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Mike Todd

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12 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

They have reported that even having someone of the bank hauling them up it is still extremely difficult to get out.

And extremely easy to injure them by hauling, especially shoulder joints.

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30 minutes ago, Bee said:

I have known two people, one young and fit and one neither young or fit and quite large who drowned on the GU, the younger one may have fallen in a lock, we will never know, and the other one fell into shallow but muddy water but could not climb out onto the towpath. Chances of getting out are slim. As for reboarding a boat I reckon that if you are alone you would find it damned hard. We have a steel bunk bed ladder that can be hung over the side, I think it is quite good but I have never tried it.

That's what I'm wondering - if getting out onto a canal bank is just about impossible then how on earth are people going to manage to drag themselves up a ladder by the rear deck of a boat?

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Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

Not many ladders on the canal bank.

No but a lot of canal banks aren't like the side of a narrowboat sitting in the middle of a canal..... 

The embankment at Norbury has escape ladders  - does anyone know anyone who has actually used them?

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1 hour ago, StephenA said:

you've still got to pull it down when you're in the water... and how far down does it need to go to make it easy to use.

It does seem that getting to the bank and crawling "ashore" might be the easiest thing to do on a canal - but obviously that's less practical on a river...

I have used the ladder for swimming. It could be pulled into position from the water .

Not sure of a measurement of  how far the ladder  goes below  water but just enough to get a foot on its lowest rung to climb out. 

Some examples on the following

https://www.seascrew.com/browse.cfm?BOATS-TELESCOPIC-BATHING-PLATFORM-BOARDING-LADDERS-&l=0000000962

.

 

 

 

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Earlier this year we witnessed a middle aged man fall into the GU. Despite many hands being available on the towpath and him being unhurt we could not pull him out onto the piled bank. Problem only solved when a ladder was borrowed from one of the boats present.

If no ladder is available it may be easier for the dunkee to climb out on the offside, where the water is likely to be shallower, even if the help is all on the towpath.

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34 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Earlier this year we witnessed a middle aged man fall into the GU. Despite many hands being available on the towpath and him being unhurt we could not pull him out onto the piled bank. Problem only solved when a ladder was borrowed from one of the boats present.

If no ladder is available it may be easier for the dunkee to climb out on the offside, where the water is likely to be shallower, even if the help is all on the towpath.

Fortunately I have never had to tackle this but by the descriptions it seems considerably harder than getting somebody out of the deep end of an old fashioned swimming pool (the sort where the water was 18" below the edge).  Can anybody familiar with both situations explain why, because it is puzzling me.

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9 minutes ago, Jerra said:

Fortunately I have never had to tackle this but by the descriptions it seems considerably harder than getting somebody out of the deep end of an old fashioned swimming pool (the sort where the water was 18" below the edge).  Can anybody familiar with both situations explain why, because it is puzzling me.

People who have accidentally fallen in a canal are generally fully clothed and may even be wearing a coat with pockets full of water 

 

 

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Just now, MartynG said:

People who have accidentally fallen in a canal are generally fully clothed and may even be wearing a coat with pockets full of water 

 

 

Having fallen in the canal and other stretches of water I am well aware of this.  Particularly  the full pockets, I have seen a man fall into 3 feet of water and stand up with a 6" trout in his pocket.  I have also seen "a slip of a girl" get an 18 stone man out of a pool.  Hence the fact I am wondering about the differences.

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31 minutes ago, Jerra said:

Fortunately I have never had to tackle this but by the descriptions it seems considerably harder than getting somebody out of the deep end of an old fashioned swimming pool (the sort where the water was 18" below the edge).  Can anybody familiar with both situations explain why, because it is puzzling me.

Perhaps because the average canal immersee is older and less fit than the average swimming pool user?

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16 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Perhaps because the average canal immersee is older and less fit than the average swimming pool user?

 

Very possibly the answer but a large part of getting somebody out of a pool IIRC is cooperation and technique.  I am fairly sure somebody in a canal will cooperate in their own rescue.

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Just now, Jerra said:

Very possibly the answer but a large part of getting somebody out of a pool IIRC is cooperation and technique.  I am fairly sure somebody in a canal will cooperate in their own rescue.

Once you stop them panicking even in 3 foot of water. 2 that I help pull out were in 3 foot of water but still had to be convinced they could stand up 

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9 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Once you stop them panicking even in 3 foot of water. 2 that I help pull out were in 3 foot of water but still had to be convinced they could stand up 

That does of course make a huge difference.  I suppose when you have fallen in in the middle and walked to the bank as I did you have learned through experience!

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9 hours ago, Jerra said:

That does of course make a huge difference.  I suppose when you have fallen in in the middle and walked to the bank as I did you have learned through experience!

I have only ever gone in once and that was earlier this year when I was a little bit enthusiastic with the tight turn I did on a RIB with 30hp outboard. The RIB dug in and stopped and I carried on over the bow. The water was over 10ft deep at the point I went in so no chance of touching the bottom. I had to tread water whilst Liam brought the RIB back to me. Getting back on that was not easy in the slightest. We managed in the end but I was a bit bruised where I had been hauled back in.

I have yet to manage falling off our own boat although Liam is quite proficient at this and has been in too many times to count. He always heads straight to the back of our boat and for the ladder as he now knows that this is the easiest way to get out.

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On 02/11/2017 at 19:14, StephenA said:

No but a lot of canal banks aren't like the side of a narrowboat sitting in the middle of a canal..... 

The embankment at Norbury has escape ladders  - does anyone know anyone who has actually used them?

If you can find one that doesn't have boat moored across it ignoring the signs.

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4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Seen loads of them every time we have passed through there

So have I, also seen lots covered by boats. I bet if you need to use one for real, sods law says it will be covered by a boat.

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On 31 October 2017 at 09:13, peterboat said:

I suspect the protrudes I have seen on some of Jonnies boats at the stern are so you can climb out they are extensions of the utoxoter plate really

Is that the uxter plate or somewhere in Staffordshire.  :-)

On 31 October 2017 at 09:13, peterboat said:

 

Edited by mango
Duplicate removed
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