Nearly drowned

[fudd]

I fell in on Friday evening between my boat and the metal pilings at my mooring. Pitch black and freezing cold. I couldn't get out and panicked. I started to sink into the silt and thought that was it. After about five minutes of sheer panic I stopped moving and got my breath back. I kept still for about ten minutes to get my breath back and gather my thoughts. I then moved to the back end of the boat where it is lower and managed to drag myself out. I've only just stopped shaking. I genuinely thought my time was up. I lost my glasses, had no idea what to do for the best. I couldn't understand what happened. I always thought I would know what to do in this situation and had 'a plan' if it happened. It all went out of the window. I'm reasonably fit for a sixty year old and never even thought I'd have a problem pulling myself out easily. 20 mins in the freezing cold water with no one around made my 'plan' useless. I'll never take any more risks anymore. Horrendous experience, but I have learnt one lesson and that's not to get complacent getting on and off my boat. It can be a question of life or death every time we do it. Sounds dramatic and I don't mean to big my situation up but it's how I feel at the moment. I wonder how many of us take our everyday movements for granted. I certainly don't now.

Steve P

[Dekazer]

That sounds really frightening Steve, well done for staying so level headed and getting yourself out safely. I hope you're feeling a bit better now.

 

Lucy

[Guest]

I fell in on Friday evening between my boat and the metal pilings at my mooring. Pitch black and freezing cold. I couldn't get out and panicked. I started to sink into the silt and thought that was it. After about five minutes of sheer panic I stopped moving and got my breath back. I kept still for about ten minutes to get my breath back and gather my thoughts. I then moved to the back end of the boat where it is lower and managed to drag myself out. I've only just stopped shaking. I genuinely thought my time was up. I lost my glasses, had no idea what to do for the best. I couldn't understand what happened. I always thought I would know what to do in this situation and had 'a plan' if it happened. It all went out of the window. I'm reasonably fit for a sixty year old and never even thought I'd have a problem pulling myself out easily. 20 mins in the freezing cold water with no one around made my 'plan' useless. I'll never take any more risks anymore. Horrendous experience, but I have learnt one lesson and that's not to get complacent getting on and off my boat. It can be a question of life or death every time we do it. Sounds dramatic and I don't mean to big my situation up but it's how I feel at the moment. I wonder how many of us take our everyday movements for granted. I certainly don't now.

Steve P

 

Well done for extricating yourself. Glad you are OK. I have only fallen in once and yes fully clothed and without an easy means of doing so it is harder than people think to pull yourself out, and I fell in in broad daylight.

 

In lots of situations just standing up can work and walking to the side will work but it doesn't always and when I fell in (in a marina) the water was a lot deeper than I was expecting.

[Laurie Booth]

Glad you are now OK, a lesson for us all.

[Mac of Cygnet]

I know how you feel. After falling off the back of my boat last year going into a lock and being rescued by the crew of a hire boat after going under for the second time, I am now much more circumspect where I put my feet.

[Athy]

Fudd me, that must have been very alarming for you. Well done for not panicking.

 

Getting on to a boat, something which we all do numerous times without even thinking about it, is perhaps one of the most potentially dangerous moments in a boating day. That's why, when we had Trojan built. we specified grabbable handrails instead of solid cants. A secure handhold could make the difference between getting on board safely and ending up as you did, 'twixt boat and bank.

[fudd]

Let me tell you, the first five minutes were not at all level headed. I panicked and just started thrashing about trying to get out and that made things worse. I started sinking into the silt. At least I have a new plan and that is to try not to panic. When I stopped moving about it gave me time to think and then I managed to get out. On Sunday morning I got out onto my mooring and saw a metal post with a tyre tied to it. I could have just put my foot in the tyre and got out easily but I panicked like I never thought I would and totally forgot where I was and that there was a tyre within six foot of me. I look at the post every day and just didn't think about it.

[nicknorman]

Very scary, glad you are OK. it is very hard to get out due to weight of clothes. My suggestion for next time (hopefully there won't be a next time!) is to counter-intuitively take all your clothes off in the water, then it's much easier to get out. Well I supposed you would be allowed to keep your underpants on!

[Martin Megson]

Thanks for sharing it reminds us all to be careful, particularly in winter as the water is colder and we generally wear more clothing which of course soaks up water. I had a similar slip last winter in a river where I couldn't touch the bottom. Fortunately it was at the stern and while trying to drag myself up the side I knocked my leg on the skeg which I realised I could use as a step.

[fudd]

Very scary, glad you are OK. it is very hard to get out due to weight of clothes. My suggestion for next time (hopefully there won't be a next time!) is to counter-intuitively take all your clothes off in the water, then it's much easier to get out. Well I supposed you would be allowed to keep your underpants on!

Sooo true. I only had shorts on and a thin jumper and tee shirt. I think it was the panicking that could have been my demise. When I stopped and calmed down it sort of made it easier.

[Laurie Booth]

It is very hard to pull someone out of the water into a boat who is fully clothed. It took two of us and the person to get him into our boat.

[John V]

Very very scary, glad you got out ok.......does make you look at your own safety......thinking about it I realise that I wouldn't have a snowballs chance in Hell of getting back on board the yoghurt pot, let alone the Humber barge.

[alan_fincher]

I went in at our mooring at the very start of 2015. I was attempting to carry a bag of coal onto the pontoon in pitch dark, because the lighting had failed, and the pontoon was not where I thought it was. I guess the water temperature was about 5 degrees Celsius.

 

Very frightening and initially totally disorientating. I think I was initially under the counter of the boat that moors the opposite side of the pontoon, so couldn't even work out which way was "up", and spent what seemed far too long just to get my head above water.

