How to save yourself or your mate

[8astripey]

Out whiting fishing in the tinny a few days ago and a bit of slop about. the fleet consisted mainly of 3.5 to 5 meter tinnies and a few bigger boats. About10ish an old bloke with his winter jacket and overalls on fell out of a tinny about 4 meters long. His partner could not pull him in, both looked a bit over their retirement age. About 4 boats tried to help to get him out of the water. Most of the time they themselves took on water and put themselves in a dangerous situation. finally a bigger boat with a boarding ladder moved over and he got up the ladder onto the deck looking at this stage totaly exausted. then steped back into the tinny about 30 minutes of being in the water. Not wearing a PDF.
Got me thinking about all those people that go out with their mate or alone without any help handy. Just how do you get a person in full clothing out of the water and back into a lite tinny. Now some people will say over the bow just pull yourself up, a lot of guys going out fishing probably could not do a few push ups let lone pull themselves out of the water in saturated clothes.
A bit of advise from anyone?
could help someone down the track.

[Feral]

Just a tie loop in the anchor rope, so it sits about 2 foot under water and use it as a step to climb over the stern. 2 loops if needed.

If you cant climb over the arse of your boat without it starting to take on water you need a bigger boat.

[Muddy Toes]

The easiest way in a small boat is to usually turn the motor off and use the cavitation/anti ventilation plate to stand on and come over where most transoms are cut a bit lower than the rest of the hull.

[choppa]

in this scenario,,, one would expect him to simply grab hold of the side of the boat,,,then coax him in to shallow waters,,,, especially if 4 other boats were involved,,, but nonetheless,, panic does set in and people do stupid stuff,,,

[Crunchy]

Just how do you get a person in full clothing out of the water and back into a lite tinny.

Very lucky if you have the time....my uncle, a very fit man and excellent swimmer, drowned because he fell out of a boat in winter clothing, he pretty much went straight to the bottom. Very sad, my young cousins grew up without their father.

I fell in the water once with winter clothing on and was very surprised how fast i went to the bottom, I was lucky as we had only just left the ramp so was only in a few metres of water and I managed to get a few layers off and get to the surface in time, a very scary experience nearly drowning. After those two episodes in my life, I always wear my pfd when wearing winter or heavy clothing.....hope my stories encourage others to think about this....

[tunaticer]

Use the outboard as a ladder if you do not have a transom step or ladder.
Deadlifting a person aboard is nigh on impossible for one guy in a boat.
Shed the bulk of the clothing asap in the water, it will save your energy trying to stay afloat.
If you are drifting away from an anchored boat, do not panic, shed most clothing and tread water until a boat comes to you, do not swim against the current.

[Floating Rib]

I fish by myself outside quite a bit, few precautions i take are, pfd on, handheld vhf(floating model) in my pocket, rope boarding ladder that can be pulled down from the rear bollard, might sound like overkill but my RIB has very low sides so more potential for a fall in choppy water, also i dont leave the steering wheel unless the motor is out of gear, as much as we feel bulletproof people do fall in and get lost and drown.

[Lovey80]

Where small boat stability is a problem over the transom using the cav plate as a step is the best method as Muddy Toes said. I would warn against taking clothes off in the water though. In winter things like jumpers can be extremely hard to get off without help and tangles can make things dangerous.. If you are hanging on the side of the boat with someone in the boat fine. If you are adrift and treading water and it could be a long time before rescue, the layer of water between your body and your layers of clothing will become much warmer than the water and could be the difference between hypothermia death or not.

[GES]

Well, I'm a bit over retirement age myself and I realise that my balance and reflexes are not as good as they were when I was young. So, I always put on an inflatable life jacket just as soon as I get in the boat at the ramp and it stays on until I come back to the ramp again. I also have a step ladder fitted to the stern of my boat. The life jacket doesn't get in the way while I'm fishing, or whatever, in the boat. In fact I forget that I'm wearing it and sometimes realise I still have it on when I go to get into my car.

GES

[GBC]

As Lovey80 says, getting clothing off in the water is not what it seems. The average person simply cannot tread water in full kit to get shoes and other layers off. This has been drummed into me over years of SOLAS (safety of life at sea) and HEUT (Helicopter underwater escape training). If you aren't ready to swim before you ditch, you aren't going to be in any position to fix it in the water.

It is amazing how differently people view small craft. Tinnys don't get a second thought, but jump onto any kayak fishing forum and self rescue / sensible fishing attire etc is always being discussed and updated.

My kayaking PFD has a 5w VHF, sea dye, knife, hydration pack, food - all worn on me, all the time... Christ I could live as a dolphin for a week. Do I put it on when I jump in the car topper? Has it ever even been in the big boat? Guilty as charged and I should know better.

[choppa]

My kayaking PFD has a 5w VHF, sea dye, knife, hydration pack, food - all worn on me, all the time... Christ I could live as a dolphin for a week. Do I put it on when I jump in the car topper? Has it ever even been in the big boat? Guilty as charged and I should know better.

Crikey mate,,, you could nearly hold an M&G with that,,,, lol

seriously though,,, there is a R&D happening in the USA that has a PFD with an self inflatable 1 person cocoon built in,,, by reading the report,, it inflates to 75% and has a breathing tube to allow the victim to blow it up to 100%,,, Upon activation it automatically envelopes the victim (like a cocoon) from the waist up,,, so to a shark,, you look like a lollipop

[Muddy Toes]

Just to reinforce what the others have said too....if you think taking a pair of jeans off or a tight fitting jumper/jacket while your in the drink is easy well it's not.
I'm a pretty fit guy and an excellent swimmer in his early 30's and I've tried to do it while treading water and at that stage where your jeans are around your ankles or your jumper is down around your forearms/hands treading water becomes very difficult and maybe to the point where in all the panic you'll start to go under just trying to free yourself while your arms and legs are all tangled up in your clothes.
So what the solution?
Dunno....I'm just giving a bit of an example of what it's like.

[nigelr]

IMHO being adequately prepared phsically and mentally for a worst-case scenario, which should help to reduce panic. Preparation is everything, panic kills.
Personally I wear trackies over boardies and lycra shirt and always wear crocs, bit extreme maybe but I learnt.......also I'm pretty (very) comfortable in the ocean to the point where I could control a panic response, should I have one.
My boarding ladder is also easy to use and access from the water.

[castlemaine]

When I fished with my father-in-law at sea years ago, he taught me not to button the sleeves of my shirts so I can pull them off easily. Trackie dacks and ugg boots (or Wellies) were the go, too. But then one cold winter's morning we were fishing in my 3.6m tinny on the Logan River, he fell in while pulling up the anchor rope.
Though he reached up and grabbed the side, I couldn't get him to understand for a while to get to the back of the boat and get in. I realised later that he was in shock but recovered in a few minutes, fortunately. He was more embarassed then anything else later.
We realised then it could easily happen while he fished by himself out at sea, so he always wore a PFD when fishing by himself. I do too now when I fish the Bay by myself.

[dnej]

This is avery good read, and you dont know about these things until it happens to you, and then its all to late.
There has been a lot of discussion about inflatable jackets. Which one is best, the automatic? or the self inflate.
I know the self inflate has issues, if you cant inflate it for some reason, and the automatic has issues if you are under the boat. What are the opinions here?
David