Incident at Fenny Marina

[Tunnelman51]

Two guys reversing their narrowboat into the diagonal pontoons opposite me in Fenny Marina.

One guy on tiller, one with warps to secure.

They disappear behind other boats.

Couple of minutes later desperate cries of HELP!  HELP!

I look up, see nothing.  Another boater on the opposite pontoons looks out. We both scan the marina.

He clocks the problem first and runs toward it.

By the time I had legged it around half the perimeter of the basin, tiller guy and the other boater had just managed to get warps guy half onto dry land.

He had missed his footing, and gone in, severely gashing his head as he did so.  He was bleeding profusely, confused, delirious and flailing  wildly.  Luckily the ambulance arrived pretty quickly.

I hope he's gonna be OK.......

As a mostly solo boater myself this brought home the thought-  If he had been on his own he would have stood  ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE OF GETTING OUT.

Stay safe - Happy boating.

[mrsmelly]

Yes we can all get complacent if we are not careful. Hope he is ok.

[Alan de Enfield]

A life jacket can make a life saving difference in such circumstances - even on a muddy ditch

[Phil Ambrose]

We all need to think about our safety and not allow complacency to creep in, being around water is dangerous.

This might be a good place to relate and incident of a couple of weeks ago.

A Sunday morning and my dogs started barking and I thought I heard "Phil, help, my boat is on fire" I stuck my head out to find the stern of my boat shrouded in smoke and flames could be seen reaching up.

My neighbour was hopping about in panic, so I grabbed an armful of extinguishers and was able to reach the seat of the fire in his rear cockpit (boat is a Freeman)

He had used 2 x 1kg powder to no effect, so I used another 2 x 1kg plus a 2kg powder which finally killed the flames. The point is that I could not believe the intensity of the flames nor the ferocity with which they burnt and all this from a vinyl pram hood, many NBs have these and cratch covers are the same material. So please be aware that they burn like billy o and 1kg extinguishers are useless, I have now bought some serious kit 

Phil

[Peter Thornton]

We were going down Bank Newton a week or so ago and the lock keeper was telling us about all the sinking there (2 in the last few weeks)

Then we get to the Gargrave locks and there is an ambulance there. A lady had tripped when alighting, bumpted her head and broken her shoulder. And on their first days hire I think.

its easy to become complacent .........

[Sea Dog]

On 08/10/2017 at 19:51, Peter Thornton said:

...And on their first days hire I think.

its easy to become complacent .........

Crikey, if she was that complacent on day 1, it doesn't bear thinking about the potential results of how complacent she would have been later in the week! 

[Peter Thornton]

To be fair, I didn’t accuse the lady of being complacent, I was thinking of us ........

[Ssscrudddy]

After I got my boat my Mum decided she wanted 1. She's in her 70s.
1st boat she looked at, I told her to get hold of the hand rail before she tries to get on. My Mum doesn't listen to anyone, especially me. I even pointed out that the surveyor who was there doing other boats gets hold of the hand rail every time he gets on & off, & he's doing it all day. Anyway she dismissed me out of hand, didn't hold on, missed completely, smacked her jaw hard on the roof of the boat, & scraped all the skin off her shin where it got stuck between the boat & the pontoon.

[Ray T]

On 08/10/2017 at 19:43, Phil Ambrose said:

 I have now bought some serious kit

Can I ask what you have upgraded to ?

Mrs T

[Phil Ambrose]

16 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Can I ask what you have upgraded to ?

Mrs T

2kg CO2 plus 2ltr Foam and 4ltr water together with existing 3 x 1kg powder and fire blanket.

I felt that the water extinguisher was important because when we put out the flames on my mates boat they did self reignite till we got some water on to cool it.

I hope that in the light of recent experience I would be able to control a fire more easily

Phil

[matty40s]

1 minute ago, Phil Ambrose said:

2kg CO2 plus 2ltr Foam and 4ltr water together with existing 3 x 1kg powder and fire blanket.

I felt that the water extinguisher was important because when we put out the flames on my mates boat they did self reignite till we got some water on to cool it.

I hope that in the light of recent experience I would be able to control a fire more easily

Phil

I don't recommend throwing them to someone in the water though.

[Phil Ambrose]

4 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I don't recommend throwing them to someone in the water though.

I wouldn't reccomend throwing any extinguisher at someone in the water (unless you don't like them)

Phil

[BruceinSanity]

2 hours ago, Phil Ambrose said:

I wouldn't reccomend throwing any extinguisher at someone in the water (unless you don't like them)

Phil

What's not to like about fire extinguishers?

[Phil Ambrose]

Fire extinguishers? I love 'em, people in the water less so.

Phil

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, Phil Ambrose said:

 

I felt that the water extinguisher was important because when we put out the flames on my mates boat they did self reignite till we got some water on to cool it.

 

I think you are right with that and would probably be a lot more use than the DP specified by the BSS. Most fires are likely to be wood or furnishings and I would expect water to be much more effective stopping re-ignition after knock down. Whether the knock down would be as fast for escape I don't know. I have not read any reports of anyone using one to escape a burning boat

 

[nebulae]

My experience has been that a 2kg co2 is very effective at damping down a fire. If your priority is getting someone out of a burning boat,for instance,they can be very usefull. As the gas disperses,the fire may reignite,which is where foam and dry powder come in.  Cleaning up the mess made by a foam extinguisher takes some doing,but better than not being able to put the fire out.

[cuthound]

11 minutes ago, nebulae said:

My experience has been that a 2kg co2 is very effective at damping down a fire. If your priority is getting someone out of a burning boat,for instance,they can be very usefull. As the gas disperses,the fire may reignite,which is where foam and dry powder come in.  Cleaning up the mess made by a foam extinguisher takes some doing,but better than not being able to put the fire out.