 

I had huge difficulty summoning Cath, and we then had a huge fight to get me out. It is quite likely that at least one of the multiple injuries I sustained, (a broken finger), was caused by trying to get out, rather than the falling in and striking another boat.

 

I would not, I think, have got out on my own, and I doubt I would have summoned anybody else, being too far from them. We had only just arrived at the boat, which was stone cold, and I shook violently as I turned blue, as we tried to clean me off and and get me into warm clothes. I didn't realise it was possible to feel so cold!

 

I now have a torn ligament where my left collarbone should be attached to my shoulder, ("sublaxation"), which cases a fair amount of pain, and disturbs sleep. Unfortunately although this damage can not self heal, it is not easily to treat either, with the risks associated with surgery apparently outweighing the chances of success. So it sees something that will now be a permanent part of my life. All because I didn't take a torch with me........

[nicknorman]

Sooo true. I only had shorts on and a thin jumper and tee shirt. I think it was the panicking that could have been my demise. When I stopped and calmed down it sort of made it easier.

I recommend a book called "the chimp paradox" by dr peters. Well maybe not the whole book, but the concept of the human brain's structure which is that we have an evolutionary legacy of a "chimp brain" which is impulsive, prone to fight or flight and generally irrational and impulsive behaviour (of which panic is a subset). On top of that we have the human brain which is cool, logical and calculating and normally has the upper hand. In times of stress the chimp brain pops out of its box and starts to run the proceedings. If it is because you stepped out into the road when you shouldn't have, and are just about to get run over, the chimp bran is great to get you back on the pavement in superhuman time. However for more protracted crises where clear thought and planning is necessary, the chimp brain can be very detrimental and needs to be kept in its box.

 

So if a crisis with "clear and present danger" transpires, I can feel my chimp brain getting agitated but I just give it a good slapping and tell it to get back in its box.

 

Well it works for me!

[The Boater]

I had a similar thing years ago and it has taught me a lesson that endures to this day that whenever I get on or off a boat I always look at where my feet are, and where they are going to go.

Ian.

[Phil Ambrose]

Ref John's comment about getting aboard a GRP boat I have this to offer.

Having been in a couple of times in the winter my experience has taught me that a boarding ladder at the stern will get you out. Ours was the type that hooks over the gunwhale, it has stand off legs at the bottom so can be set to suit your boat. It cam be hooked over the handrail while cruising, you just need to make it habit to place the ladder immediately after mooring up.

Phil

[Nightwatch]

Presently, my main worry. If I went in, I wouldn't be able to get out. Historically, I have no upper body strength, (ask the PT instructors that tried to get me up a rope in the Navy). I really, must, invest in a means to get out. A rope with loops tied in on the stern deck?

 

Glad you are okay. Bloomin' frightening.

[MtB]

I fell in on Friday evening between my boat and the metal pilings at my mooring. Pitch black and freezing cold. I couldn't get out and panicked. I started to sink into the silt and thought that was it. After about five minutes of sheer panic I stopped moving and got my breath back. I kept still for about ten minutes to get my breath back and gather my thoughts. I then moved to the back end of the boat where it is lower and managed to drag myself out. I've only just stopped shaking. I genuinely thought my time was up. I lost my glasses, had no idea what to do for the best. I couldn't understand what happened. I always thought I would know what to do in this situation and had 'a plan' if it happened. It all went out of the window. I'm reasonably fit for a sixty year old and never even thought I'd have a problem pulling myself out easily. 20 mins in the freezing cold water with no one around made my 'plan' useless. I'll never take any more risks anymore. Horrendous experience, but I have learnt one lesson and that's not to get complacent getting on and off my boat. It can be a question of life or death every time we do it. Sounds dramatic and I don't mean to big my situation up but it's how I feel at the moment. I wonder how many of us take our everyday movements for granted. I certainly don't now.

Steve P

 

 

Thank you for the warning. Thank you a LOT.

 

What was the plan you had, that all went out of the window, out of interest? Just in case it's the same plan as mine!

[8 Hairy Feet]

How frightening...glad to read you are ok.

It's making me think about getting into the habit

of wearing my whistle...more likely to be heard

and easier than shouting.

[fudd]

Thank you for the warning. Thank you a LOT.

 

What was the plan you had, that all went out of the window, out of interest? Just in case it's the same plan as mine!

Not to panic, stay calm and pull myself out. I could do none of that due to panicking, not staying calm and not being able to pull myself out. I'm no weakling by anymeans but I didn't have the strength to drag myself up.

[Stilllearning]

I fell in 20 years ago, on the South Oxford, broke my shoulder blade in the process, and luckily got myself out.

What did I learn? Never again will I step casually onto or off a boat. Glad you are OK.

[zenataomm]

Excellent discussion everyone and a darn sght more valuable than half the threads on here which sometimes run into pages.

 

May you all stay on your feet.

[DHutch]

Sounds seriously grim, but echo the thanks in sharing. The huge yellow ladders sometimes seen on new moorings are from silly, including the colour.

 

EmilyAnne is very high sided and 'sea worthy' and while I have a plan of how I would try and get out climbing up the ridder and rear fender I have never put this to the test despite thinking I should (with someone else around) and if needed adding some 'steps' in the side next drydock.

 

Stay safe people!

 

Daniel

[nebulae]

Am I correct in thinking that all new boats are supposed to incorporate a means of getting back on board from the water?I am sure I have seen boats with a cut out in the rudder to give a foothold.We carry an alluminium ladder about 6ft long with a rope permanently attached to the top rung.All. plate goes on top to make a boarding ladder. Obviously only works if there is another person on the boat to deploy it.For a permanent mooring,a short ladder left in the water might be a good idea.??

[Leemc]

Unbelievable scary especially for those of you who are on your own.

Complacency in all things can be a hideous thing.

Take care all