The dangers of inflatable dinghies.

[William_H]

About this time last year I reported on a couple lost while rowing to their yacht in an inflatable and aparently blown past the yacht out to sea.
Well it has happened again. This time a Perth lady at an island off Malaysia set off alone to row/paddle her 10ft inflatable back to the yacht. She was caught by tide flow and was swept hundreds of kilometres down through Malacca Straights to be rescued 5 days later. She was very sunburned and dehydrated. V lucky to survive. The search parties had given up.
The moral... don't trust to your ability to row or paddle an inflatable against wind or tide. Don't feel safe until you are on shore or onboard your yacht. You would do well to carry a survival pack and flares in an inflatable.
olewilll

 

[ShipsWoofy]

And erm

an anchor?


We carry a small folding grapnel in the dinghy.

 

[aroma]

Hello
the dinghy on the news tonight tv 3(New Zealand) had a grapel anchor and chain in it with a couple of oars I know it's tv and not necessarily her dinghy
Warren

 

[simonfraser]

Hi,

you beat me to it !

same happened to me in Pyefleet, off Mersey Island.

last saturday i rowed a 2m round nosed inflatable away from my boat to the slipway & could not keep station with the boat / slipway.

only the deminished tidal flow near the shore saved me from a trip to B'sea / further out to sea.

i did carry a handheld VHF.

i'm sure i would have coped in my bigger inflatable.

 

[Guest]

Re: The dangers of inflatable dinghies.....

If you use the oars they supply ........... then you ask for trouble in anything other than closed sheltered water ... substitute a pair of decent oars ... I have a pair of wood jobs from a 9ft trad dinghy ... then you have better chance. I have an Avon Redstart ... and I have rowed in reasonable wind etc. with these ... without problem ... but the previous dinghy with clip together supplied oars was a nightmare ...

 

[jerryat]

Exactly. We don't row a hundred yards without one aboard. Common sense.

 

[nedmin]

one of my friends many years ago was moored to a buoy with his friend on the Great Ouse waiting for the tide to go to Denver lock.He decided to row to see his friend but tied a rope on both dinghy and parent craft so he could get back.When he left to go back the tide was running so fast that the rope went taut and tipped them both in the river, unfortunately they were not wearing life jackets and they both drowned.So simple but so easy.

 

[simonfraser]

Re: The dangers of inflatable dinghies.....

nah, trouble is the dammed thing is too small to get my legs, bag and oars in all at the same time !

 

[Guest]

Size for size ...

Mmmmmm an inflatable has the advantage of being able to sit on the sides .... but overall is less volume than a similar dimensioned hard dinghy.

One factor that I really must thank the inflatable for ... having been stuck in Yarmouth some years ago in storm weather - we could still get to and from the boat on the pontoons to shore .... ok - you can do it with a hard dinghy with flotation chambers under the thwarts etc. - but the inflatable will stay afloat like it did then absolutely chock to the gunwhales with water ... trusty outboard getting to and from.

 

[graham]

A few years ago late at night I went out on deck for a call of nature to see 3men in an Avon dinghy attempting to row to their boat but gradually going backwards with the 20 knot wind blowing them straight out the harbour entrance.

We had to get underway quickly to tow them back.There was a big sea running out in the channel.Once out of the harbour they would have been in the pooh.Strongly endorse the idea of carrying a small anchor VHF etc.

 

[geoffatstanpit]

Re: The dangers of inflatable dinghies.....

I'd second that - and add that the rowlocks provided with nearly all dinghies these days really don't let you put your back into it. My 1978 Humber came with little wooden blocks with plastic rowlocks and a pair of plastic oars which I replaced (in 1979) with real Avon black rubber rowlocks and a pair of one-piece wooden oars. Since then I reckon I can pull it at 2 knots all day.

 

[ytd]

Re: The dangers of inflatable dinghies.....

The press report I read said she was anchored about 350m offshore and her outboard cut out when she was returning after a dinner ashore. Maybe it was too deep to anchor. It also said she was very surpised no one came to look for her.

 

[Guest]

Inflatables and oars ...

Used to have a nice hard transom Narwhal ... 240 think it was. Great with outboard ... but with the stock click together oars ... about as much use for paddling pool. I broke one oar when pushing off from bank one time and "coughed" at replacement price ... substituted a pair of normal oars ... boy what a difference ....
Then typical Narwhal - seams went ... took it to Repair center and guy reckoned that it was a waste of time to reglue - as it would let go again ......

So bought a second-hand Avoin Redstart and put the oars to that ... same advantage - rows well now and I'm reasonably confident with it in general conditons that you would dinghy in ... like I posted above - I actually used it over 3 days of storm weather in Yarmouth Harbour and it did the job admirably. I firmly believe that after Yarmouth - and honest it was bad ... I use heavy mooring lines and with the storm - I parted a bow line ... other boats broke adrift etc. The state of water inside the harbour was something I had never seen before there ... constant driving spray .... boats pitching and banging about like rodeo horses ...

Get decent length oars ... forget the spindly, very nice to stow collapsable ones ... and also forget paddling an Inflatable .... its outboard or decent oars in that order !

 

[aitchw]

Re: Inflatables and oars ...

My Sothern Pacific 3.1 packdown dinghy came with wooden two piece oars which work really well. After using them I could not imagine using the flimsy things that come with most inflatables and paddles are an absolute no-no (had those with my old Beaufort and were total waste of time). Decent oars are definitely a worthwhile investment.