My worst nightmare happened......

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nicho

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....in Yarmouth Harbour last Wednesday evening. We take safety very seriously on board, particularly when under way, life throws are always to hand, and lifejackets always worn. We only venture on deck when absolutely safe to do so etc etc. All of which did nothing to prevent this accident

We were moored on the walk ashore pontoon, being allocated one of the long finger berths, which allowed us to moor bows in, rather than stern to as usual. It was 23.00 , and we were socialising in the cockpit with a boating neighbour, a great guy that we had just met, and one recovering from both hips and a knee being replaced. SWMBO had had no more than two glasses of wine so was not the worse for wear! It was such a lovely, peaceful evening, my wife went out to sit on the transom, leaving me and new found friend chatting in the cockpit. Suddenly there was a bang, bang, bang, SPLASH! SHMBO had gone over the back into the harbour - no lifejacket, and cannot swim (in spite of many attempts to learn, but due to a phobia of water simply cannot do it). I shot to the back to find her semi conscious in the water, beginning to drift away in the darkness.

Luckily I managed to grab her clothing before she went too far away and drag her back to the boat. By now, she was coming around and was strangely calm. I reassured her I had hold of her and she was going to be OK, but how to get her out??

Our friend was unable to help "'cos my hips will pop out if I bend down!", and I set about the task of pulling her back on board. No chance, simply too heavy. I was about to tell our colleague to run to the nearest boat for help, when the harbour taxi went past at the other end of the fairway. I screamed for help, and the driver shot across and clambered on board. I had a plan, if he would hold her, I would go into the cabin and switch the master on for the S48's hilo bathing platform. I returned to the transom and lowered the platform into the water allowing her to be pulled onto the lower step, and then raised it back up with her lying on it.

Bless her soul, she was covered in blood from a gashed forehead, and black and blue all over, but now safe thank God. She went below for a quick (cool) shower and change, and we set about working out what happened. It seemed she stood up and simply slipped, banging her head on a handrail, knocking herself out in the process - she remembers nothing until the shock of being in the water brought her around, with me holding on to her.

We took our time to settle down, and went to bed around midnight, but at 02.00 she suffered from a reaction to the shock, shivering and very cold, helped by a strong cup of tea.

The next morning, the true state of her extensive bruising was apparant, some caused by the fall, others by our attempts to retrieve her - the force of which also tore holes in her (favourite!) blouse and cardigan.

I cannot tell you what a shock it was, and just how quickly it all happened. We have now conducted a complete review of our on board safety, especially when in a marina/harbour, where it is very easy to relax our normal precautions. We will always have boat hooks, lifethrows etc to hand regardless of where we are.

I would recommend all of you to review your own safety procedures and placement of safety items. We have been boating for over 20 years, and nothing like this has ever happened before, and hopefully never again. We were both somewhat traumatised by the events, realising how bad things could have been, but returning to home base yesterday, got straight back into the normal routine with our new procedures in place - back in the saddle with no problems!!

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Nick Crisp, one of the Berthing Masters at Yarmouth, who just happened to be on water taxi duties that night, and helped me get her out of the water (making his clothes very wet in the process!). A million thanks Nick.

Stay safe all.
 
Sorry to hear that mike, my wife fell out of the dinghy last year between the bathing platform, she was to be fair "well over the drink drive limit", I was if not more than too, I got her back on board by lowering the ladder and pulling her up, shes only 8 and a bit stone but wet through she took some lifting up, we have since reviewed our safety policy, shes now down to 2 bottles of wine a night!.

Seriously I hope your wife makes a full recovery, I take my hat off to her for taking part in your love of boats not being able to swim.

Lastly, I bet she would be safer in a rally car!
 
I trained with the BSAC Billericay Sub Aqua Club to 2nd Class Diver level and all of our training included on all occasions retrieving an unconcious diver from the water.

Method:

Stand on bathing platform (if possible) with you facing the water and the person in the water also facing you.

Cross your arms and graso the wrists of the other person very firmly.

Then proceed to 'dunk' the person up and down in the water and get a good up and down rhythm going.

When ready on a good upward stroke continue lifting and untwisting your arms and you should be able to get the persons 'Bum' onto the platform.

Done properly this can be done by very slight people and I have seen seamingly not very strong women get a big heavy male diver out of a swimming pool very successfully.

IT DOES NEED PRACTISE.
 
Glad all seems well. I can just imagine the situation and, frankly, my blood ran cold reading it.

Might still be worth a visit to the doc? Bangs on heads are funny things.
 
Looking for lessons (besides the recovery, which you seem to have covered) what did she slip on? Would some anti-slip deck paint help? I know it isn't "sexy" on a powerboat, but on my raggie it makes the difference between life & death.

Also, what was she wearing on her feet? Relaxing in a marina, we can get very lax & wear slippers/ flip-flops or bare feet - all of which can be lethally slippy when on a wet surface. Remember there may be condensation of dew on glossy GRP surfaces in the late evening - another good reason for deck paint.

Give her a hug from me - it'll make you both feel better. :D
 
nicho said:
We took our time to settle down, and went to bed around midnight, but at 02.00 she suffered from a reaction to the shock, shivering and very cold, helped by a strong cup of tea.
Click to expand...

I'm glad your nightmare ended happily.

However, in passing, may I point out that in general giving tea, especially sweet tea, or any other liquid, to a person in shock is not recommended.

Presumably you know whether your wife is diabetic or not - that is one danger - but it can induce vomiting and exacerbate internal injuries, for example.
 
Searush said:
Looking for lessons (besides the recovery, which you seem to have covered) what did she slip on? Would some anti-slip deck paint help? I know it isn't "sexy" on a powerboat, but on my raggie it makes the difference between life & death.