You can get water mist hand held extinguishers now. Ideal for damping down with minimal mess.

It's a pity they don't meet the BSS ratings. This is because they are tested on already well alight wood.

An automatic system,  as used in data centres and HV switch rooms doesn't allow the fire to spread, so the rating test is a bit misleading. 

No doubt the test standards will change as the fire brigades get more used to seeing them. 

[Jim Riley]

Who wears a life jacket then. Cart staff do, or should. I used to wear one on rivers but now wear automatic one most of the time. Partner has Narcolepsy with Cataplexy, so is prone to collapse, latest in at the sight of a dipper, so she wears one , I do because I might have to go in after her. 

If you don't wear one why not?

Edited October 11, 2017 by Jim Riley
Autotext!

[ditchcrawler]

52 minutes ago, Jim Riley said:

Who wears a life jacket then. Cart staff do, or should. I used to wear one on rivers but now wear automatic one most of the time. Partner has Narcolepsy with Cataplexy, so is prone to collapse, latest in at the sight of a dipper, so she wears one , I do because I might have to go in after her. 

If you don't wear one why not?

I don't wear one, I did when I was dingy sailing. CRT wear one if they are sitting inside a boat having a cup of tea, that could in certain circumstances be more dangerous than not wearing one. I suppose it depends on what you judge the risk. Most drownings, which seem to happen on the Broads not the canal is when people are returning to their boats at night when they wouldn't be wearing them.

[BruceinSanity]

2 hours ago, Jim Riley said:

Who wears a life jacket then. Cart staff do, or should. I used to wear one on rivers but now wear automatic one most of the time. Partner has Narcolepsy with Cataplexy, so is prone to collapse, latest in at the sight of a dipper, so she wears one , I do because I might have to go in after her. 

If you don't wear one why not?

But do you wear a crotch strap or thigh straps?

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

I don't wear one, I did when I was dingy sailing. CRT wear one if they are sitting inside a boat having a cup of tea, that could in certain circumstances be more dangerous than not wearing one. I suppose it depends on what you judge the risk. Most drownings, which seem to happen on the Broads not the canal is when people are returning to their boats at night when they wouldn't be wearing them.

This^^^. We wear them on rivers or when single handing. The biggest risks for us are either locking, when an inflated lifer could just be an extra problem or getting on and off the boat in the (very deep) marina when on our way to or from somewhere else.

When boating with young kids, we always made them wear buoyancy aids when out of the cabin. Mind you, that did result once in a Brummie in the Bull Ring telling me "Eh, the fountains aren't that deep, wack!" when we had not taken them off them before going shopping. The kids (now 41 and 39) claim they were permanently psychologically scarred by the embarrassment and would have rung Childline if it existed in the 70s.

[magictime]

2 hours ago, Jim Riley said:

Who wears a life jacket then. Cart staff do, or should. I used to wear one on rivers but now wear automatic one most of the time. Partner has Narcolepsy with Cataplexy, so is prone to collapse, latest in at the sight of a dipper, so she wears one , I do because I might have to go in after her. 

If you don't wear one why not?

We've always worn them on rivers, and I couldn't give you a good reason for not wearing one on canals - especially if locking. I have more reason than most to wear one, I guess, because my balance still isn't 100% after my brain haemorrhage in the summer. But I'm not sure I see us getting in the habit. I'd feel a bit self-conscious when hardly anyone else wears one, to be honest.

Incidentally, genuine question: is an automatic life jacket the best thing to wear for the main purpose of going in after someone else? I thought they were designed to tip you on to your back and keep you there, thus keeping your head above water, which seems like it might make it harder to swim in than (say) a buoyancy vest.

[cuthound]

16 minutes ago, BruceinSanity said:

When boating with young kids, we always made them wear buoyancy aids when out of the cabin. Mind you, that did result once in a Brummie in the Bull Ring telling me "Eh, the fountains aren't that deep, wack!" when we had not taken them off them before going shopping. The kids (now 41 and 39) claim they were permanently psychologically scarred by the embarrassment and would have rung Childline if it existed in the 70s.

MAde me spray my drink over my tablet. Have a greenie.

[Athy]

23 minutes ago, BruceinSanity said:

 

When boating with young kids, we always made them wear buoyancy aids when out of the cabin. Mind you, that did result once in a Brummie in the Bull Ring telling me "Eh, the fountains aren't that deep, wack!" when we had not taken them off them before going shopping. The kids (now 41 and 39) claim they were permanently psychologically scarred by the embarrassment and would have rung Childline if it existed in the 70s.

Lovely anecdote - but did a Brummy really call you "Wack"?

[Alan de Enfield]

I was always a 'reasonable' swimmer and passed all of my diving (sub-aqua) tests, surface swimming with a weight belt etc. etc. without problems - although I was naturally 'negatively buoyant'

A couple of years ago we chartered a sailing yacht in the South China Sea and due to the high temperatures we decided to 'dive in' to cool off - to my surprise I just sank, managed to struggle to the surface and doggy paddled, floated on my back and did all sorts of strokes trying to get back to the boat - it seemed ages but made it back to the ladder and completely knackered, climbed back on the boat.

Knowing that I appear to have lost the ability to swim / float I now wear my lifejacket at all times around the water and on deck.

[JamesFrance]

In the past I did a lot of single handed sailing well away from land.   I never wore a life jacket but was always attached to the boat with a harness and line.   You don't see many people wearing life jackets on canals other than children, probably through embarrassment as the water isn't deep.