50 hours in the water

[Terry in Naples]

FRom Tampa newspaper today... A casino boat finds a man clinging to a canoe about 10 miles west of Egmont Key.By JACOB H. FRIESPublished June 29, 2007A 49-year-old man spent more than two days clinging to his capsized canoe before being rescued miles off Egmont Key on Thursday night, authorities said.When found by a casino boat about 8 p.m., the man was conscious and talking but dehydrated, sunburned and showing signs of shock, Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Case said.The man's name and hometown were not immediately released, and no one had reported him missing."It's really an insane case," Case said. "He's really lucky that this boat was going by when it did. Who knows if he would have made it through the night."People on the Big "M" Casino boat spotted the man stranded about 10 miles west of Egmont Key and pulled him on board, Case said.The man said he had gone canoeing alone Tuesday from Fort De Soto Park in southern Pinellas County. A thunderstorm capsized the boat.The man had been clinging to the overturned canoe ever since -- at least 50 hours in all, Case said.Stacy Langrock, 25, of Holiday came to the front of the casino boat as its engines shut down and the boat slowed alongside the man. She said she talked with him as he waited to be pulled on board."He said, 'I've been out here since 2 o'clock on Tuesday. My car is still in Fort De Soto. My oars are gone,'" she said.Langrock and her husband, Adam, said the man's face was sunburned bright red and his hands were white from the water. He had a life jacket, but it was tied to the boat."He was all fried up," said Adam Langrock, 26. "He was definitely a-hurting. He was an older guy and struggling out there."The man told passengers that he had helplessly watched many boats pass by, none of which had seen him.Medical personnel on the casino boat treated the man and called the Coast Guard, which dispatched a 41-foot boat to retrieve him and to bring him to shore, Case said. Officials planned to take the man to a local hospital for evaluation.The temperature of the water in the area was about 80-85 degrees, cold enough to bring on hypothermia if immersed for such a long time, Case said.

 

[Roger]

Stay with the boat...

...is certainly confirmed once again! I've been thinking of hanging/streching a line somewhere in the freeboard around my Gramp 23, for just such a need. As on life-boats. I sail alone and--ya never know??? Any thoughts, ideas about that? I think i'm closer to doing it than i was 5 minutes ago Roger

 

[KorculaChris]

Many solo long distance folks

trail a line over the stern "just in case."

 

[Alan]

This is a typical...

...'no planning ahead' scenario.No one knew where he was and he didn't even have a VHF handheld with him which would have saved him many hours of torture.He's a very lucky guy, but he should think just a little ahead, next time he might not be as lucky.

 

[George]

Dragging a Line

Grabbing a trailing line has been shown as a quick way to drown a MOB. Tests have shown that hauling yourself aboard a moving boat is near impossible except for the extremely fit and even then the odds are against you. Try to haul yourself aboard a stopped boat sometime. It can be difficult. A sugar scoop stern would make it much easier tho.Ways to improve the odds of an assisted recovery is to have a ladder or some other device that can be deployed from the water and activated to lift you out of the water. Somebody has probably invented such a device but my guess it is that it would be such a Rube Goldburg setup that no one would bother. If you don't drown from being pulled by a boat, beaten to death by a ladder or swim platform, run over by the prop, get the line tangled in the prop, be overcome by carbon monoxide poisoning or die of hypothermia you'll be in the small minority of successful recoveries.There is a lot of good info on the most current thinking on MOB retreival at this link: http://www.boatus.com/foundation/findings/COBfinalreport/Want some light reading on MOB recoveries? Try this link: http://www.ussailing.org/safety/Studies/lifesling_history.htmBTW: I always wear a PFD, that way, it will be easier to find my body...

 

[Warren Milberg]

We did a test on my boat

a few years on the Chesapeake during daylight and good weather. First test was to inflate a manually inflatable waist pack PFD while in the water: doable only if you are a good swimmer and conscious. Second: Can you pull yourself back to the boat and climb up a ladder?: just about impossible if the boat is moving, even slowly. Getting a swim ladder down from the water is doable if you've tied a line to it first, but better watch your head. Climbing up is somewhat easier if you still have your shoes on, but still hard if you've had to swim or tread water for a while. We were surprised to find out how quickly symptoms of hypothermia set in (around 20 minutes in the drink) even in relatively warmish water (low 70s). We found it more worthwhile to spend time/effort/and thought on how to stay on the boat under all conditions to be a more productive and safer effort....

 

[NautiDuck]

Cheap EPIRBs

I think the ultimate solution would be the advent of inexpensive (under $100) EPIRBs. At that price it would make sense to have one on even small craft and one on your PFD. Shouldn't be too many more years to get there given the price/performance of technology.

 

[abe]

And when they make them cheap...

...all the idiots will buy them and trigger them off for little emergencies like running out of gas. Look at whats happened to 911 calls. I think they should regulate this and charge a big monthly fee so that only those who really need them buy them. abe

 

[Ross]

PFD's should be equiped with a strobe light

and a whistle. Either of those would have helped in this case. An epirb will get rescuers close, but close doesn't mean much in the dark. Maybe the bottom of canoes and kayaks and dinks should be international orange.

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

Just plain Lucky

I think the idea of canoeing with an EPIRB and VHF is a bit much. Way too impractical. If you canoe in rapids as poorly as I do, the epirb would be going off about every 2 hours and the VHF would be in Davey Jones Locker. Sometimes the least dangerous of sports can become dangerous by just bad luck. If we planned for every unexpected event, we would all be living in bunkers and never come out. This man was lucky and lived, but death is part of a human life cycle. Why not drive an army tank to work? As for your normal sailboats, a thread not too long ago, discussed the idea that one should do everything within reason to not fall overboard in the first place. Its actually easier to figure out a way to stay aboard than on a system how to get you back on board.

 

[Bill Roosa]

Trip line off the stern

I have to agree that pulling yourself back to a moving boat would be quite a bit beyond most folks.Better to rig a trip line off the stern that acts as a deadman switch. You pull on it REAL HARD and it trips the auto pilot or wind vane to bring the boat to a stop.I saw a radio device that does the same thing. Dunk it in water and the boat comes head-to-wind. It is about the size of a pack of cigs and clips to your harness.

 

[Tom Monroe]

I trail two lines ....

I trail a poly floating line whose sole purpose is that when I yank it, it disengages my homemade tiller tamer so the boat will (eventually) round up. There's another line that will drop my swim ladder.I tried it a couple times at some pretty good speed/wind. 100 ft of poly line is gone pretty quick when you're in the water. YOu gotta look for it and pull fast. If you can find it, it worked ok when the boat was on the wind. Off the wind, she just kept sailing till my wife came back to get me. Well, at least she DID come back to get me, after 33 years of marriage.Bottom line, not a real good solution, suitable only to inland lakes where I sail, and with a pfd can swim to shore anywhere (except in spring/fall when the water's too cold, then I don't singlehand). Anything else, get clipped to the boat.Tom MonroeCarlyle Lake