. Incidentally, just getting into a dinghy without it capsizing can be tricky. Try it some time, it's a useful exercise.

30 years ago on previous boat (Westerly25) I could (and did) climb aboard at the bow using the pulpit to heave mysellf part out of the water & then swinging my legs onto the deck, hooking round a stanchion & then pulling myself aboard. Took about 30 secs of heavy breathing before I could get to my feet again tho, & I couldn't do it now as I am older, heavier & less fit.
 
Plyn said:
I have a friend who's wooden dinghy capsized when they were getting into it from their boat, although the dinghy was righted it was full of water and capsized again, there was no way that they could get into their boat again. Sadly he died in the water, but luckily my friend managed to get ashore.
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Very sad story & sorry for the people concerned, however there are techniques people need to now. If the dinghy floats, you need one either side while one gets in. If solo, try getting in over the stern. Lie flat in the water in a flooded dinghy & bale carefully initially, preferably over bow or stern. Standard sailing dinghy & canoe safety procedures. But probably not on the RYA cruising syllabus. :rolleyes:

It's also why every hard dinghy should have a baler tied inside.
 
Elessar said:
Impossible to get on mine without the ladder, which cannot be deployed from in the water.
I need a solution to this, trying to find one of these rope ladders in a tube devices that can be easily deplyed as fitted to some boats.
Any ideas?

As an aside, can you get back onto your marina, which is probably the most likely place for you to fall in? Shepperton marina on the Thames has a safety ladder scheme. Ladders that can be deployed from the water or are left down have a coloured ribbon tied to them. If you fall in you just look for a ribbon. Anywhere else do this?
Click to expand...

The same system is supposedly used a Port Leucate. But I have not seen any ribbons :(
 
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