Dinghy Kill Switch

After 15 years of boating and hundreds of hours in dinghies I finally did something stupid enough to eject myself from a speeding dinghy last weekend at Sucia Island.

I was by myself, about halfway between Ewing Cove and Shallow Bay, when I took my hand off the tiller for a moment to look at the Navionics app. Just then the dinghy hit a little wake, the tiller jerked towards me, and I flew backwards into the water.

The kill switch worked as designed and the dinghy stopped, I swam over, and climbed back in no worse for the wear (same can't be said for iPhone...). I was wearing a lifejacket with a VHF/GPS, PLB, and flares, so had the dinghy capsized or blown away from me, I could have signaled for help. And I'd previously practiced climbing into the dinghy from the water, so I knew I could do it unassisted.

As many of us head out for summer cruises, think about these questions. If you fell into the water, would the boat stop? Would you float and be able to effectively signal for help, if necessary? And how would you get yourself back aboard unassisted?

Thanks for sharing, Sam. And good to hear you're OK. I know a guy who winters in our marina. He owns the boat "Alaska Quest" and does crewed charters during the summer up north. Many will remember he and his boat as the folks who rescued some deer from the water a few years ago... Anyway, just last summer he was in his dinghy moving at speed when he fell into the water. He was not wearing the kill switch, and the dinghy came around in a circle and the prop cut deeply into his arm/shoulder. Says he was lucky he was not far from the boat and that people saw it happen, or would have most certainly died.

So good on ya' for wearing the kill switch. I will now endeavor to do the same, especially when I am alone or have my precious cargo (wife and daughter) aboard. Wait, that would mean every time...

Good ending to a situation that could have gone bad very quickly. I will say though, you are better than 99.9% of the other dinghy operators out there. You set a good example!

The kill switch is SOP for us. We carry water and a hand held VHF. We do a lot of exploring/fishing in remote areas and in addition to getting thrown out of the dinghy, breaking down and drifting away from land is what also scares me.

Last Saturday, 2 young men from Bullocks Harbour went out Sat am to do a little fishing. They were spotted about 1 pm by a boat on it's way into Great Harbor Marina, they were waving their arms and pointing to their outboard engine. Why that boat didn't stop and offer immediate assistance remains a mystery, but they felt they did their duty by reporting what they saw to the marina office when they checked in. But the ball got dropped at the marina and they never got around to telling anyone else about it. It took Mom saying "my boys aren't back yet!" for the pieces to fall together.

Sun am, a cruiser in the marina started putting out periodic 'pan pan' messages on the VHF, saying these guys were in a 15-18 ft skiff and had no food, no water, no VHF, no cell phone and no anchor! The messages included their last known location. US Coast Guard helicopters were overhead much of Sun as part of the search effort. Chris Parker mentioned the missing boat on his Mon am SSB weather update, asking all boaters to be on the look out as the skiff was likely heading toward the Gulf Stream! There is a good ending here as Chris Parker reported yesterday morning (Tuesday) that cruising boat Michla III spotted the skiff and picked the men up early Tues am. The guys were tired, hungry and thirsty, but otherwise ok. They're all in Lake Worth now, but what drama. We felt more than a little involved as we had gone by Little Stirrup at about 11 am Sat - and we know we would have towed them in if we had seen them.

Retriever thanks for sharing, I must admit I'm a bit remiss at attaching the kill cord to me, with renewed stories I'll make a concerted effort.

Seat belts in cars, kill switches in dinghies, PFD's, all such simple precautions and yet many of us resist them. When I was younger I used a seat belt only because it was the law. Today, I realize the lives they save. As to the Rib's we have, never operated without kill switch. I don't use a treadmill without the kill switch.

Wow! I'm sure it happened real fast. Good job! We use our tether too.

bligh said:

Wow! I'm sure it happened real fast. Good job! We use our tether too.

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Bass fishermen on bass boats are others I've seen tossed out and about a few times.

I use ours every time on the little RHIB. As I like to go fast and that's the only speed I know while in it. In my bigger CC I tend to not use it as much as I should. I usually always put it on if I'm going in the ocean with just me in the boat.

I`ve seen an uncommanded runaway dinghy after an incident. Really dangerous. Several years back people were run down by a ski boat when the operator was ejected. Memo to self, remember to attach the kill cord.

Ok, I'll start using it. Thanks Retriever.

I started wearing the seat belt in my car back when I started flying a plane. Not because I thought the seat belt would do squat to protect me in an accident but because I felt I had much better control of the car when I was held firmly in the seat, same as in the plane. It's the only reason I wear them today (in addition to the legal requirement).

I don't know anyone personally who uses the safety clip on an outboard, and that includes everyone I know in our boating club. And I can't say that I have ever observed anyone passing our moored or anchored boat in a dinghy, fast or slow, using one. Nor can I ever recall seeing anyone on a dock somwheres getting into an outboard powered dinghy and diligently fastening on the clip. So my guess is that very, very few boaters use them. I don't use it because it's too restrictive of my movements, particularly while fishing.

