Fatality at Dartmouth

[ghostlymoron]

There has been a drowning at Dartmouth just before Christmas. The person's body has only just been found without a lifejacket. He had been out for a couple of drinks before buying a takeaway and returning to the boat where he lived in a dinghy.
I know you should always wear a LJ whilst in a dinghy but must admit that I don't always because mine is relatively heavy and uncomfortable.
What is the best type for daily dinghy use all year round?

 

[scruff]

Sad as it is, falling in at this time of year, especially at night with no-one around, a lifejacket may just help recover your body sooner. Survival times will be measured in minutes in the depths of winter.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I know you should always wear a LJ whilst in a dinghy but must admit that I don't always because mine is relatively heavy and uncomfortable.
What is the best type for daily dinghy use all year round?

I wear a buoyancy aid on nice summer days when falling in from the dinghy would be an inconvenience and my normal lifejacket at night, in bad weather or in the winter when falling in would be very dangerous very quickly.

 

[[70521]]

Sad as it is, falling in at this time of year, especially at night with no-one around, a lifejacket may just help recover your body sooner. Survival times will be measured in minutes in the depths of winter.

While the loss of life is sad we have been wondering about in short sleeve shirt order for months in Devon, I would not describe the temperatures as being in the depths of winter.

 

[johnalison]

A modern lifejacket shouldn't be uncomfortable. I don't like wearing one much but by the time it is on I can usually forget it. It is the bother of donning one crotch-straps and all that tends to make lazy people like me default. My advice is to get comfortable modern jackets and get so used to the action of putting them on that it ceases to be a chore. I ought to take my own advice.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I think that is very callous and untrue. The casualty was apparently a non swimmer and fell from the dinghy whilst it was sort of tied to his boat. His Chinese meal was found on the side deck the following day. His body was found entangled in a pontoon. Had he had a LJ he may have floated the short distance and been able to rescue himself.

Sad as it is, falling in at this time of year, especially at night with no-one around, a lifejacket may just help recover your body sooner. Survival times will be measured in minutes in the depths of winter.

 

[simonfraser]

the water is around the UK at this time of the year is just too cold to survive for any length of time.
You’d be gasping for breath due to the cold shock, instant coronary / hypothermia or drown in short order unless wearing a decent working life jacket and some one to help you get out.
Don’t wish anyone dead, but depending on how old / infirm i was, falling in on the way back to the boat would beat sitting in a retirement home ....

 

[Spyro]

the water is around the UK at this time of the year is just too cold to survive for any length of time.
You’d be gasping for breath due to the cold shock, instant coronary / hypothermia or drown in short order unless wearing a decent working life jacket and some one to help you get out.
Don’t wish anyone dead, but depending on how old / infirm i was, falling in on the way back to the boat would beat sitting in a retirement home ....

Tell that to the fisherman who hung onto his net for five miles after falling in last month. The water around the uk doesn't get a lot colder throughout the year. Yes it's cold but it's survivable. A good attitude helps and not deciding you are a gonner if you fall in before it even happens.

 

[johnalison]

the water is around the UK at this time of the year is just too cold to survive for any length of time.
You’d be gasping for breath due to the cold shock, instant coronary / hypothermia or drown in short order unless wearing a decent working life jacket and some one to help you get out.
Don’t wish anyone dead, but depending on how old / infirm i was, falling in on the way back to the boat would beat sitting in a retirement home ....

Not to me. I remember hearing or reading an account by a Russian who had been in one of the gulags. If they wanted to break someone they would leave them in an unheated hut until they gave in. This chap thought to himself 'that's fine, I'll just get hypothermia and drift into unconsciousness and quietly die'. In the event, the experience was intolerably painful and he was forced to give in. I'd rather be wearing a LJ and have a chance of scrambling out.

 

[[70521]]

I am always amazed at the data we collect.

https://www.seatemperature.org/europe/united-kingdom/dartmouth.htm

 

[Blue Sunray]

Tell that to the fisherman who hung onto his net for five miles after falling in last month. The water around the uk doesn't get a lot colder throughout the year. Yes it's cold but it's survivable. A good attitude helps and not deciding you are a gonner if you fall in before it even happens.

