if you fall in....

[robtheplod]

 

 

 

[Trento]

Do people need to be told this ??????

Oh and don't drink the water...

 

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, Trento said:

Oh and don't drink the water...

Oh and don't drink any Rat pee or you will die.

[Dr Bob]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

Oh and don't drink any Rat pee or you will die.

....and dont swim to China.

[Rickent]

Talk about stating the obvious.

[system 4-50]

and apply waterproof plasters to any open wounds before you contact the water, including those incurred on your approach.

[nb Innisfree]

The camera man wasn't much help, you'd think in the circumstances he'd put his camera down and helped him. 

[MtB]

43 minutes ago, nb Innisfree said:

The camera man wasn't much help, you'd think in the circumstances he'd put his camera down and helped him. 

Well the first thing you must do whenever anyone falls is is grab your phone and video them then post it on youtube, as any fule kno. 
 

 So I think the cameraman took exactly the correct course of action. 
 

 

[TheBiscuits]

50 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

and apply waterproof plasters to any open wounds before you contact the water, including those incurred on your approach.

You're doing better than me if you can get into the fiddly little sterile bag in that fraction of a second!  

 

MrsBiscuit always has to open them for me, if only to stop me smearing blood all over the galley while I'm trying to open the ruddy things.  I usually seem to get cuts on my fingertips which doesn't help with the opening the plasters game.

[WotEver]

45 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

You're doing better than me if you can get into the fiddly little sterile bag in that fraction of a second!  

 

MrsBiscuit always has to open them for me, if only to stop me smearing blood all over the galley while I'm trying to open the ruddy things.  I usually seem to get cuts on my fingertips which doesn't help with the opening the plasters game.

In desperation I decided to use a knife to open the plaster wrapper. I cut myself with it. 

[Peter X]

As I think the man falling in was staged, I don't suppose the camera operator's help was needed at all here.

I've never fallen in to a canal, though I did dangle one foot in somewhere (maybe the GU or wouth Oxford I think it was) a couple of years ago, and had one leg in the Wey in October 2019 having slipped while crossing a wet  top gate plank. I grabbed the plank with my arms as I fell, then was hauled back up by another member of our crew. I just carried on steering the butty afterwards, dripping a lot of water from my trousers into the well deck, and slowly drying out and warming up because steering when being towed (part loaded) on a line down a river can be quite energetic..

 

Some things I think the fireman could have usefully added;

If you fall into a lock, there's a big danger of hitting the concrete cill or a boat as you go down and being injured and in the water! Very dangerous, try not to do it! Some locks are deep and thus more hazardous.

Having fallen into a lock, probably try to reach the ladder if any.

In a river, and sometimes in a canal if there's a lot of water coming at you from a bywash for exaple, beware of getting swept away by a current.

Anyway, if there are moving boats about, shout to get them to keep clear. You don't want to get run over, especially if hit by a propellor.

 

Also, while trying to stand up is good, some bank types will be much easier than others to get up unaided.

Much of the K&A must be a goodp lace to fall in, because you could just scramble up the dense vegetation onto the towpath. I've seen that done when a man I crewed for (in 2015?) fell into the south Oxford near Kidlington.

In many places, the easiest way to get out unaided would be up a slope onto land on the offside, sometimes into a field or the end of someone's garden, who might be a bit miffed about it, so do announce your presence if necessary...

Some banks might be difficult to climb, e.g. where there's sharp edged piling beware of getting cut by it, barbed wire would be worse, and there can be an impossible wall of concrete or suchlike. Just use common sense. The man in the video would quite probably need help to get him out over that rather smooth stone edging.

 

 

[Ray T]

Filmed in / at Coventry Canal Basin.

Edited February 5, 2020 by Ray T

[Alan de Enfield]

31 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Filmed in / at Coventry Canal Basin.

No wonder he slipped in - Must be the premium hotspot for non-bagged 'Dog droppings' in the world.

[The Dreamer]

42 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Filmed in / at Coventry Canal Basin.

Hence why no one head him calling for help.  All those Vally Cruisers boats are empty!

[dor]

2 hours ago, Peter X said:

 

 

Also, while trying to stand up is good, some bank types will be much easier than others to get up unaided.

Much of the K&A must be a goodp lace to fall in, because you could just scramble up the dense vegetation onto the towpath. I've seen that done when a man I crewed for (in 2015?) fell into the south Oxford near Kidlington.

In many places, the easiest way to get out unaided would be up a slope onto land on the offside, sometimes into a field or the end of someone's garden, who might be a bit miffed about it, so do announce your presence if necessary...

Some banks might be difficult to climb, e.g. where there's sharp edged piling beware of getting cut by it, barbed wire would be worse, and there can be an impossible wall of concrete or suchlike. Just use common sense. The man in the video would quite probably need help to get him out over that rather smooth stone edging.

