Emergency ladders on marina pontoons - are they worth having?

[Malish]

Hi
Recently replaced pontoons in our marina seem completely devoid of emergency ladders to aid recovery should someone fall in. Whilst I am sure they are rarely used they do seem to be a useful safety feature and I am wondering how any risk assessment performed by a marina can ignore them. Is their absence the norm in other marinas? welcome your thoughts.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I raised this issue with Largs a good few years ago now as they had very few, spaced far apart, as well as not being obvious. My current marina, Croabh does not have any that I am aware of.

If someone fell in and drowned, perhaps the HSE would raise that as an issue, lack of ladders. However, if they were not wearing a life jacket then that would’ve the dominant issue, which would miss the point.

 

[mainsail1]

Emergency ladders must be a good idea.
How else would a non athlete get out of the water and back on the pontoon?

 

[Elessar]

Hi
Recently replaced pontoons in our marina seem completely devoid of emergency ladders to aid recovery should someone fall in. Whilst I am sure they are rarely used they do seem to be a useful safety feature and I am wondering how any risk assessment performed by a marina can ignore them. Is their absence the norm in other marinas? welcome your thoughts.

An instructor / forumite fell off a boat in the river Itchen in February, he was alone. . Said marinas ladders had to be deployed from the pontoon and couldn’t be reached from the water.
He knew that my ladder could be deployed from the water so he swam to my boat. It probably saved his life.
Marina ladders cost peanuts, why on earth not have them?
Some ladderless Thames marinas have a scheme where owners tie a ribbon to boat ladders that can be deployed from the water.

 

[Topcat47]

Having fallen into a marina, I can affirm they are essential. I was unable to get out of the water by the finger pontoon and without the assistance of my crew I’d have been in real trouble. As a result, I make a habit of locating the closest emergency ladders to my berth whenever I moor in a marina and hunt out as many ladders as possible when visiting a new one.

 

[sarabande]

My view is that pontoons should have a recovery facility but, as has been noted here many many times, lifting a casualty out of the water requires the strength of 2 or 3 persons.

The answer, then, might be to have a ramp to enable a person crawl up to the decking, or be dragged up by helpers. Such a ramp would take up more space than a vertical ladder, but is far more practical. It should also be marked by a tall pole with a fluorescent or illuminated symbol.


My best mate's father died in Newhaven marina nearly 40 years ago. He fell off his boat when mooring up and was not recovered alive.

 

[Iliade]

Firstly: Ladders are cheap, brilliant and should always be present.

Secondly: I have fallen into a marina three times but used to dive in regularly. The easiest way out that I found was to monkey climb a mooring line until I had enough freeboard to put my feet onto the pontoon. Another good one was to go to the end of the dodgiest finger pontoon and clamber aboard as they tended to sink a fair bit making the task easier.

I did occasionally remember to bring my boarding ladder to the job but, in truth, rarely ;0)

I did once dare to rescue a friend's ship's cat that had fallen in; Next time I will lower a carpet in for a cat!

 

[photodog]

Hi
Recently replaced pontoons in our marina seem completely devoid of emergency ladders to aid recovery should someone fall in. Whilst I am sure they are rarely used they do seem to be a useful safety feature and I am wondering how any risk assessment performed by a marina can ignore them. Is their absence the norm in other marinas? welcome your thoughts.

I agree 100%... they do not have enough, and should have them on the end of every pontoon imho. It’s someyhing which we were commenting on last week. I used to leave a bit of rope on our ladder so it could be pulled down from in the water... it went a year ago but I’m gonna renew that..

The only MOB’s I’ve been involved with were both in marinas....

Drop a line to the M.D., he is receptive to comments.... I’m going to be doing so at the end of season and will add that.

 

[[70521]]

I would not permanently keep the boat in a marina that did not have ladders on every pontoon. I see the marina that I keep the boat in has added a rope that touches water level on every berth so that there is something to grab hold of should you fall in.

