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Fall Into Water At Acle Should I Be Worried


Guest ian stevenson

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Guest ian stevenson

Hi I fell off  golden light hired from Herbert woods at Acle on Saturday lunchtime water was fast flowing in for about 2-3 mins should I be worried your responses would be appreciated

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You are obviously the guy having made the previous post so I would say no!

Currently there is the Blue algae development on some waters up at and near to head of navigation areas.  If you had fell into contaminated with that stuff, then no worry as long as you showered off thoroughly, although drinking the stuff is not to be recommended

Fortunately for you, you fell in at the correct time of year with regards to the water temperature

Congratulations on falling in btw, you are now considered a true 'Broadsman' - it's not an exclusive club, it is free to join, it has its risks in some locations especially in the winter months,  the membership gets bigger every year.  Some greedy members fall in more than once, some of them do it more than once a year too!

Griff

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One more thing - Stating the obvious - the circumstances in which you came to fall in - learn from them and avoid the same set of circumstances occurring to avoid falling in yet again!

Oh and I would recommend Rum rather than the girly Brandy stuff

Griff

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I always had more 'ill effects' from swallowing too much 'Norwich Bitter', than I ever got from swallowing a mouthful or two of the Norfolk Broads...  :14_relaxed:

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18 hours ago, kingfisher666 said:

I always had more 'ill effects' from swallowing too much 'Norwich Bitter', than I ever got from swallowing a mouthful or two of the Norfolk Broads...  :14_relaxed:

Lucky I feel.

18 hours ago, Bound2Please said:

That said the Ant tasted awful last July.

The last time I looked it up Stalham Sewage Treatment Works was discharging at 601 litres per second and it had a consent max of 761 litres per second into The Ant, so best not to drink it neat or add to Scotch.

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2 minutes ago, ChrisB said:

Lucky I feel.

The last time I looked it up Stalham Sewage Treatment Works was discharging at 601 litres per second and it had a consent max of 761 litres per second into The Ant, so best not to drink it neat or add to Scotch.

It's probably cleaner than what's already in the river....

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5 minutes ago, TheQ said:

It's probably cleaner than whats already in teh river....

You are probably correct. Up here where I live the low point is the canal, we have no mains drainage so the soak-a-ways from our septic tanks will eventually end up in The Ant. That is without the Agro-runoffs.

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3 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

Falling in is easy, getting out not so. A lesson to us all, are we able and capable? 

It makes you think... Years ago, when we were young and someone went in, while 'messing about' it was just a laugh. When you're young and fit, it's fairly easy to haul a mate out of the river, with no harm done (hopefully).

But, what about now... It's fairly obvious, that the average age of this forum is, shall we say 'middle aged' (sorry). We probably take a lot more care, in making sure that we don't fall in, in the first place. But, what if it does happen; how do we deal with it, other than panic... Good flotation jackets, should keep us afloat, but how do we get someone back onboard, in a running current or tide?... I hadn't really thought about it for a long time, but to be honest, I'm pretty clueless as to what I should do. Is there a 'thread' that gives advice, or perhaps an RNLI download, that I should read and digest?...

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8 minutes ago, kingfisher666 said:

It makes you think... Years ago, when we were young and someone went in, while 'messing about' it was just a laugh. When you're young and fit, it's fairly easy to haul a mate out of the river, with no harm done (hopefully).

But, what about now... It's fairly obvious, that the average age of this forum is, shall we say 'middle aged' (sorry). We probably take a lot more care, in making sure that we don't fall in, in the first place. But, what if it does happen; how do we deal with it, other than panic... Good flotation jackets, should keep us afloat, but how do we get someone back onboard, in a running current or tide?... I hadn't really thought about it for a long time, but to be honest, I'm pretty clueless as to what I should do. Is there a 'thread' that gives advice, or perhaps an RNLI download, that I should read and digest?...

Good point says the old fart that went in the ant last July. At the spring gathering we had an interesting talk by 2 RNLI chaps.

1) Dont panic, lay back an float

2) Dont go in to rescue anyone as then there could be 2 to be rescued.

3) Use a throw bag/line to pull them in to the bank

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I don't suppose anyone has done any research, at least as far as Broads boating is concerned, but I do wonder what percentage of drownings are the result of falling in or actually the result of not being able get out, or being able to be got out? Using a throw bag is all very well, if one is available, and then only if there is a suitable exit point on the bank. Let's be honest, could you then climb out of the water via the ladder at a convenient 24hr mooring, or would you need to be beached on a nearby slipway, of which there aren't many?

