What to do if you fall in

[Machpoint005]

Thought I'd just post this helpful (possibly life-saving) advice the RNLI has "Facebooked" me with.

RNLI linky

[David Schweizer]

Or you could just stand up and wade to the bank!

[Tony Brooks]

Most of the time I would curse, wade to the back of the boat, take down the folding boarding ladder and place it against the bank or hook its rope over a  suitable projection like a T stud or dolly and climb out.

[Machpoint005]

I am well aware that most canals are shallow. Some are not, locks are not, many rivers are not. But thanks for reading it anyway -- even canal boaters visit lakes and coasts sometimes, and even without a boat!

PS. I think most of us support the RNLI.

[Dave_P]

Falling into deep cold water is a serious matter. It's harder to get out than you think even in relatively shallow water, especially in freezing winter water with lots of clothes on. The shock of the cold clouds your brain. 

A friend fell off the icy pontoon at Gas Street Basin one winter evening, breaking his wrist on the pontoon as he fell. The water was deep but just enough to stand up in. He had no chance of pulling himself out but luckily another boater heard his shouts. 

[Neil2]

2 minutes ago, Dave_P said:

Falling into deep cold water is a serious matter. It's harder to get out than you think even in relatively shallow water, especially in freezing winter water with lots of clothes on. The shock of the cold clouds your brain. 

A friend fell off the icy pontoon at Gas Street Basin one winter evening, breaking his wrist on the pontoon as he fell. The water was deep but just enough to stand up in. He had no chance of pulling himself out but luckily another boater heard his shouts. 

Amen to that - I pulled a guy out of the River Bure many years ago it was early April and despite claiming to be a strong swimmer he admitted the shock of hitting cold water completely disorientated him.  It was all he could do to hang on to the jetty by his fingertips.  It was half past seven in the morning so he was dead lucky there was someone around.

At the marina where we moor the water is fifteen feet deep and if you fell in I don't see any way you could climb out. Getting the boat back on the pontoon when there are no boats either side on a windy day is genuinely scary.  

[starman]

I fell in between the side of the boat near the front and the edge piling. I could stand up but the deck and edge were at armpit level - with waterlogged clothes there was no way I could have got out. Fortunately Mrs B found help to haul me out. Would have been very scary if on my own. 

[ditchcrawler]

having worked for a company that paid people to try and drown us every 2 years or set us on fire I have climbed into life rafts, that is almost water level with rope steps and hand holds inside all in a nice warm swimming pool and its not easy. Likewise I have boarded a RIB in the North Sea and without a group of us, about 12 we would have had no chance of getting in.

[Nightwatch]

Some may recall that I unexpectedly went for a swim in Nantwich in February. I consider myself very comfortable with water,but the shock of not just falling,but the cold set me into panic. Even if I could stand there's no way I was prepared to. I grabbed a fender line and hung/hanged on for dear life. In no time my legs and thighs were on the Bank but I just couldn't haul my mass out. Margaret and a passerby of well over retirement age whipped me out. Pride well and truely dented as were my shins after coming into contact with the baseplate edges on my way in. I have no doubt I'd get used to it, but believe me, I don't want to.

[Hartlebury lad]

A guy on our marina fell in whilst changing a gas bottle. Miraculously, he missed striking his head on either the boat, pontoon, or concrete edge as he fell into a into a tiny triangular space.. We were onto him in seconds, but it took five or six of of us several minutes to get him out. Big chap, heavy clothing, all the weight low down below our kneeling positions, and cold, shock, panic, and fatigue kicking in. Someone found a ladder and he scrambled onto it and got dragged up. I now have a ladder on the boat, which is still no guarantee of a happy ending.

[Mac of Cygnet]

40-odd years ago I fell through sea ice.  Only the almost empty rucksack I was carrying stopped me from going right under, and enabled me to somehow haul myself out.  I have regarded every year since as a bonus.  They say your life flashes before you, but I only remember a sense of regret that I would miss the scones that Mervyn the cook was baking for tea that day.

[Rob-M]

I lifted a dog out of the canal the other day which was hard enough.  The dog had jumped in chasing ducks and although it wasn't a really big dog it was still quite heavy once it was soaking wet, the lady walking it wouldn't have been able to manage to get the dog out.

[mrsmelly]

11 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

Or you could just stand up and wade to the bank!

Many of us actualy love getting off the muddy ditches and regularily over the years cruise such as the Trent and severn etc or the Aire and calder, try standing up in that canal!!

11 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

Thought I'd just post this helpful (possibly life-saving) advice the RNLI has "Facebooked" me with.

RNLI linky

Nice one.

[mross]

The important advice in that link is to initially relax and just float until you get your breathing under control.  This is relevant in cold water.  It's well worth reading.

