Have you ever been overboard - unplanned?

[LadyInBed]

Under what circumstances did it happen?

I have had three unplanned dunkings, luckily none from a yacht.
The first was when rowing a hard dinghy out to my boat in Portland Hbr to take the boat into Weymouth for lift out. It was blowing quite hard SW across PH, I knew it would be difficult to the boat so dressed in a drysuit and had a friend watching on the beach. Half way out to the boat I lost an oar from the rowlock, I fell backwards, oar went over the side, dinghy broached and tipped over. I couldn't right it, so held onto the bow and driften downwind. I steared myself to the stern of another boat and held on. Friend had notified the nearby Windsurfing Club who's safety boat came out and picked me up. We got the dinghy righted, found the oars and I got them to drop me off onto my boat so I could go and get lifted. Wind surfing club was suitably rewarded.

The second was on a trip down the R Frome in a small inflatable (AX2) going to my mooring. I saw a pack (3) of jet ski's coming up the river, not fast but causing a big wash. I thought I would duck in between two boats, hold on and wait for them to pass. Unfortunately one of the boats stern mooring lines hooked me under the chin and tipped me over the side! I held on, cut the OB and climbed back in, no harm done, just embarrassed.

The third was from the pontoon over in St Vaast. I returned to the boat after dinner, getting ready to leave in the morning and realised that I hadn't filled the water. I connected my flat hose and started reeling it out walking backwards along the pontoon, unfortunately the hose was longer that the pontoon! I managed to climb out by hooking a leg over a boats mooring line and pulling myself up onto the pontoon as I couldn't see any ladders about.

 

[Stingo]

Yes. Rum was involved.

 

[Rappey]

Had a double skinned very heavy dingy with an old 25 hp on the back.
Gave it some throttle as would only start that way, a sharp yank on the pull start and it fired up,unfortunately it was in gear so it shot forwards, dingy transom then takes out your legs causing a spectacular 360 over the back.
And just as you surface would be about the right timing to see it go on full lock (tiller steered) and come back at you for another attack !
Luckily being an unreliable engine it only ran for a few seconds before cutting out.
I got a large cheer from the many people that saw it happen !

 

[LadyInBed]

Yes. Rum was involved.

Come on, full disclosure required

 

[Stingo]

Come on, full disclosure required

I tried to step off a friend's boat into a dinghy after one too many rums. I missed the dinghy. Splish, splash, splosh, "hahaha, you're pissed" they correctly claimed. The water was warm, so no drama, except for a nasty hangover the next day.

 

[TLouth7]

I was carrying a long item (rolled up dinghy sail) through the marina. I was at the back and someone else at the front. They went round a corner and of course the sail cut the corner, and as a result so did I.

Obviously fallen in lots of times from sailing dinghies, most notably when the trapeze wire snapped.

 

[davidej]

Last week I was parking my sailboat at a well known River Orwell marina - stern first.

One crew stepped off the sugar scoop to secure the stbd aft mooring line. Then Splosh. The other crew had tried to do the same with the port line but had missed his footing. I had to be careful that he wasn't crushed between the boat and the pontoon as we weren't properly secured.

It would have been very difficult to haul him out if we hadn't been able to get the boarding ladder down.

I did something similar in Croatia a few years ago. The difference was that the water was warm and I only had a t shirt and shorts on

 

[SimonFa]

Under what circumstances did it happen?

I have had three unplanned dunkings, luckily none from a yacht.
The first was when rowing a hard dinghy out to my boat in Portland Hbr to take the boat into Weymouth for lift out. It was blowing quite hard SW across PH, I knew it would be difficult to the boat so dressed in a drysuit and had a friend watching on the beach. Half way out to the boat I lost an oar from the rowlock, I fell backwards, oar went over the side, dinghy broached and tipped over. I couldn't right it, so held onto the bow and driften downwind. I steared myself to the stern of another boat and held on. Friend had notified the nearby Windsurfing Club who's safety boat came out and picked me up. We got the dinghy righted, found the oars and I got them to drop me off onto my boat so I could go and get lifted. Wind surfing club was suitably rewarded.

The second was on a trip down the R Frome in a small inflatable (AX2) going to my mooring. I saw a pack (3) of jet ski's coming up the river, not fast but causing a big wash. I thought I would duck in between two boats, hold on and wait for them to pass. Unfortunately one of the boats stern mooring lines hooked me under the chin and tipped me over the side! I held on, cut the OB and climbed back in, no harm done, just embarrassed.

The third was from the pontoon over in St Vaast. I returned to the boat after dinner, getting ready to leave in the morning and realised that I hadn't filled the water. I connected my flat hose and started reeling it out walking backwards along the pontoon, unfortunately the hose was longer that the pontoon! I managed to climb out by hooking a leg over a boats mooring line and pulling myself up onto the pontoon as I couldn't see any ladders about.