+1

 

[oldharry]

Its often said that cold affects people at different rates. There was a story many years ago of a trawlerman who went OB in winter off Iceland, yet survived some 17 hours in the water. he was of course in bad shape, whereas others would only survive minutes. Fitness, body fat, clothing etc all play a part.

 

[lw395]

There has been a drowning at Dartmouth just before Christmas. The person's body has only just been found without a lifejacket. He had been out for a couple of drinks before buying a takeaway and returning to the boat where he lived in a dinghy.
I know you should always wear a LJ whilst in a dinghy but must admit that I don't always because mine is relatively heavy and uncomfortable.
What is the best type for daily dinghy use all year round?

If you don't want to habitually wear a self-inflating LJ, then a thermal flotation jacket is an option.
Both pro and amateur fishermen use them.

 

[moomba]

Its often said that cold affects people at different rates. There was a story many years ago of a trawlerman who went OB in winter off Iceland, yet survived some 17 hours in the water. he was of course in bad shape, whereas others would only survive minutes. Fitness, body fat, clothing etc all play a part.

This is very true and aslo the person had alchol niside the body
also the Elderly people, homeless people, and those under the influence of alcohol or drugs are particularly vulnerable to hypothermia

General survial times in water for avergae fit person
2.5° 0.3° < 15 minutes 45 minutes unconsciousness Death
32.5–40° 0.3–4.4° 15 – 30 minutes 30 – 90 minutes
40–50° 3.3–10° 30 – 60 minutes 1 – 3 hours
50–60° 10–15.6° 1 – 2 hours 1 – 6 hours
60–70° 15.6–21.1° 2 – 7 hours 2 – 40 hours
70–80° 21.1–26.7° 3 – 12 hours 3 hours – indefinite
> 80° > 26.7° Indefinite Indefinite


The UK waters vary but I suspect around the SOUTH Coast in Winter it is around 6 to 10 c but I would always were a buoyancy aid minimal in my dingy.
thoughts to his family

 

[GregOddity]

I even seem to forget to remove my lifejacket. I've had a couple of " comments " on that. But having worked offshore you learn to keep it on. Now I don’t even remember that I’m wearing it. I’ve been to the Pub wearing it in Gosport (forgot about it.. ) I wear it the all time on the boat only taking it off if were docked and secured.
I am a CONFIDENT Sea Swimmer under any conditions but it seems that the human body does not float well when alive and... I also learned that its that “its just 100m trip “ that causes most accidents.

 

[Offgridone]

Someone told me that early summer is the worst time to fall in water or go swimming voluntarily, it's sad to here.

 

[Old Bumbulum]

This is very true and aslo the person had alchol niside the body

Hic! could-hmmnt hagry moore! shnrzzzv. Hic!

 

[Concerto]

Someone told me that early summer is the worst time to fall in water or go swimming voluntarily, it's sad to here.

A couple of years ago I fished someone out of the Medway at the end of April. He thought he had been in the water for 30 to 40 minutes. He was a large man with a fair amount of fat and plenty of layers of clothing. He was alongside his boat in a tender and did not see some steep wash approaching and upturned his tender as he went in the river. Once on a nearby pontoon he removed most of his clothes to wring the water out, dried himself off with some towels - then put the clothes back on and walked ½ mile back to his club for a hot shower. He declined having an ambulance called. He was certainly no worse for his dip.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Sad as it is, falling in at this time of year, especially at night with no-one around, a lifejacket may just help recover your body sooner. Survival times will be measured in minutes in the depths of winter.

The water temp at the time was about 12C. Whilst feeling cold, for most people it’s not cold enough to kill you in minutes. This unfortunate chap lived on his boat moored across the pontoon from mine. He’s been a live aboard in the Dart for many years. It’s a sad loss, who really knows whether wearing a life jacket would have resulted in a different outcome.

 

[Iliade]

UK sea temperatures in winter are usually pretty survivable, but river and harbour water temperatures can be a lot lower than the sea's.

I have struggled when working within a harbour despite wearing a warm water fed suit. Breaking the sea ice to get in should have given me a hint.