[dor]

I went in one christmas eve.  Cracked a couple of ribs on the way in as the stern rail flipped me over. Full immersion, with a fleece that holds a lot of water.

I was on my own and it was dark with no one in sight.  The only time I have been grateful for the Shroppie Shelf as it provided a step to get out.

[Naughty Cal]

We always leave our bathing ladder down when moored up on rivers and larger waterways. 

It is surprising how often it gets used, not just by us.

The water in the marina we are in at the moment ranges from 15ft at low water to over 30ft in depth at high water judging by the range we saw yesterday.  Sensibly there are escape ladders between every two finger berths to aid recovery. The water temperature here was only 10 degrees yesterday. 

[cuthound]

14 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

Or you could just stand up and wade to the bank!

Naughty Cal might find that a tad difficult if she falls in when crossing Loch  Ness 

[KenM]

Thanks for the link, and thanks to the RNLI. Annie has slipped in twice. She's a great swimmer (ex national level) and didn't sink but both times badly damaged her legs on the base plate as she came up. I couldnt lift her out and I'm fit. Took ages, thank heavens it wasn't winter.

Newer narrowboats often have a step on the baseplate. Older boats dont. Annie found she could use the rudder plate as a step whilst holding onto the tiller stem. We have now acquired an emergency ladder that can be pulled down by someone in the water. (£19).

Think about it and identify your best route out BEFORE you fall in, not start wondering about it once you are in. Even rehearse it if possible if you are in safe water on a warm day, ready for dangerous water on a cold day when seconds may count. 

[LadyG]

I think that the worse thing to do in cold water is to open up the core to cold water by stretching out arms and legs, best to keep closed up and use energy to keep head above water, there will be a shock, and after that start shouting for help. I did lots of aparently risky things when sailing, but I always had  a good man on the helm, and a bouyancy aid, esp in winter, when I  risked nothing.

Even the most experienced can slip up, and fall in. We are just not designed to swim like fish, not to mention Weils disease, among others.

Edited July 7, 2017 by LadyG

[mross]

Your advice is contrary to that of the RNLI and other experts and is dangerous.  But I suspect you are just winding us up.  Cold shock is VERY serious.  Buoyancy aids are no substitute for properly certified life jackets when their need is warranted.

Edited July 7, 2017 by mross

[noddyboater]

I've only been in once in years of boating, head first on a winters evening. I'd called at the boat on its mooring (shallow, muddy) after work one night in December. The water was gin clear and I was fascinated by the fish swimming around the boats hull in my torch light.. So I walked along the gunwale leaning out, holding the roof rail behind me with one hand... then completely forgot that the rail stops where the engine room slide is.. I managed to keep hold of the torch and drag myself out between the boat and bank, clothes off quick and a swift whisky sorted it.

It made me think though, a week earlier I'd been moored on the Trent in 12' of fast flowing water with no obvious way to climb out.

[Graham Davis]

2 hours ago, LadyG said:

I think that the worse thing to do in cold water is to open up the core to cold water by stretching out arms and legs, best to keep closed up and use energy to keep head above water, there will be a shock, and after that start shouting for help. I did lots of aparently risky things when sailing, but I always had  a good man on the helm, and a bouyancy aid, esp in winter, when I  risked nothing.

Even the most experienced can slip up, and fall in. We are just not designed to swim like fish, not to mention Weils disease, among others.

Contrary to what the RNLI state, so I suggest you are wrong (again)

[LadyG]

2 hours ago, Graham Davis said:

Contrary to what the RNLI state, so I suggest you are wrong (again)

• Wear an appropriate flotation device, such as a lifejacket or buoyancy aid – it could save your life.

5 hours ago, mross said:

Your advice is contrary to that of the RNLI and other experts and is dangerous.  But I suspect you are just winding us up.  Cold shock is VERY serious.  Buoyancy aids are no substitute for properly certified life jackets when their need is warranted.

lifejackets are ideal in survival situations, but boaters often fall in when it is not thought likely, not sure how it is dangerous to wear a bouyancy aid. From the RNLI :-

• Wear an appropriate flotation device, such as a lifejacket or buoyancy aid – it could save your life.

Edited July 8, 2017 by LadyG

[Naughty Cal]

4 hours ago, LadyG said:

• Wear an appropriate flotation device, such as a lifejacket or buoyancy aid – it could save your life.

lifejackets are ideal in survival situations, but boaters often fall in when it is not thought likely, not sure how it is dangerous to wear a bouyancy aid. From the RNLI :-

• Wear an appropriate flotation device, such as a lifejacket or buoyancy aid – it could save your life.

A buoyancy aid will not float you the right way up if you knock yourself out on the way in. A proper life jacket will.

[mross]

43 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

A buoyancy aid will not float you the right way up if you knock yourself out on the way in. A proper life jacket will.

Exactly, thank you