 

 

One Christmas Eve I went in, on my own, full immersion, wearing fleece jacket which hold a lot of water.

The one time I was grateful for the Shroppie shelf as it provided a step to get out.  Particularly with the weight of water in the fleece, not to mention the shock from the temperature of the water and the couple of cracked ribs I sustained on the way in.

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, The Dreamer said:

Hence why no one head him calling for help.  All those Vally Cruisers boats are empty!

And in desperate need of a blacking to boot. 

[Jim Riley]

What's the odds that the Victim is wearing a rather buoyant  dry suit under his coat and trousers? 

[NB Esk]

 

Another tip is to always carry a bag of rice about your person.  That way, whilst floating around on your back, you can pop your phone into it and hopefully it will dry out.  Then (and this is the satisfying part) once you're fed up of people walking past and filming your predicament, you can use the phone that caused you to fall in, to summon help to get you out.

Go on, you know it makes sense.......

 

 

 

 

[matty40s]

9 hours ago, Ray T said:

Filmed in / at Coventry Canal Basin.

6. Stand on a shopping trolley and do synchronised diving exhibitions for the locals streaming your dilemma to the world.

[matty40s]

6 hours ago, dor said:

One Christmas Eve I went in, on my own, full immersion wearing fleece jacket which hold a lot of water.

What were you doing carrying a full immersion down the towpath, had you plugged it in at work and does your employer know you do this on a daily basis in winter?

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Trento said:

Do people need to be told this ??????

Yes. Particularly in Manchester.

 

Otherwise they'll end up having to fence the whole d*mn thing.

 

As an ex-boaty (ie of the human-powered type) I'm rather anti-rat-pee. My mutts are specifically leptospirosis vaccinated although I am ambivalent about that (potential side effects/low immunity conferred/no benefit to me (I could potentially still get it from their pee)) because I've never seen one move as fast as when spotting a rat. If the Cuba vaccine (for humans) gets licenced here I'd definitely consider go for it. I'm less likely to get properly wet on a narrowboat - but mooring ropes are pretty grim...

[Scholar Gypsy]

I guess this video is targetted on walkers, and focusses on the impact of cold water shock.  See first video below, which we show at some of our tideway safety briefings.

 

For boaters, worth thinking about wearing a lifejacket, particularly for single handing, or in the winter, or on isolated waterways with  nobody around. And if you do please fit and wear a crotch strap. The second video explains why.
 

 

[Guest]

@Scholar Gypsy (or anyone else) do you have a recommendation of where to get life jackets serviced? The munchkin and mutt ones I have are just floaty stuff so I'm relatively confident I can check them over for wear and tear (if I recall correctly that is all that is required?) but my adult ones (which I like for locks and single handing (due to probability of entering the water concussed more than depth or cold really - I've fallen into the Thames once or twice without from 'safer' boats to go in from)) have the canisters and are supposed to inflate automatically. They are CrewSaver so quite a widely used brand but the place I bought them doesn't do the checks.

 

*Edited to add: safer as in less to hit head on and boat positively buoyant even in pieces so as long as feet not tied to it inappropriately some reasonable chance of getting to an edge. Plus, no where near as far down as the barrier!

Edited February 6, 2020 by TheMenagerieAfloat

[Scholar Gypsy]

24 minutes ago, TheMenagerieAfloat said:

@Scholar Gypsy (or anyone else) do you have a recommendation of where to get life jackets serviced? The munchkin and mutt ones I have are just floaty stuff so I'm relatively confident I can check them over for wear and tear (if I recall correctly that is all that is required?) but my adult ones (which I like for locks and single handing (due to probability of entering the water concussed more than depth or cold really - I've fallen into the Thames once or twice without from 'safer' boats to go in from)) have the canisters and are supposed to inflate automatically. They are CrewSaver so quite a widely used brand but the place I bought them doesn't do the checks.

 

*Edited to add: safer as in less to hit head on and boat positively buoyant even in pieces so as long as feet not tied to it inappropriately some reasonable chance of getting to an edge. Plus, no where near as far down as the barrier!

I do my own maintenance, after training by a qualified RYA instructor. There are some clear and helpful videos on this site, and I also get the relevant spare parts from them.  All I need is a set of electronic kitchen scales (to weigh the gas bottle), and a handpump to inflate the lifejacket. (I then leave it  for 24 hours to check it hasn't got a leak).  Oh and you need a 20p piece for the Hammar type (which are rather more fiddly and with more scope to damage the lifejacket during maintenance, which is why I have only got one of them). 

The other point my instructor makes is that you should check them between annual services, eg to make sure the bottle and cartridge are still tight. He reckons about 30% of the lifejackets he sees (eg at sailing clubs) are defective in one way or another. Good DIY maintenance is the best response to that.

https://www.lifejackets.co.uk/videos

Edited February 6, 2020 by Scholar Gypsy