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Taken a swim?


Boatman Al

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I've had a few 'booties' but only one proper dunking.

 

On the Thames, it was flooded and on red boards, we were stuck below cleeve lock, nice enough mooring but in the weirs flow. We decided to go to work so it was very early morn, i!d just checked the lines and pins and noticed i hadn't quite secured the cratch cover poppers, so i stepped over the the boat and the next thing i knew i was under water with the boat on my lap, looking up it was not too far to the surface and all i could think of was that the mrs would never find me there, iI was all very calm surprisingly, i tried to push the boat off me but the flow was too much i was sitting on a shelf and my feet were hanging over 10' of water, i thought how ridiculus this all was when all of a sudden the boat shifted and i popped up to the surface, i was knackered cos i'd been under a while, my head was in the stinging nettles as well! I eventually managed to scramble out and get on the boat safe and sound, never again untill, the next time!

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Only got a wet foot so far - getting wood off the roof when we were iced in I slipped off the gunnels but managed to grab the rail on the roof to stop myself going in.

 

I was going to post earlier while we were cruising but thought it might be tempting fate :D

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I used to have just one dunking per trip. That has now reduced and I haven't fallen in since this one just after the start of the long trip (9 months) This is a copy of part of the emailed trip report

 

I do enjoy a little extreme narrow boating. Yesterday evening,Thursday 21st (February 2008), was the first example on the Grand Tour. We arrived at Kilby Bridge in the dusk. The moorings were on the right hand side of the canal which, on this occasion, was upwind. The wind wascertainly up. About force 7 Beaufort at a guess (Half Gale). Theodora gently crabbed her way towards the chosen spot next to a very smart narrow boat all shiny and grey and black with scrolls and such like. Very stylish. Because of my superior physical strength and Margaret's elevated intellect I hopped ashore taking with me the centre line and three piling hooks leaving Margaret to work engine and tiller. Just at that moment the wind increased to 8 (Gale) gusting 9 (Strong Gale) so I needed to pull or the boat would end upon the other side of the canal. I pulled. The wind pushed. Theodora pulled in the opposite direction to that in which I was pulling. I modestly claim that I was winning until I found that I could not pull, put the pile hook in and thread the rope through the pile hook all at the same time. So I stopped pulling and busied myself with pile hook and threading the rope through the same. When I stopped pulling Theodora did not. Acceleration away from the bank was the result. A nifty couple of half hitches around the rope and Theodora's acceleration reversed but she maintained an inconveniently large distance from the bank. Margaret ran the engine ahead and the lateral component of the tension in the rope moved her towards the bank. At this point the nice owner of the Stylish Boat appeared and offered assistance. We laid hold of the headline and pulled the bow in, threaded the headline through the second piling hook and I leapt for the boat to make the headline fast on the T stud. I used the deckboard to help me up. (For those not into canal jargon the deckboard is th triangular board at the front of the boat) The deckboard was loose and came away. My life flashed before me as I fell towards the water but lightning reflexes meant that I hung on to the bow and only got my feet wet. Perhaps that is the one dunking that I will get this trip. There is always one for me and none for Margaret. As I said, she is the one of elevated intellect. In the end we were moored up with no fewer than three piling hooks and all was secure. The wind blew hard all night and made the stove smoke.

 

Nick

Edited by Theo
To add the spaces that the board removed.
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In my experience it's a good idea to take your wallet and mobile phone out of your pockets before you go boating.

Don't ask me how I know this......

First thing I do when we get on board, car fob, phone, wallet, lose change and before we untie, it's veri focals off as well.

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It is my considered opinion, not that I know much about boating, that there are two types of boaters:

those that have been in and those that are going in.

There are a precious few that haven't been in, in this life, but will probably do so in the next.

Edited by Maffi
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It is my considered opinion, not that I know much about boating, that there are two types of boaters:

those that have been in and those that are going in.

There are a precious few that haven't been in, in this life, but will probably do so in the next.

 

I fear you're right Maffi, in fact the anticipation of when I'm going to take my turn makes me wonder whether I should just jump into a relatively clean canal on a sunny day and get it over with.

 

But I suppose that wouldn't count would it?

 

I'll just have to await my turn with bated breath. (I just hope Dave goes in before me - he's got away with just a foot dunking so far as well and I'd hate to be the first!)

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One rainy evening. Fell in the cut in Oxford, of course my phone and wallet were with me....we were about to go to the theatre. It took me ages to swim to the back of the boat to use the rudder to clamber out.

Didn't turn my smart phone on. Removed the battery and both cards....removed the cover. Left it 12 hours in a bag of rice. Used a just warm hairdryer on it for 30 minutes. When the screen showed no more moisture I put it back in the rice bag for another couple of hours. Phone worked fine afterwards.

Others have used this method with success.

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One rainy evening. Fell in the cut in Oxford, of course my phone and wallet were with me....we were about to go to the theatre. It took me ages to swim to the back of the boat to use the rudder to clamber out.

Didn't turn my smart phone on. Removed the battery and both cards....removed the cover. Left it 12 hours in a bag of rice. Used a just warm hairdryer on it for 30 minutes. When the screen showed no more moisture I put it back in the rice bag for another couple of hours. Phone worked fine afterwards.

Others have used this method with success.

 

A bag of rice? I've not heard that one before but it makes total sense. I dropped my phone in the cut within a few days of moving aboard and took it apart immediately to dry out to no avail.