And were you wearing an LJ in the first 2 incidents?

So far so lucky, but I've had a couple of close calls which have done enough each time to concentrate the mind.

 

[LittleSister]

I've never been overboard unplanned except for (a) dinghy capsizes when racing (always quickly righted without assistance), which is not 'planned' but neither is it unexpected, and (b) a sea kayak capsize a few miles out to sea, when my attempt to roll back up again failed - another kayaker (as we'd all practised) helped empty my boat of water and held it while I clambered back in (I did lose a particularly nice red wooly hat in the process, though , so please look out for it if you're passing the Saltees!).

Had one MOB, off a narrow boat on an inland canal! Young lad had been from the start racing and jumping about the boat recklessly, and naturally, being 14, wouldn't be told (particularly by his mum's boyfriend!). Eventually, while we were motoring onto a narrow aqueduct and he was messing about at the bow, the inevitable happened and he fell in. I cut the motor and we carried our way forward. As he came level with the cockpit at the stern, I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck (well, actually the back of the neck of his jacket) and hauled him in backwards. He was rather shocked (though he probably could have stood up in the canal), and was thereafter suitably sheepish about it and somewhat less foolhardy round the boat.

 

[LadyInBed]

And were you wearing an LJ in the first 2 incidents?

Not normally, but I did in the 1st incident as conditions across PH were pretty bad, it took the two of us to launch the dinghy! I should have also thought to tie the oars into the rowlocks.
I wear a harness and lifeline on the boat sometimes if the conditions are a bit bouncy.
Hands over head and running for cover ☠

 

[Daydream believer]

The first time I went in was about 48 years ago. It was in my first Stella & it was in Nieuport after the Stella rally. We were leaving port between the 2 piers. It was rough & because the stuart P4MC would not have had enough power to push the boat out of the harbour on its own I hoisted the genoa so we were on a pretty close reach. A s we were a bout 50 yds from the end of the piers & past the concrete section a srong gust hit us & laid the boat over. The engine cut & the boat turned to the east . We hit the pier with such force that I was thrown out of the cockpit, over the guardrail & into the water. As luck would have it I was the only one with a life jacket, but it was not needed because as I went over I think I did a complete somersault. I landed on my feet on a horizontal beam of the pier about 3 feet below the water. My hand caught an upright. The boat went away from me about 6 feet on the wave & for a brief moment i was standing in the water looking at the boat. On the next wave the boat smashed back into the wall splitting some of the timbers. But as it did so I jumped back on the boat.
the boat suffered extensive damage both sides & the mast was damaged. We managed to get back into the harbour & make the mast secure with the halyards.
When I went up the mast the bosuns chair broke.
On the way back to Burnham, we motored the whole way & we had a fire on board.

The second time I went over was off Harwich.19 years ago, I was SH. I was changing foresails in very choppy weather & was kneeling on one to hold it down. I slid on the sail cloth & went over the side under the rail. My boot hooked a cleat & I was hanging over the side by it. My LJ inflated. I managed to reach up & grab the staunchion and tried to get in aft of it but my LJ would not go through the gap so I had to deflate it a little bit, whilst still hanging by my boot. I then managed to get my upper body round the staunchion whilst constantly being dunked & as luck would have it at that point my boot ripped releasing my leg & I was able to get through the gap under the bottom wire.

I have forgotten the details of the third one. It was a simple over the side from a strike, by the boom or spinnaker pole, whilst racing with a full crew & get pulled back on before I got dragged from the boat.

My record for capsizes as a dinghy sailor was when I was 16 in my Hornet one Burnham week. 25 starters 5 finished, we were 5th after 16 capsizes.
I nearly beat that 2 years ago in my Phantom at the age of 70. I have capsized dinghies so many times it would be odd if I went sailing without doing so.

I have broken masts on sailboards, hornet, & my dads Silhouette. & I have rammed a Squib in a race with a Shearwater & sunk it. But in my defence the stupid girl helm did nothing to help. Instead of steering away, she just put her hands over her eyes & started screaming- Before I hit her.

My record for being rescued is windsurfing when I was rescued 7 times in one day about 35 years ago. Once by the police & 6 by the club. They stopped me going out any more that day.

