Have you been Saved?

[Kettlewell]

A surprising number of people fall over and drown at the dock. we tend to let our guard down when in port. Kettlewell you were lucky to get out so fast or even at all.

That same winter we were down below snug in the cabin while a howling gale was blowing, but luckily the ice was keeping the waves down. I suddenly had a thought that I might have heard something, so I slid the hatch back and listened in the howling wind and again I thought I heard a voice calling for help. Went out and the docks were covered with ice from the crashing waves and someone had slipped off into the harbor and wasn't able to pull themselves back up on the slippery ice. Managed to pull him up and out of the water and got him onboard and warmed him up--no worse for his icy plunge.

[Blue Crab]

I saw a gal go overboard fairly closeby. All-women crewed race boat. Beautiful sunny day in So FL. She was squatting down and peeing off the backstay in time-honored tradition. Their skipper tacked and she lost her grip. She hollered. Skipper glanced back, put the boat in irons. WOB swam back to boat, up ladder, ...30 sec in water. Great fun, really.

I had a waaaay better story but I can't top Ram's. I led many night drift dives off Palm Beach. But, I was always the guy holding the float flag. (Thank you gods, one and all). Night drift diving over wrecks with sharks. It'll put hair on yer chest. Heh. Heh.

[Ocean Girl]

Pulled two drunks out of the marina, within a week. Heavy drinking and boats don't mix either.

Astrid, saving two children, you rock

[Ram]

I had an interesting slip and fall over this past summer that could have been bad but turned out good- While in Turkey, I had my dingy at a cement walled marina cafe, (Yacht Marine) I was having my Landry done there, so my arms were full with 2 bags of nice clean ironed cloths and I reached down to grab the line & pull the dink closer to me and somehow I slipped and did a complete 360 in the air landing on my ass on the rubber pontoon of the dingy and bounced up in the air and into the water, my landry landed in the dink not even wet- 20 feet away was a water side cafe where more than a dozen people seen what happened , yet did not move an inch. I look over at them like ha this is how I always get in the dink , got in and motored off ! was sore a few days after that but luckily not hurt

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

I led many night drift dives off Palm Beach. But, I was always the guy holding the float flag. (Thank you gods, one and all). Night drift diving over wrecks with sharks. It'll put hair on yer chest. Heh. Heh.

Maybe you were on my boat before?
did yu live in the area? We do have a lot of big sharks here , more in the winter months, all over the wrecks, I drop folks right on top of a dozen big bad 500 pound Bull sharks & people shoot fish swim up with them , like nothing, My hair stands up when I see those big guys swiming near me , ive never gotten used to it, but still its not stopped me from being in the water with them, sometimes holding them off while we get the fish out of the water and into the boat

[Kettlewell]

So far the gist of this thread reinforces my long-held belief that we often worry the most about the wrong things. Falling in offshore--unlikely, yet we worry and prepare. Falling in from the dinghy or the dock--very likely, and yet nobody much thinks about it. In the boatyard where I get my boat hauled someone's body was found floating in the morning. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but they surmised that he got up in the middle of the night to relieve himself, fell in, and drowned. Same thing happened in another marina I kept my boat in for a few years. One morning a woman's body was there in the marina floating.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

So far the gist of this thread reinforces my long-held belief that we often worry the most about the wrong things. Falling in offshore--unlikely, yet we worry and prepare. Falling in from the dinghy or the dock--very likely, and yet nobody much thinks about it. In the boatyard where I get my boat hauled someone's body was found floating in the morning. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but they surmised that he got up in the middle of the night to relieve himself, fell in, and drowned. Same thing happened in another marina I kept my boat in for a few years. One morning a woman's body was there in the marina floating.

This happend in a Marinia I was in a few years back also, so must me bore common that we think!

[micah719]

I saw a gal go overboard fairly closeby. All-women crewed race boat. Beautiful sunny day in So FL. She was squatting down and peeing off the backstay in time-honored tradition. Their skipper tacked and she lost her grip. She hollered. Skipper glanced back, put the boat in irons. WOB swam back to boat, up ladder, ...30 sec in water. Great fun, really.

Nobody knows exactly what happened, but they surmised that he got up in the middle of the night to relieve himself, fell in, and drowned.

Nobody ever MOB'd from the galley sink....

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Ram

This happend in a Marinia I was in a few years back also, so must me bore common that we think!

Hope the cold gets better...

[Ram]

[QUOTE=boatman61;1174729]Hope the cold gets better...[/QU


hahah..me too!

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by micah719

Nobody ever MOB'd from the galley sink....

The man does have a point.

Ram: we were up from Scuba Sports in Miami. Did a quick search but didn't see the shop/boat we always used. I'm talking mid-80s, so likely before your time anyway. That was great fun. The 10 hours story was tough stuff. Here we dive deep wrecks with bigass sand tigers, world's friendliest sharks. Every now and then, however we get a GW. Makes that hair on yer chest fall out. (Or so I've heard.)

Only time I've fallen over was at the dock. Stepped in hard dink with TV in one hand and an adult beverage in the other. Oops. Dropped tv. 3:00 am, 30 something stitches hitting dock ... many of us know the drill. Where were you Ocean Girl? At least I had no witnesses.

[Ocean Girl]

Glad you made it blue crab.
I rescued one in my jammies :-) it was a miracle I heard him fall in from my berth, it was such a quiet unassuming splash. Next morning he woke up he did not remember a thing, not me pumping water out of his lungs, not the ambulance ride, or the ER. Like I said heavy drinking and boats don't mix.
Be good!
Erika

[Teknav]

Probably some of these folks went on a midnight swim to catch a mermaid! If you ever hear a mermaid asking you: "Your place or mine?"...guess who will not make it by morning? Mauritz

[Dos Gatos]

I've pulled out two. Both were skippers of their boats. One drinking, the other overestimated his abilities (bad arthritis, no mobility)
I single hand in the ocean so if I go over, nobody to blame and that's that.

[barnakiel]

Ashamed to say I got saved. I was in my Cadet and flipped her and could not get her back to vertical. I had a pdf on and used voice communication to attract attention.

Lesson: as my father told me: stay with the boat unless she goes down.

I lost crew overboard too. I turned the boat round and we recovered the idiot. My fault too as I was the boss and I should not have allowed my crew to do things he did.

Lesson: do not let your crew fool around.

b.