 

[Lucky Duck]

Assuming this is Suffolk Yacht Harbour then the pontoons are\were higher up than the standard Walcon stuff so it would almost impossible to haul oneself out of the water there

 

[markhomer]

I fell in , one dark night on unlit pontoons , i ended up standing on a near boats slack spring to get back onto pontoon , ruing my old grey whistle test man look with the phosforesence , i was lucky ,

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

I fell inn too and stayed hanging onto a spinnaker sheet as the boat drifted. If I'd known that all the river pontoons on that stretch had ladders I would have swum to one. As it was I had to get rescued.

My two thoughts are that anyone providing a means to fall into the water should also provide a means to get out of it, but that they're no use at all if they not ridiculously obvious. The tall pole/dayglo idea above is a good one.

 

[Foolish Muse]

I once watched an old lady fall off the dock. Thankfully we have ladders at each second finger. They are just wood, so are really cheap, but invaluable for saving a life.

 

[agurney]

I raised this issue with Largs a good few years ago now as they had very few, spaced far apart, as well as not being obvious. My current marina, Croabh does not have any that I am aware of.
...

Craobh have them at the end of the hammerheads, and a few other places IIRC.

 

[Tranona]

Our club installed ladders about 15 years ago after an incident of somebody falling in - fortunately rescued. Number was increased when all the pontoons and walkways were replaced a couple of years ago.

 

[Babylon]

I fell in at night off an ill-considered narrow pontoon adjacent to a gangway (where the gloomy ‘trap’ was obscured by badly-positioned lighting) smashing my left elbow on a steel as I went down. Getting out unassisted was impossible, despite the fact that I was in my early-50s and the September water wasn’t cold. There was a ladder, but it was on the far side of a hammerhead a dozen berths away - but being dark and low in the water with half a meter of pontoon above my eyesight I didn’t even know this. A neighbouring yachtie heard my shouts and helped me out. If I’d smashed my head rather than my elbow, someone would have found my body eventually.

Perhaps if all marina managers and harbour masters were pushed in once a year on a random day - day or night, warm or freezing - the end of every pontoon would have a short ladder of some description.

 

[Babylon]

PS The reports of my accident by myself and the yachtie who helped me out were effectively ignored by the responsible authority (I was blamed for being careless) until two more people fell in also at night at the same spot, one elderly bloke requiring hospitalisation for hypothermia. At this point the lighting on the recently-constructed gangway/pontoon was altered and a physical barrier erected in the area of the gloomy ‘trap’,

 

[langstonelayabout]

Having fallen into a marina, I can affirm they are essential. I was unable to get out of the water by the finger pontoon and without the assistance of my crew I’d have been in real trouble. As a result, I make a habit of locating the closest emergency ladders to my berth whenever I moor in a marina and hunt out as many ladders as possible when visiting a new one.

+1. I too have taken an unplanned swim at the yard where we kept our boat.

The distance between water and pontoon deck isn't far but it is impossible to climb onto, especially if you are fully clothed and wearing a lifejacket.

The latter for the pontoon was on the other side of the pontoon from where I fell in so I had to climb out of the water using help from a quickly-arriving bystander and the sterngear from someone else's parked mobo (If it was your boat - thanks! ).

And when I posted a 'thankyou to the bystander, and need more ladders please' on the boatyard's facebook page it was deleted within the day. I guess that is how interested some companies are

 

[Topcat47]

And when I posted a 'thankyou to the bystander, and need more ladders please' on the boatyard's facebook page it was deleted within the day. I guess that is how interested some companies are

Probably because it represented evidence that the boatyard were made aware of the risk. It opens them to accusations of negligence if/when it happens again.

 

[Plum]

Yes, all marinas should have escape ladders on pontoons but if you are in the water alone it will be near impossible to tell where the nearest one is. I saw in Dover marina last week a sign on the end of every finger pontoon, viewable from in the water, showing the direction to the nearest ladder. Excellent idea. If every boat had a boarding ladder at the stern that can be deployed from the water that would be a great help too.

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