I Did A Very Stupid Thing

[TrentePieds]

Glad you're only slightly hurt :-)

Next time you are sliding down the west coast of Jutland and you see a Nordsøkutter, have a think about why the wheelhouse is so very narrow :-)!

One of my pet peeves, having stood in many of them trying to impart information to a cockpit full of total greenhorns, is that the companion way hatch in Catalina 27s is more than 27" wide. Awkward at all times, and sometimes downright dangerous.

Cheers

TP

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by scallowayuk

hi, two years ago i slipped on the compaionway steps, fell about 2 feet ,broke three ribs and punctured a lung.lucly i was in the ancorage.at falmouth right next to the lifeboat.i think it was their shortest callout.

I'm really sorry to hear about that. Damn.


I was incredibly lucky; I didn't fall 2 feet, but flew all the way across the salon, head-first. I could have easily broken my neck.

[gonesail]

boiling water is another thing to worry about. good thing you did not get a face full of hot coffee after you fell. lucky you did not break bones or worse.

[zengirl]

Originally Posted by weavis

We all done done it...

Timing is everything... I once took a dump at the top of a wave when the boat slid off...

Nuff said..

hahahaha

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by gonesail

boiling water is another thing to worry about. good thing you did not get a face full of hot coffee after you fell. lucky you did not break bones or worse.

Extremely lucky! Dockhead, I am very thankful your injuries were not worse.

I have a healthy fear of handling boiling water while sailing. Someone I know had third degree burns of his forearm making plunger coffee while on an Atlantic crossing. It was a life threatening situation, as help was not close at hand. The resulting scarring was horrific.

SWL

[MarkSF]

When I saw the thread title, my first thought was that you had drilled a hole from the inside to the outside, forgetting that it was below the waterline.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by scallowayuk

hi, two years ago i slipped on the compaionway steps, fell about 2 feet ,broke three ribs and punctured a lung.lucly i was in the ancorage.at falmouth right next to the lifeboat.i think it was their shortest callout.

I did the same, but put my hand out and stopped my fall, around the corner of the stainless steel strip that the hatch slides on. Put a hole in the middle of the palm of my hand that took ages to heal.

Got non-skid strips on the steps now.

[brendanwalls]

I am gratified by this advanced sailor's thread because my inner editor scoffs as I kick myself every time I go out for this reason: without fail, I will have a blister, a broken finger-nail, a scrape, graze, bruise, burn, some small reminder (2 days later) of both my clumsiness and the place I'd rather be than slumped over my desk.

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by weavis

We all done done it...

Timing is everything... I once took a dump at the top of a wave when the boat slid off...

Nuff said..

Ditto twice, except onboard a jet when using the lavatory and unexpectedly hitting a patch of very harsh turbulence.

Once seated, doing my business and hurriedly grabbing the hand rails to try to keep butt on the toilet seat and having my bum sloshed and the second time when standing with placing one hand of the ceiling trying to keep my feet wedged to the floor and the other on a wall to avoid tipping fore, aft and athwartship, all the while trying to inhibit my pisser from missing, one of those times you wish you had an instant kill switch to keep from urinating.

The looks on the faces of the disturb and rattled passengers indicated that the unexpected rough turbulence was indeed severe, but also their expression of OMG! when they realized what I had to be going through as I exited the lavatory and then shyly attempted to ease my way back to my aisle and seat.

You just never know what or when Nature will toss you.

[AlanR]

Originally Posted by djanis

I got a good laugh from your comment, I am a powerboater!

I promise you, powerboaters are not immune to stupidity. Don't ask!

I've been boating for about seventy years, and after the first ten, managed to reduce my stupid actions to around four a year, on average. And yet, I am still here. Just luck.

[picklesandjesse]

We all do dumb things don't worry. But you were lucky. I once fell off the bow singlehanding, with no harness. Got lucky that time as I got back aboard but it was very very close. Still have nightmares about it.

[Redline452]

Originally Posted by cuthbert

Changing the subject....a bit......What kind of Nespresso machine do you have? I have one at home and would love to find a 12V version that takes the smaller capsules for the boat.

I don't believe they make a 12V version, but we use a small CITIZ that does a great job on the inverter - it does draw 130 A while heating, but only in spurts, so two coffees amounts to less than 3AH including the Aeroccino frother (yes, decadent but we live well aboard Redline).


One important point - you need a True SineWave inverter. Our prevoius Xantrex Freedom 2500 was a "modified sinewave" type and the Nespresso just blinked its warning lights unhappily. It runs perfectly on our current (pun not intended) Magnum Energy true sinewave inverter (as do a few other electronics that were fussy about waveforms).

[Djarraluda]

Congratulations on your mid air turns, sounds as if you did well to avoid serious damage. Having recently stepped backwards off a 2m retaining wall, I can currently assure you that landing on concrete is not so forgiving, despite my pirouettes! I can’t row out to my boat at present.

[pedro b]

How bad is this. Drilled a 75mm hole through the inside skin of a cored hull to discover it was solid glass below the waterline. One bare foot on the hole did not do much good but fortunately it was just one small compartment in a catamaran. Let in about 200 litres but no damage and fixed it a day later.

Did have another one many years ago, very tired and in heavy fog. Turned west to clear Cape Palliser light to discover it was really Castle Point Lighthouse. You Kiwis will understand. Heavy surf was the wakeup call.

[Suijin]

Two accidents on the boat over the past ten years have taught me to be a total granny when I move about the boat or situate myself for some task when under way.

First was cracking two ribs when in a similar situation as yours. I was braced against the side of the galley, putting my PDF and harness on and lifted one foot to thread it through a crotch strap when OF COURSE the boat hit an "out of pattern" wave and I was thrown side first against the edge of the nav table. The next three days getting to port were not a lot of fun.

Second was right at a fixed dock. Was stepping down, about 18-14" to step on the cap rail. Doing it too casually and not paying attention my foot slipped off and I landed on my shin, which had stiffened with my leg in an "L" shape in and instinctive move to keep me from falling wholesale in the water and probably bashing my chin/face on the rail on the way down. Fairly serious posterior cruciate ligament injury that took easily six months to heal.

I practice "mindfulness" when I'm doing moving or doing anything that requires two hands on the boat while it's moving now. Stop, focus my attention on what I'm doing, then execute. It's those momentary lapses during casual stuff you've done a zillion times before that will bite you in the rear.