Some Musings re Ouzo Tragedy and other accidents

[silver-fox]

I have read the discussions following the Ouzo tragedy which have been far ranging in the coverage of best practice and the equipment that could minimise the risk and consequences of being run down. (I even bought a self launching EPIRB myself following the findings!)

I was just musing as to why dinghy related fatal accidents (which seem far more common) don't provoke the same reaction and preventative measures as run downs?

 

[Alfie168]

I suspect there is little discussion because until someone comes up with a better method of transiting to a moored boat, then we are stuck with the dinghy and all the inherent risks of a very small vessel with limited stability. Unless it becomes mandatory to wear a lifejacket and a survival suit with a strobe when in a dinghy (as in a helicopter to an oil rig), these accidents will continue to happen.

Nobody has ever come up with an answer to falling off a horse either, so its hardly ever discussed in horse riding circles. You are either lucky, dust yourself off and have a laugh, or you can break your neck, or get trodden on. There is not a lot you can do to alter this except not ride. I suspect the dinghy issue is similar in many respects.

Or did you mean kids on beaches in dinghies who get blown out to sea. They should be banned on beaches, though here in Lincolnshire you can find a beach with a "No Inflatables" sign only 100 yards from the shop selling them.......

Tim

 

[silver-fox]

I was definitely referring to tenders and to be honest my own (and I suspect others) behaviour in them.

So far I have been lucky.

The row ashore for an evening beer is enshrined in yachtie culture but has ended in tears many a time. As you point out most of us don't wear lifejackets even then, (just observation, I can't prove it statistically). In fact thinking about lifejackets I only ever recall seeing them worn by crews returning to port in extreme conditions and by children!

Yet paradoxically we go to endless troubles in other areas of safety! I suppose what I was really wondering is why on earth I spent all that money on an EPIRB to try and minimise one danger and yet don't wear a lifejacket in the tender when I know I should.

 

[photodog]

We have a set of lite non harness LJ's just for use in the dingy....and we do wear them all the time... plus carry a light at night... and I wont use (tender) it if we are blotto..... Call me Mr paranoid... But I have noticed that more people are useing LJ's in the dingy in the past couple of years.

I have seen some really stupid behaviour.... Fowey a few years back guy pulls in in a brand new all singing big Trawler yacht... takes two parking spots on the pontoon up near the loading terminal ( /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif) and then get all arsey when someone tender bumps against his bow.... anyways... later as its getting dark... send 6/7 teenage kids into town on the inflatable..overloaded, no lights no LJ's..... wonder about some peoples priorities!

 

[solentsailor]

The most dangerous parts is always getting from the yacht to the tender and back. After a highly amusing slip btween the two on a hot summers day, I reflected and fitted Weaver Snap davits and the passage from yacht to tender rendered a very safe non event. The latched on tender moves with the yacht and kit, ouboards and landlubbers all move easily between the two.
PS all trips inthe Tender are a compulsory Lifejacket moment on my boat

 

[Suffolk Explorer]

I totally agree. I am aware of 7 fatalities here on the river Deben in the past 20-30 years; thats an average of one every 4 years. All of these involved tenders and getting ashore from moored boats. If that is at all typical for the rest of the coastline, then the problem is far bigger than people drowning in deep water from man overboard or boats sinking. Yet all the RYA training and safety advice is on MOB, Liferafts, EPIRBs etc. I would like to see the RYA/RNIB lead an initiative into improving safety in this area. Better methods of attaching tenders, lightweight lifejackets and publicity about the risk level are good places to start.

What a gloomy subject for a first post!

 

[silver-fox]

It may be gloomy but you are very welcome nonetheless /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Tidewaiter2]

I think we are all on the money here:
the Swedish Battourist guidebook since 1996 to our personal experience has flagged up the body count in tender to yacht transfers very prominiently in ads.
How many of us exactly run out of luck between Oslo & St Malo each year alone? Local press comment at best, no collation of stats.

The RYA dont address boatwork at all, nowadays yet even Nelsons Navy accepted it was a fraught area, ship to ship esp.

I've had a couple of close ones: mobo wake swamping(never looked back o' course) and moving back to take the o/bd off an Avon Redcrest. Result LJ's wbw unless tied to a pontoon.

Mind I've been in oggin twice am & pm at Class Rallies firmly tied to pontoons with the scars to prove it: I blame the Pimms!

 

[CliveG]

2 chaps lost late last year at Ramsholt.
I was speaking to them a few weeks before.

I have never bothered with LJ's in the dinghy.
I sure will from now on!