This thread reminds me of what happened to one of our friends when we were on our way to the Festival of the Sea in Edinburgh. He had on his life jacket and while someone else was steering he was getting something out of the small pointed space in the bows. He lay on his front and worked his way into the space, which was a bit damp. His life jacket inflated and he was stuck and because he was not used to life jackets he didn't know how to deflate it so he stayed where he was till it went down a bit. He was glad that his life jacket was faulty and did start to go down😄.
When we were locking into Leith Docks we, on our little Sea Otter, were behind The Matthew and when I stood in the bows the top of their rudder was several feet above me. Quite an experience.