Just one more step please...

[Brian D]

Sunday was a day I needed. Went to the boat by myself to do some minor work on the auto helm, batteries, and repaint the decals so they stand out. I was there, oh, a whole 4.5 hours.Time to give the boat a quick wash down to rid the surface dust and bird poop, then pack it up and leave. Simple enough task, wouldn’t you think so?So I pull out the hose and start washing her down. The hose gets caught on a cleat and also develops a kink. So I back up with the host to straighten her out. Nothing unusual as this is what I do all the time.However, I just recently moved my boat closer to the end of the dock. Well, the hose was longer than the dock and I took one backward step too many. Yep, walked right off the dock and into the water. It must have been one hilarious sight to see someone just walk right off the dock backwards.Ever had that feeling that you have just committed to something and you wish you could get back that moment in time? Bingo. Amazing what goes through one’s mind the moment one realized what they did.I had my car keys, wallet, boat keys, marina gate key, cell phone, and glasses all on me when I went in. I came out with everything except the cell phone. It is now at the bottom of the marina.So, lesson to be learned? Ha… yeah right.

 

[David]

Happened to me

Last fall I slipped on a wet finger dock (18 inches) and sailed into Lake Ontario (boatless). The cell phone came back with me, but did not survive the experience - I'm not sure they make waterproof ones. Better to do this in California, I imagine. Our watertemp yesterday was 8C = 46F, airtemp was a balmy 11C = 52F.

 

[Ctskip]

I don't think theres a boater today

that hasn't gone in at least once in their lifetime.I know I have and came real close on several occasions.I've seen some go in also. It is pretty funny to watch, because theres absolutly nothing anyone can do .I just wish I could freeze frame it. Maybe someone out there has a snap short of just such a moment in time. Sorry about your phone.I've lost a few in the drink, one in the toilet too! But thats another story all together.  Keep it up,  Ctskip

 

[Rick Webb]

Thank God for Cheap Cell Phones

I have one in the bottom at the Long Beach Marina in Mississippi another somwhere between there and Ship Island and a pager right next to the cell phone in the marina. The shrouds love to pull them right off of you. I now make sure they are at the bottom of my pocket.

 

[Brian D]

Imagine what one would find...

If the water from a marina were drained?

 

[Weekend Pass]

Could Have Been Worse

Just be glad that there was not a boat behind you to crack your head on. Could have wound up loosing consciousness....Kevin

 

[Glenn]

fellow next dock over went in a few months ago

He was yelling HELP, HELP, HELP,,,,,, this was March, so the water was definitly chilly!..... anyway some of my fellow dock mates ran down and pulled him out,,,, Heres a question for you.... Neither one of our docks or finger docks,,,have ladders that lead into the water. they have life rings,,,but really no way of retriving someone in the drink except brute force lift......Since everyone has their stern ladders tied up there is no real way out. Since then Ive installed a trip line on my ladder,,,so I can pull my boarding ladder down,,,when my turn comes!

 

[Franklin]

dock lines work for me

and good thing because I back into my slip and can't drop my ladder.I reach over and grab the dock line with one hand and the finger edge with the other and push up. I'm in shape so that will not work for everybody, but I found it much easier then trying to use only the finger edge.

 

[John Nantz]

re H.A.P.S. Rendezvous

A few years ago we had a H.A.P.S. (Hunter Association of Puget Sound) rendezvous for Halloween and there seemed to be actual competion for falling in the drink. Realize the water is c-o-l-d here and especially at the end of October. http://www.ha-ps.org/poulsbo01-2.htmPeople misjudged how far it was from the dock to the boat step, another one or two had a little too much to drink, etc.Fortunately there was always someone around to help get them back on the dock but it is hard - VERY hard! Wet clothes, slippery wet surfaces, and only a foot or so above water to the dock. Seemed to take three or four people to get one person back up. Until you've actually experienced it you can't believe how difficult it can be.Now just think about getting back on board a boat on a wind-swept sea in adverse conditions!P.S. Oh, and for the link above, the "winning pumpkin" was the one in the bottom right with the beer bottle.

 

[Brian D]

When I knew that I was committed...

and there was no way to recover, I had enough presence of mind to push off with my foot so as not to fall backwards. I went straight down. I actually fell between two boats. It would have been nice if the docks had ladders but they would probably be encrused and very slippery.Yes, I was lucky I think. Just lost my cell phone which was due for replacement anyway.If you have Google Earth, you can enter "32.620860, -117.102409" and it will zoom right on the dock which I backed off. The circular looking craft is what I used to get out of the water.

 

[Rich]

The not-so-deep gives up her treasures...

I can only imagine what little treasures the bottom holds at any given marina. One day around 1965 my aunt took her second-grade nephew, yours truly, out on her powerboat. I had put my new wristwatch, of which I was very proud, in my shirt pocket so it wouldn't get wet. After we backed into the end of the slip I leaned over the side to look at a fish and-- plop! Watched helplessly as the new watch which slid out of my pocket did its little death spiral down to the bottom...

 

[Eric]

me too

In April 2005, I was on the Farmington River, having brought, not my sail boat, but my little bass Tracker into the launch ramp. Someone on shore yelled "CATCH ANYTHING?! as I wheeled around to address my startler, the boat went right out from under me. I lost my shoes in the river mud, and my Blackberry lost it's cool vibrating like crazy, but glasses and wallet came ashore with me. My Blackberry started to work again with a new battery...I am still waiting for a salt water dip... may it never come.Eric

 

[Bob]

Getting back out

Perhaps every dock should have an aquarium full of pirhanas. Then when someone falls in, someone else can just dump the fish in near them. That should make them sufficiently motivated to climb out without much other assistance.

 

[Sherry]

bass boat fall

My husband and I almost got a divorce when we bought our first bass boat (his passion). I insisited on a swim ladder. He protested that it would be in the way when fishing. I won, and we're still married A few years later he was fishing by himself in very early spring and fell overboard. He credits the ladder with saving his life. He said that by the time he got to the back of the boat, he was so cold he could barely climb up. Without the ladder, he wouldn't have had the strength to hoist himself back in the boat.