Tragedy of 10 yearold

Re: Tragedy of 10 year old

when did you find all that out? Drifting down on someone for instance is not the best way to approach, and not is what is taught
 
Re: Tragedy of 10 year old

Excellent - another viewpoint - I'm not somebody who thinks that there is ever one right way, with all others wrong but I do appreciate hearing the what the options are and why a current teaching method is in vogue.
 
Re: Tragedy of 10 year old

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One thing is for sure, and that's that you won't find out from this thread how it could have been prevented. If you don't know how the accident happened you can't identify the necessary actions to prevent it.


[/ QUOTE ]

I think the forum did a pretty good job doing just that with the Mirabella V incident?

In the end everyone hopes the boy makes a good recovery and the rescuer has no long term emotional scars. Good luck to them both.

Still can't see what the problem is with the forum speculating as to the cause of the accident. After all - people make money out of speculating so it can't be a crime.....
 
Re: Tragedy of 10 year old

Agreed. The thread about this incident has prompted me to remind all our support boat drivers of the correct method of approaching a person in the water.

It is all too easy to become sloppy/complacent.

Not knowing the full facts has got me thinking about all the possible ways in which the MOB could end up in contact with the prop.
 
Re: Tragedy of 10 year old

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remind all our support boat drivers of the correct method of approaching a person in the water.

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Which is?

Carefully?

There is always talk about the "correct" way in which to do things - very often there is more than 1 way to achieve an end and there are so many variables it is impossible to prescribe.

Eg. approaching with large steep waves can be different to an approach in calm seas. Proximity of other obsticles can also dictate the method.

My approach is usually to get the MOB alongside the first 3rd of the boat, at which point the engine should be out of gear. Turning the engine off or not depends on the senario and if I need to move off quickly or not, but then it is dependant on the size of the boat and the likelyhood of another crew member "knocking" the engine into gear - which cannot be done accidentally.

I see no harm in dicussing various senarios that may have lead to this sad accident as long as it is understood that these are hypotheses rather than fact.
 
Re: Tragedy of 10 year old

... Like rubber necking, it is mawkish curiosity which does nothing to help those involved.

If people want to find out about driving a safety boat they can ask the question at any time on this site. It isn't necessary to make wild guesses as to the cause of an accident to find out about safety boats.

I'll leave it at that.
 
Re: Tragedy of 10 year old

My heart goes out to both victims.... regardless of who is at fault I am sure this is an outcome that neither wanted....

As a one time very regular rescue boat driver, this incident was the kind of frightening scenario that passed through your mind occasionally....

However, to add to the discussion, we were taught, and regularly practiced, holding the boat to a fixed point, bow on...... this was in a large(ish) rib, so the distance between the prop and the casualty was decent.... it isn't always easy, especially in a blow (which I think affects the difficulty more than a swell in a rib - not discounting the challenges of a swell in any way)... sometimes however, with a pitching bow, this wasn't a safe or sensible approach, and taking the casualty alongside was the only safe option... in which case it was strictly engine off.

My personal observation is that, like maneouvering in a marina, its a gentle and light hand on the throttle that is the secret.... heavy handed throttle control achieves little.....

What is often forgotten is the difficulty of avoiding rigging in the water with a dinghy rescue.....

God I hate this kind of news, espcially where its kids involved... it just makes me feel sad.
 
Re: Tragedy of 10 year old

It is interesting to read the different perspectives, divers fall in the water intentionally (most of the time) and are taught what action to take when the boat is approaching to pick them up.
Sailors fall in by accident and in some cases regard this as a crisis, they are taught and practice picking up a FOB (fender) but are not taught what to do if they are the MOB!
 
Re: Tragedy of 10 year old

When the lad recovers as much as possible from this amputation above the knee, it would be good if some notable sailing exponent could take him under their wing, in due course and help him achieve his ambitions in sailng. Others who have had a big knock back in life have managed to achieve a great deal. Let's be positive.
 
We tried a jet drive years ago - couldn't reliably stop the boat ... cos the drive is always driving ...

Now - if you could disengage the drive (slip clutch?) then it'd probably be better ...

I've seen some jetskis pretending to be Ribs - used to cover junior fleets ... can't see why you couldn't just make it all bigger ..

what would they be like towing a dozen big dinghies?
 
Has anyone heard any more about how this happened? I have been in contact with the M.A.I.B. recently and asked if they are investigating the incident as there is nothing on their website. I received a very evasive reply that "The MAIB is pursuing its enquiries via an administrative enquiry which will result in an anonymised Safety Digest article being published in the New Year that will describe the circumstances of the accident and the lessons to be learned." Sounds like a cover-up to me!! Is there something here that I am missing. Surely this incident is serious enough to warrant some sort of report not just some routine article.
 
If you read the MAIB reports they are excellent clear concise english that detail the circumstances , what happened and lessons learnt. I have never consider them in any way a cover up.

As such they are very informative and a great source of hard won experience (I have also thought - very considerate to individuals failings) but they tend to steer clear of directly attributing blame.

I am not sure of who's responsibility it is to proscecute in more serious matters but hopefully while there may be a civil liability, a mistake by a person manning the rescue boat (I am assuming here) will not lead to a criminal prosecution.

While this is a tragic incident I am sure anyone bearing any responsibility will be devastated.

I intend doing the level 2 power boat course at my club so that I can help out in Rescue boat duties. I don't expect to ever save a life just be on hand to assist but conversely I hope I never make a mistake and accidently injure someone.

I am not sure of the intent of your post but I hope its not to try and throw the book at whoever was involved in this tragic accident. I would reconsider this last sentence if say the rescue boat skipper was drunk but as I don't know the facts I will first await the MAIB report.
 
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