Also, what was she wearing on her feet? Relaxing in a marina, we can get very lax & wear slippers/ flip-flops or bare feet - all of which can be lethally slippy when on a wet surface. Remember there may be condensation of dew on glossy GRP surfaces in the late evening - another good reason for deck paint.

Give her a hug from me - it'll make you both feel better. :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments Searush. In fact she did have bare feet, but the transom on an S48 is covered with artificial teak - this does have a pretty high resistance to slipping, and there was no condensation on it. It also consists of three steps down to the waterline, so not a flat unit as on most other boats.

In fact, she is beginning to remember a bit more now - the night before had been very rocky in the harbour, with F6 winds blowing in a hefty swell all night. All boats, including ours, was rocking considerably. Earlier in the day, it seems she stood up from a park bench quite quickly, and suffered a slight loss of balance, and feeling a bit "woozy" - this she put down to an inner ear balance problem, which has happened before after a rough night (it sometimes affect me too). It only happened the once, and she thought nothing of it. However, she now remembers getting up off the top step of the transom, and falling foreward, banging her head on a horizontal guardrail - after that, it's still a blank. So, it appears she may have had another loss of balance causing her to fall forward.

As I say, I too suffer from that after a bouncy night (not THAT sort!), and some four weeks ago, again after a night at Yarmouth in similar conditions, I had fairly bad vertigo symptoms for a few days afterwards. Usually goes after a three or four day period.

That, therefore, is another thing to add to the list - do not go out on deck if such symptoms appear. I think we'll let our GP take a look at her tomorrow, though she feels fine now.

I have to say, I've been getting more than the usual amount of hugs in the past few days!!!
 
guernseyman said:
I'm glad your nightmare ended happily.

However, in passing, may I point out that in general giving tea, especially sweet tea, or any other liquid, to a person in shock is not recommended.

Presumably you know whether your wife is diabetic or not - that is one danger - but it can induce vomiting and exacerbate internal injuries, for example.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I did not know that - good info.
 
Wow, some incident, glad all are OK. When you read something like this, as you say, its a case of "could happen to anyone" so your account has certainly given us a kick and we will be reveiwing things - particularly getting back aboard from the water at night!
 
Nicho,
she now remembers getting up off the top step of the transom, and falling foreward, banging her head
Click to expand...
The "feeling woozy" could be a symptom of something worth looking into -- see a doc ASAP, and tell the full story, including loss of balance, history, etc. It could be nothing, but it could be something that needs attention. This could have been the wake-up call.

The headache could be related to the above, in which case, ASAP is best, or just a result of bashing her head. However, as another poster has said, after any bash of that sort, see the doc -- ASAP.
 
Plomong said:
Nicho,

The "feeling woozy" could be a symptom of something worth looking into -- see a doc ASAP, and tell the full story, including loss of balance, history, etc. It could be nothing, but it could be something that needs attention. This could have been the wake-up call.
Click to expand...

Agreed - however, she has suffered with this on and off for many years, and has had full MRI scans etc, but nothing wrong has ever been found. It's just happens from time to time. We will now be much more aware and be more vigilant getting on and off the boat when we are moored up. The irony is that we are hugely safety conscious when the boat is moving but perhaps a little more lax when tied up. It is always said that more people die in Marinas than at sea and this has been a huge lesson to us.

Many thanks for the thoughts, they are much appreciated.
 
DougH said:
I trained with the BSAC Billericay Sub Aqua Club to 2nd Class Diver level and all of our training included on all occasions retrieving an unconcious diver from the water.

Method:

Stand on bathing platform (if possible) with you facing the water and the person in the water also facing you.

Cross your arms and graso the wrists of the other person very firmly.

Then proceed to 'dunk' the person up and down in the water and get a good up and down rhythm going.

When ready on a good upward stroke continue lifting and untwisting your arms and you should be able to get the persons 'Bum' onto the platform.

Done properly this can be done by very slight people and I have seen seamingly not very strong women get a big heavy male diver out of a swimming pool very successfully.

IT DOES NEED PRACTISE.
Click to expand...

These procedure will not work if the casualty has dislocated an arm on the way in so make sure there is no pain suggesting this.

I did this a few years ago in our marina where a rather large lady had caught her arm on a mooring line as he slipped of a pontoon and her husband and brother in law could not get her out.

On this occasion I ran my hand down her spine till I had my hand inside the top of her jeans and pumped her up and down grasping her jeans and belt. With very little effort she popped out onto and sat on the pontoon beside me. I was surprised how easy it was.
 
What a terrible incident, glade all ended without more than cuts a bruisers that will all disappear within the very short term.

Reminded me of an incident in Yarmouth a few decades ago when late at night we heard a splash, we got a torch out & shone around and not seen anything, started to reassure ourselves it must have been a big fish jumping out the water or something. Five minutes later heard a faint noise sounding like a cry, then a faint "help". I then spotted a black shape near the back of a boat on the opposite pile moorings. An old chap had slipped over the side of his boat, whacked his head and couldn't get back out. I jumped in the dingy with my Dad found the casualty and pulled him out the water into the dingy and then helped him get on his boat.

Next day the chap came round and gave me £20 for pulling him out the water (a small fortune for a 16year old in the mid 80's...) . My Dad in his wisdom made me donate £10 to the RNLI.... a fine gesture.... but was a sore point for many years!:rolleyes:
 
Rather late to say it but if anybody bangs their head and is unconscious for more than 3 minutes it's a 999 call!

In the circumstances IMHO it would have been wise anyway.
 
Nasty :eek:, glad to hear it turned out OK, does make you think though!
I guess we are all often a little too complacent when in harbour.
 
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