Drunks on a dock - not good.

[pateco]

I say I wouldn't have any drunks guests on or near my boat but it occurs to me that a person could easily slip getting on or off the boat, hit their head and be out cold or severely dazed. I shouldn't limit my thinking and planning to just drunks.

An unconscious but breathing swimmer is much easier to rescue than drunk or panicked. It's when they are not breathing that things get dicey again. Doing CPR while swimming and dragging the victim, will tire you out pretty quick. I was able to pass my test in my twenties, But I don't want to think about having to do this in my current physical condition.

 

[Allowishish]

I completely agree with the never become the 2nd victim line of training.
I used to be a EMT, (got it during training in the Army on my way to becoming a nurse in the Army)and I have taken swift water rescue classes for kayaking. as with most things the classes are not enough, practice is needed on a regular basis to be at the top of your game.

While I have not seen the situation (yet) while sailing, every year we see drunk college students attempting to tube at high water. (once on a Class V run... we were able to talk them out f that one luckily)
One year I had a drunk we were attempting to rescue grab my kayak as we were heading into a pushy class IV section. I told him to let go and I would get him at the bottom. He continued to hold on. I eventually told him that if he did not let go he would receive a paddle to the face... still refused to let go, so I smacked his hand HARD with the paddle blade.

After the drop I was able to get him into an eddy and out of the water.

our crew talked about it afterwards. If it was one of us we would have had them out before the drop. But the guy fought everything we were trying to do for him (much like the OP story) he was more than dead weight.

 

[Allowishish]

this has made me think a little bit.

Our kayaking crew all have throw bags and know how to use them. (A few times a year we make a drinking game out of practice while camping) but I have not seen the throw bag in sailing...

is there a reason why it would be a bad choice? is it just the distance involved after someone goes overboard? I could see it being useful for recovery after circling back to the MOB

 

[pateco]

I eventually told him that if he did not let go he would receive a paddle to the face... still refused to let go, so I smacked his hand HARD with the paddle blade.

Smacking / punching the panicked victim was definitely discussed as one method to expedite a rescue.

 

[Justin_NSA]

This is a bit off topic but you guys talking about training and practicing might find it amusing. We took a cab to the airport not long ago. You meet some interesting drivers. This guy was saying they were better than Uber because they have to take First Aid and CPR training. My wife, being the RN she is, asked more about where he took it. Turns out it was all online. They didn't even have to practice compression and breathing on dummies. Anyone that has taken classroom instruction knows that hands on is a must to understand the technique, pressure breathing etc. We just looked at each other in the back seat and shook our heads. I think she actually told him that it was poor training.

 

[PotomacDaysailer]

Plenny7, maximum kudos on your handling of the situation. Above and beyond.

 

[plenny7]

this has made me think a little bit.

Our kayaking crew all have throw bags and know how to use them. (A few times a year we make a drinking game out of practice while camping) but I have not seen the throw bag in sailing...

is there a reason why it would be a bad choice? is it just the distance involved after someone goes overboard? I could see it being useful for recovery after circling back to the MOB

I'm not familiar with a throw bag. Is that sort of the same concept as the Lifesling?
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/lifesling--lifesling2-overboard-rescue-system--357634

 

[Justin_NSA]

I'm not familiar with a throw bag. Is that sort of the same concept as the Lifesling?
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/lifesling--lifesling2-overboard-rescue-system--357634

It's a rope(line) in a bag that you throw to the victim. West marine sells them. Practical Sailor rated them as the best way to get a line out to a MOB.

 

[jwing]

Totally. The Boy Scouts used to teach throw-row-go. Now they leave off the go. Better one death than two.

When I was a Boy Scout, they taught "REACH, throw, row, go." 'Go' meant swimming to the victim; I understand why they decided to drop that. 'Reach' was with a paddle oar, pool hook, rope, etc. Have they dropped that, too?

 

[Jackdaw]

When I was a Boy Scout, they taught "REACH, throw, row, go." 'Go' meant swimming to the victim; I understand why they decided to drop that. 'Reach' was with a paddle oar, pool hook, rope, etc. Have they dropped that, too?

No, of course you’re right. I forgot that!

 

[jwing]

this has made me think a little bit.

Our kayaking crew all have throw bags and know how to use them. (A few times a year we make a drinking game out of practice while camping) but I have not seen the throw bag in sailing...

is there a reason why it would be a bad choice?