So I have ended up in the oggin quite a few times over the years.
I now pay penance because for the last 20 years I have done safety boat duty for our club's polar series. My wife did safety boat duty for 10 years & she pulled me out quite a few times. That was the difficult moments because she always stood in the RIB & gave me a lecture whilst I was in the water , drowning, first. Something that amused club members greatly

 

[LadyInBed]

LittleSister's post has reminded me of a fourth occasion and it was from my boat when on the Canal du Midi.
I was entering a bow lock (solo), my normal procedure was to climb the ladder on the gate and maneuver my lines over the winding mechanism. This particular lock had a concrete platform and steps just outside the lock. I thought great, that makes life easier, I stepped onto the platform, forgetting how slippy it would be, slipped and went A over T back into the water, luckily still clutching my stern line. I pulled myself up to my boarding ladder and climbed back onboard. When I looked up I saw the lock keeper standing above me with a bloody long gaff. All he said was Ça va?

 

[Roberto]

I fell once while retrieving the stern anchor, I stepped on the swim platform "so it's easier", I slipped and fell in the water but managed to get hold of one of the platform steel tubes. There was I in the water with one hand attached to the boat and the other hand holding the anchor, my very young daughter madly laughing and jumping while singing "Daddy is in the waaaa-ter, he fell in the waaaa-ter". Love kids.

 

[Dipper]

Another Portland Harbour mishap. I had gone out to my swinging mooring in my inflatable and got on board. Having retied the dinghy I went down the stern ladder and tried to hook the painter with my foot to bring the dinghy closer so that I could get something out of it. My wet welly slipped on the steel tubing and in I went. Luckily I had a lifejacket on as I was fully clothed and I managed to quickly get back on the ladder and back into the boat. I had my car key fob in my pocket so I immediately dismantled it, removed the battery and dunked it in a mug of 'fresh' water from my tank. Having dried it off, I sprayed it with WD40 then dried it off again and it has been fine ever since.

My first thought when I fell in was 'I hope no one saw me' (embarassment) but that changed within a couple of seconds to 'I hope someone DID see me' (fear). As it happens, I managed to get back on board by myself but my stern ladder is a bit short and I had to kneel on the bottom rung to make any progress upwards.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

My Dear Navigator went into the gloop in St Pierre Pill by stepping from our yacht across a semi-derelict whaleback boat, brought there for refurbishment. The morning was misty, the deck was slippery and the guard rails were missing. OOOPs as she slid down the deck and into muddy water. Fortunately loads of stout lads at hand doing mooring stuff to help me pull my beloved ashore.

Also we both went in trying to do a "lifeboat launch" pushing our dighy down the bank at Weston about 3 hours before HW, so 5 metres drop. Navigator sat in bows, I pushed off to get us sliding down the rill, then jumped in as stern hit the water. However I must have got my weight wrong and sank the stern, and thus our dinghy. We were not wearing L/Js as yacht only about 10m from bank, and swam/waded ashore but we got very muddy dragging dinghy back up the mus to be able to empty it.

Also inadvertently tested LJs launching rubber dinghy from beach at Lundy at night on choppy day. Navigator slipped, I tried to hold dinghy on my own and thus fell over too. Waves came in and puff went the mechanisms as we were by now chest deep. Beer and pitchblacknight and rolling rolling cove!. In bad weather we now use their steamer slip, which is potentially more dangerous but actually much more controllable

 

[Daydream believer]

So far --15 posts & there are 10 falls from dinghies. Just shows how dangerous tenders are.

 

[Poignard]

My wife and I capsized our dinghy last year whilst trying to launch it off a beach into a fairly strong surf.

We were shivering with cold but we had no alternative but to try again and luckily we were successful.

One of those situations where you think afterwards how horribly it might have turned out.

 

[C08]

I had a double skinned dinghy puncture between the skins, become unstable and capsize, stepped backwards off the pontoon at Liverpool Marina. Strangest one was where I let go my mooring at Beaumaris and for reasons I do not understand thought I should not have let it go and jumped over the stern into the water to retrieve the mooring strops, much to the amazement of my wife!

 

[PetiteFleur]

Last autumn, getting into the dinghy from the boat on it's mooring, and somehow fell into the drink, grabbed the dinghy side which promptly filled, LJ inflated, worked my way around the dinghy, got to the boarding ladder, but took several attempts to untie the ladder, then lowered the ladder and climbed aboard. Fortunately the water was warm and it was sunny. Found some dry clothes, emptied the dinghy and went ashore. My phone died. I've now fitted a quick release rope to release the ladder from the water. A sobering experience.

 

[pagoda]

Countless sailing dinghy capsizes.....all with wetsuits so they don't count.
Once in the water from our sugarscoop. In harbour- west end of Baltic in April. Not warm
I was rinsing a basin with one hand , the other on the boarding ladder. Got my balance wrong and felt myself going over. Np problem thought I - other hand on boarding ladder!
It wasn't tied off in the up position and just followed me into the water!
I think I was climbing back up it as I hit the water. SWMBO thought it hilarious.