Man overboard !

Not nearly as serious as it happened inland but once on my old river boat we had a gear cable jump off while navigating though a rowing regatta whilst in neutral, the wind picked up a bit as I went into gear and had to chuck a line to shore before we got blown sideways across the racing lanes, a lovely young lady stepped forward to catch the line wearing all white and looking immaculate as she stepped a bit too far straight into the river up to her chest (not so immaculate by now).
She still missed the line and we still went sideways across the racing lanes.....
 
Robert Wilson said:
Inflating LJs are dangerous :eek:

This is said with tongue firmly in cheek, BUT it makes one think (well it did me)
Inflating LJs are dangerous and should be banned, because when wearing an inflated LJ:-
Rescuers have difficulty getting a grip on you
Click to expand...
Your other points are true, but inflated lifejackets have a lovely hefty lifting strap attached for grabbing.

Wear the life jacket, unless you are in a confined space where it will stop you getting out. You can always elect to take the inflated life jacket off if you are finding it impeding you swimming or getting out of the water, and use it as a pull buoy instead.
 
As an ex dinghy sailor and time-served club rescue boat operator I have to say it’s a lot easier hauling people out over the low freeboard of a rib or dory than up onto a pontoon. You can ‘bob’ people fairly easily into a small rescue boat but getting them 2-3ft up onto a pontoon is a completely different pot of kippers. Ladders are fine but I’ve long thought finger pontoons should have a metal ‘foot bar’ bolted along them a couple of feet under water, it would make all the difference.

We were at Bradwell marina a good few years back when I heard a lady calling for help. It wsd late at night about 11pm and of vourse very dark, so I went over to see and her husband (I think) had fallen off the pontoon into the water. He was conscious and hadn’t had any drink but he couldn’t pull himself out and neither could she. Turned out I couldn’t either. What we did in the end was have him hold on with both arms to the pontoon while I grabbed his leg and hauled him up horizontal alongside the pontoon. From there he was able to roll over as I pulled his other leg in.

Could he have come up by a ladder? Probably, but in the dark, cold and getting weaker (by his own admission) he didn’t trust being able to swim riund the stern of half a dozen yachts to get to it. As I said at the beginning, a rail under water along every pontoon would be much more useful, or something detachable that could be deployed by people on the pontoon.
 
Saguday said:
Could he have come up by a ladder? Probably, but in the dark, cold and getting weaker (by his own admission) he didn’t trust being able to swim riund the stern of half a dozen yachts to get to it. As I said at the beginning, a rail under water along every pontoon would be much more useful, or something detachable that could be deployed by people on the pontoon.
Click to expand...

Is it possible that the rail would become so covered in weed that it would be virtually impossible to use?
A detachable ladder could be a good idea though. - Until someone nicked it !!!!!
 
I guess in extremis a belt, made it into a loop around a pontoon cleat, would probably be too short to make a foothold - but the spare end of a mooring line not led back aboard might be long enough. Of course one such might have put you in in the first place ... :(
 
Here in Shotley there are several ladder descending into the water, all painted bright orange, one is conveniently fitted two boats away, could be very handy if Smirnoff loses control of my legs one night :very_drunk::very_drunk::very_drunk:
 
How many boats have stern ladders that would serve? Mine certainly does. the ladder is never tied up and extends far into the water. It can be reached from the water, but it would be better if I attached a cord, which is something I have been meaning to do for 17 years. Looking around, not all boats are so well equipped, with many ladders too short or secured against use. I'm not a strong swimmer, but I think that I could work round to a nearby boat, if only I knew which ones were suitable. Perhaps looking for this should be as much of a routine as checking the fire exits when one books into a hotel.
 
PaulRainbow said:
Here in Shotley there are several ladder descending into the water, all painted bright orange, one is conveniently fitted two boats away, could be very handy if Smirnoff loses control of my legs one night :very_drunk::very_drunk::very_drunk:
Click to expand...

You might have not noticed but every pontoon pile at Shotley has a ladder adjacent.
 
johnalison said:
... Perhaps looking for this should be as much of a routine as checking the fire exits when one books into a hotel.
Click to expand...

Indeed. If one has no stern ladder, there is obviously a particularly good case for looking around for ladders and low platforms in the vicinity. But even if one does have one, there is a case for keeping a look out for the general disposition of ladders on ones route to and from the boat at any marina; even if they are brightly coloured they may not be so readily visible from the water.
 
At the RHYC marina there are ladders between each finger. There are also webbing loops hanging down so there is something to get hold of rather than the edge of the pontoon.
 
I have certainly seen ladders a marina that could be hooked onto the edge of the pontoon at any location; the design was very simple, being simply an inverted U bend at the top of the ladder. Besides the obvious advantage that they could be deployed anywhere, they also provided hand holds above the level of the pontoon to ease the last bit of getting out. I think that must have been at InverKip, but I'm not sure!

However, no ladder addresses the real problem - once wet your clothes will weigh a LOT, and furthermore, you will be weakening rapidly from the cold in UK waters. If wearing waterproofs, the weight of your clothes could be of the same order as your body weight. From the experience of a Sea Survival course, getting out of a heated pool wearing waterproofs was very hard, even using a ladder. If the pool had been at seawater temperature, I doubt I could have done it after a few minutes of immersion.
 
some folks around here might remember when I fell off the pontoon at RHYC 3 years ago during the ECF Laying Up supper. Don't know how, but I actually broke my shoulder. Not that I knew it at the time. Adrenaline got me swimming to the ladder and I climbed out - something I shouldn't have been able to do with a broken shoulder!
 
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