I have a throwbag from my whitewater days now stowed very conveniently in my sailboat. I have practiced from my boat. It is more difficult than from the bank of a river, especially if the water is rough. There is not much room to get a good stable base with my legs (at least on my little boat), there are many things in the way of the toss, and presumably there is at least a moderate breeze. Nonetheless, it is a better way to get a rope out than tossing a coil. Also, the bright orange, floating bag makes it easier for the victim to swim to the rope.

I've used that rope in real-life situations on rivers, but I've never been in a real-life MOB.

is it just the distance involved after someone goes overboard? I could see it being useful for recovery after circling back to the MOB

That's the way I see it. I keep an orange throwable cushion on deck. It is always in the same spot and nobody sits on it. That is the first thing that gets tossed at a MOB. Next are the other throwable cushions that are scattered in the cockpit for comfort. In my MOB drills, I test my boat handling skills by getting close enough to the cushions to retrieve them by reaching my hand to the water, but I figure in a real life MOB, I'll toss the throwbag if I get the boat close but not close enough to the victim. Somebody could argue that it wouldn't be much help and I'd probably agree, but it doesn't hurt to have it handy.

BTW, during my MOB dills, I have discovered that if the victim holds the cushion perpendicular to the water's surface and spins around to keep it facing the boat, it is WAY easier for the people on the boat to keep MOB in sight.

 

[rgranger]

This has become a really great thread!

 

[Allowishish]

like I said it got started me thinking.

A throw bag is going on my boat.

 

[jssailem]

I remember when we had a line with a monkeyfist tied on the end of a line to aide in throwing the line.

 

[gdudik]

I remember when we had a line with a monkeyfist tied on the end of a line to aide in throwing the line.

The monkey fist is so that when you have to go in the water after the drunk guy you can conk him on the head if he starts trying to take you down with him!

 

[uncledom]

Look at the Balcan Bell. It is a throwing device that can be thrown much further than a bag. I have a buddy who always keeps a bag handy, he's in the USCG Auxiliary. After I showed it to him, he owns one too.

 

[jwing]

Oh yes, it is easy to see that the Balcan BELL is better than my throwbag. I wonder where to get one in the USA. While attempting to answer my own question (I haven't yet been successful), I stumbled upon this:

http://www.resqmax.com/line-thrower.php

 

[rgranger]

Oh yes, it is easy to see that the Balcan BELL is better than my throwbag. I wonder where to get one in the USA. While attempting to answer my own question (I haven't yet been successful), I stumbled upon this:

http://www.resqmax.com/line-thrower.php

That might also make a good boat defense tool. I can't imagine that I'd have a lot of fight left if I took one of those in the gut.

 

[dehler25]

The marina I am at has spaced aluminum ladders mounted on the finger piers, they seem to be wonderful habitat for barnacles and a voracious oyster population, they are a way to extract yourself from the water but there will be a price to pay in blood.

 

[Pat]

Your experience reminds me (not hard to remember) that my wife Heather fell in our lake trying to step from the slip finger to the boat cockpit coaming earlier this spring? or, was it late this last winter....the outdoor temperature was in the low 40's and the water temp. was 34 degrees we later learned. she had on a very heavy cotton quilted coat...I was on the boat piddling around,but I did not hear or see her go in the water but she was crying and screaming at me to lower the boarding ladder...I quickly did but it was almost impossible to lift her on to the ladder because of the weight of the water-logged quilted heavy winter coat that was buttoned.....she was crying and so was I, but I did get the ladder down and she managed to come around to the rear of the boat and somehow put her knees on to the bottom rung of the ladder (stainless steel thankfully), I had put small wooden steps on each rung which made it a little easier, but she was using her knees to try and balance on the ladder to pull herself up, and I got the strength from somewhere to pull her up onto the bottom rung of the ladder and thankfully, she had the strength to stand up on the bottom rung even though it was well under water...luckily, O'Day put a small but very usable boarding platform on the 272 and she stood there with water dripping from every crevice of her being and that pitiful heavy quilted long coat..I helped her down off the boat onto the slip finger she had just fallen from from and drove her 21 miles back to Wichita..She had not broken anything, and we were very thankful for that, but we did go to the next Board of Governors meeting and discuss the fact that it would be prudent for the club to install usable boarding ladders on each slip (5 slips) and noticed earlier this week that they have done so....could easily save a life, and could also reduce the possibility of a monstrous lawsuit/ liability for members and guests...both invited and not-invited...Sorry for the long
narrative what a disaster to have drowning, esp. your wife.......Patrick