All of which reminds me of a story I heard the other day of a lady of exceeding girth who recently rolled up at one of the North River's finest yards, was unable to access the boat via the door at the back/stern and even had trouble with the double door from the forward well. Bless her for coming to Norfolk but heaven forbid that she should ever fall in.

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18 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

I don't suppose anyone has done any research, at least as far as Broads boating is concerned, but I do wonder what percentage of drownings are the result of falling in or actually the result of not being able get out, or being able to be got out? Using a throw bag is all very well, if one is available, and then only if there is a suitable exit point on the bank. Let's be honest, could you then climb out of the water via the ladder at a convenient 24hr mooring, or would you need to be beached on a nearby slipway, of which there aren't many?

Interesting points there JW indeed, i have never heard of such research on this but I stand to be corrected on that.

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Falling in quickly becomes scary when it comes to getting out! We are in the, ahem, middle aged bracket (plus some) and my wife fell in The Ant last month at a wild mooring.

We were still mooring up and as she went in pushed the boat back out. She is not a strong swimmer and I'm a non swimmer, neither of us were wearing a life jacket!!!

As you can guess even though this was next to an accessible bank things can/could quickly escalate and at first I did hesitate between leaving the helm to help her and keeping the boat away from her. I nosed into the bank as luckily the curve meant the boat would be stopped before the stern got near her. Stopped the engine, jumped off the front with a rope (still no life jacket on) tied just the bow to a tree and finally helped her out.

A very very thorough review of our safety and mooring procedures followed I can tell you.. lesson well and truly learned!

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46 minutes ago, Ray said:

Falling in quickly becomes scary when it comes to getting out! We are in the, ahem, middle aged bracket (plus some) and my wife fell in The Ant last month at a wild mooring.

We were still mooring up and as she went in pushed the boat back out. She is not a strong swimmer and I'm a non swimmer, neither of us were wearing a life jacket!!!

As you can guess even though this was next to an accessible bank things can/could quickly escalate and at first I did hesitate between leaving the helm to help her and keeping the boat away from her. I nosed into the bank as luckily the curve meant the boat would be stopped before the stern got near her. Stopped the engine, jumped off the front with a rope (still no life jacket on) tied just the bow to a tree and finally helped her out.

A very very thorough review of our safety and mooring procedures followed I can tell you.. lesson well and truly learned!

Snap I did the same last july the getting out was the really hard bit, until a big dog otter showed me its huge teeth.

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Even with life jacket you guys are right about getting out being an issue. 

After a MOB at Wroxham Broad, a small lady with three of us to get her back on Brilliant, I did some hard thinking. We now have a floaty line with caribiner on one end to attach to life jacket, and two more on blocks to attach to the boat with line fed through ready for use.  This gives a better pulling power and in fact allows the casualty to help with the pulling as the end can be fed back. 

Having LJ s on gives you a bit of time to get this set up and the ladder over the side once you have brought the MOB alongside with the ordinary throwing line or whatever.

No JL then ‘float to live’ as the RNLI says.

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2 hours ago, Ray said:

A very very thorough review of our safety and mooring procedures followed I can tell you.. lesson well and truly learned!

I guess that would include wearing LJs too?? :default_smile:

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Falling in is easy, getting out not so. A lesson to us all, are we able and capable?

We have a system onboard 'B.A' in place that works.  It has been put to use for real with no issues so we know it works.

When I have 'Newbies' onboard I give them a comprehensive safety brief with do's and don'ts  then a fire, flood and MOB overboard briefing.  I also carry out the same briefing prior to sailing with the entire crews of the Lads Week.  I expect / demand all crew members to pay attention to this brief and we don't sail until it has been completed.  With regards to MOB briefing it doesn't take long, it has got plenty of Yorkshire speak in it and as we have found out on more than one occasion it works.  Of course it is based on experience gained from my years with in the RN just tweaked somewhat to suit the Broads environment.  We have had no issue / difficulty recovering MOB's back onboard as a result, in double quick time too

 

And just where is the OP of this thread?  We the forumites have been offering plenty of advice / tips examples etc etc and not a peep out of him.  An acknowledgement or even a small thankyou would not go amiss

Griff

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