 

I am rather more careful nowadays and the phone is not usually on my person when boating but I'll remember this tip if it happens again. Thanks for the tip!

Edited by Ange
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Always best to keep in mind: One hand for you, one hand for the boat. I've not been in... yet ;)

You ave done it now. You are now attached to another object by an inclined plane, wrapped helically around an axis and so going to get wet!

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Always best to keep in mind: One hand for you, one hand for the boat. I've not been in... yet ;)

 

And when you find the hand for the boat is holding onto a bit of boat that has come off?

 

Holding a bit of boat you thought was solid, and ending up in the river with said bit in your hands...

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Yep....I've done it.Three years ago I decided to decorate my boat inside and out for Christmas. While hanging holly around the headlight I slipped on the ice covering the boat, and in I went, straight through the ice into the marina. Fortunately I grabbed the pontoon and hauled myself out. After changing into dry clothes, I went to buy an electricity card thinking that I would need more heat than usual to thaw out. I was asked why did I need another card so soon. After recounting my mornings activities, which were announced loudly to the packed Coffee Shop. And yes, everyone thought it was hysterically funny. I still decorate my boat at Christmas, one handed! holding onto the grab rail!!

 

Just for entertainments sake, id love to hear tales of people taking falls into the cut. off the boat? off a lock? after a dog? i havent fell in yet, but i dread the day

 

Just for entertainments sake, id love to hear tales of people taking falls into the cut. off the boat? off a lock? after a dog? i havent fell in yet, but i dread the day

I have been told you are not a proper boater until you have fallen in!!!

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I have been boating for 15 years, and apart from jumping in myself on purpose on one occasion (long story), I have never fallen in, and don't plan to!

Pride comes before a fall and in this case a soaking wet one huh? I don't think anyone plan to fall in either. :lol:

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[About 16 years ago on our 2nd hire I got the mooring rope jammed in the metal piling so used a mooring spike to lever it free but very stupidly was pushing not pulling so when it suddenly gave way I performed a very neat head first roll into the Coventry Canal. Luckily BW had just dredged and is was relatively deep so only a slight bump on the head hitting the bottom and of course massive loss of dignity!. The teenage girl on the adjacent boat who saw it all unfold was collapsed with the giggles and just after I had hauled myself out and stood dripping on the towpath a couple of jolly green giants appeared in a work boat with big grins and saying that they had heard the splash and wondered who it was!

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I've fallen off a boat before but not got wet.

 

Went to jump off the bows of Collingwood one night after a trip to a pub, foot slipped on the wooden cants, my arse hit the corner of the angled lip around the hold and I landed face down on the towpath. Couldn't move for a few minutes but I'm not sure if it was because of the big bruise forming on my ass or the fact I was laughing so much... as was everyone else at this stage :)

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Yello,

 

In the late 80's I had a Shetland 535 day boat / 50hp Johnson outboard which I used to put in at Putney and go up to London in. One day I dropped my key wallet into The Thames at Vauxhall quite close to the embankment so I decided to come back at low tide to try to find it.

The key wallet had two sets of car keys, house keys etc etc in it, so I was stuffed without it. Checked the tide tables and made it back to Vauxhall at approaching low tide .... beached the Shetland in exactly the right spot where I'd lost the keys and jumped off onto the shingle beach.

 

BIG MISTAKE !!!!!

 

I sunk straight through the apparent shingle beach and into the mud below it up to almost my groin !! .... wasn't expecting that ! :blink:

 

The more I struggled the more I sank ... it was about 40 ft up to the embankment at Vauxhall and it was evening on a very grey day in London. After shouting myself hoarse for 5 minutes or so, I realised that absolutely nobody could hear me and the tide would be turning very soon. My Shetland was only beached and would float away in a very short while, plus I would be drowned ( which was the real p*sser ).

 

To be continued ......

 

Malc. ;)

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I've (painfully) fallen in a couple of times but the best didn't happen to me...I was on a hire boat outside the Shroppie Fly, inbetween locks. If you've been there you'll know the canal is not very wide and it's about ( if I remember rightly) about 60 metres or so between the locks....anyway a boat drifted away from the bank and the next second a guy did a full length racing dive (fully clothed) into the canal to retreive the boat (which wasn't going to go anywhere because of the locks)...This was about 25 years ago and it's still one of the funniest things I can remember, the rememberance of this guy flying through the air, parallel with the water

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Yello,

 

In the late 80's I had a Shetland 535 day boat / 50hp Johnson outboard which I used to put in at Putney and go up to London in. One day I dropped my key wallet into The Thames at Vauxhall quite close to the embankment so I decided to come back at low tide to try to find it.

The key wallet had two sets of car keys, house keys etc etc in it, so I was stuffed without it. Checked the tide tables and made it back to Vauxhall at approaching low tide .... beached the Shetland in exactly the right spot where I'd lost the keys and jumped off onto the shingle beach.

 

BIG MISTAKE !!!!!

 

I sunk straight through the apparent shingle beach and into the mud below it up to almost my groin !! .... wasn't expecting that ! :blink:

 

The more I struggled the more I sank ... it was about 40 ft up to the embankment at Vauxhall and it was evening on a very grey day in London. After shouting myself hoarse for 5 minutes or so, I realised that absolutely nobody could hear me and the tide would be turning very soon. My Shetland was only beached and would float away in a very short while, plus I would be drowned ( which was the real p*sser ).

 

To be continued ......

 

Malc. ;)

I'm guessing you didn't drown.

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