I don't have anything against them: it's a great idea if one is concerned about falling out of a boat while underway. However it's not ever been anything I've spent any time worrying about during the 40+ years I've been associated with boats in some way, and I know that if I started using one now it wouldn't be long before I didn't bother with it again.

I am more inclined to ensure that I don't do something to cause myself to go overboard than to worry about what might happen if I do. That said, I do wear a PFD at all times when underway in any of our boats. But speaking strictly for myself, the downside of using the outboard safety clip outweighs its upside for the nature of our dinghy and the way we use it.

Our dinghy is twelve feet, with a center console. I will start using the kill switch. I always wear a seat belt, don't know why I have always ignored the kill switch... Great reminder, thank you!

Safety is a mindset and risk management is a tool....combined they present a powerful opponent against danger.


Most people are just plan lucky....a few of the highly experienced beat the odds their whole life.


People that boat 100-200 hours a year their whole life lean a bunch along the way...maybe.


I tow dozens of lifelong boaters every year and rescued by helicopter hundreds over a career flying that have said "I can't believe this....I have been doing this my whole life".


The eye opener for me...even as a highly trained USCG just about everything related to the water...when I went commercial and lived aboard....so much became more apparent to me than even just a few years before.....


So evaluate your habits closely....the average recreational boater, no matter how smart, really needs to do more reality checks.

Certainly type of dinghy, propulsion, type of steering, and use play a role in increasing or decreasing the risk. Tiller steering is actually more dangerous than a steering wheel in this regard. Now we have an 11' rib capable of 40+ knots and while we don't consider it dangerous, we do put it in the high performance PWC type arena. It is jet driven so at least no prop.

In addition to the tiller caution, I'm going to toss one other out there. Hand crank. Hand crank outboard, lawn mowers, left mulchers, snow blowers. Anything that cranks with a pull starter. Talk to a cardiologist. Those in the know recommend against for anyone over 40. When you're pulling the crank it's a motion across your heart and is a somewhat frequent cause of heart attacks as the motor doesn't want to start so one pulls and pulls. My experience in that was my father's death was from a heart attack after he pulled and pulled to start his leaf mulcher. Now, he was high risk due to smoking and drinking. But the cardiologist pointed out how common it was. The boat dealer we dealt with wouldn't sell hand start outboards after the owner had a heart attack starting one (he lived and was fine).

Ultimately we all have to decide what risks in life to take. I eat lots of red meat. Even exercise has risks. Certainly early morning jogging in streets sure does (I don't do that). Playing full court basketball with kids less than half my age. But laying in bed all day in fear is a bigger risk than all of them.

All I say is have a clear understanding of the risks and minimize them where it can be done without significant damage to the quality of your life.

Marin participates in what might generally be considered some higher risk avocations. But I'm sure at the same time, he's more aware of making sure he operates professionally and uses diligence is safety precautions. Same as I'm sure he is on his dinghy.

One last part of my opinion here. Each person has the right to determine what risks they assume, but when you're putting others at risk you now have a different responsibility. Kids aboard (and pets aboard), non swimmers, inexperienced boaters, and other boats are all different than risks we assume for ourselves.

The real problem...is many don't know the risks....


Their focus is on a million other things rather than boats and the water.


And in todays world...people enter boating with trawlers and dinks as an after thought...maybe not everyone here....but some and more than a few have little big boat experience.


Only a few climbed the boating ladder one rung at a time.

Always use it and have taught my kids to always use one. Almost every boater knows a runaway dinghy story or two, often times involving injury. Maybe the kill switch is there for a reason?

Northern Spy said:

Always use it and have taught my kids to always use one. Almost every boater knows a runaway dinghy story or two, often times involving injury. Maybe the kill switch is there for a reason?

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As you know...many of those regs are written in blood...sometimes misapplied...but this one had enough fatalities I'm sure it wasn't based on a flawed investigation or two.

Years back I borrowed my dads flat bottomed zodiac that had a 10 hp motor on it. I was cruising around (on a plane) and let go of the tiller for a sec while the boat was in motion. On its own, the motor swung 90 degrees to the boat and violently threw me and my son into the boat. It could have easily thrown both of us out of the boat. It was difficult to regain control of the spinnning boat, but I did. Lesson learned.

Not on the boat yet (still too cold up in northwest MI) so I haven't checked the manuals but I was unaware of a kill switch being offered for our 2.3 or 2.5hp Honda. Are they available for a little engine like that?

Donsan said:

Not on the boat yet (still too cold up in northwest MI) so I haven't checked the manuals but I was unaware of a kill switch being offered for our 2.3 or 2.5hp Honda. Are they available for a little engine like that?

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I was under the perhaps mistaken impression that it is a mandatory device on all outboard motors sold in the US. The smallest outboard we have is a 4 hp from the year 2000. It has one. Our largest outboard is a 1987 90 hp, and it has one although it's on the throttle/shifter control, not the motor itself. They've been around for a long, long time.

Donsan said:

Not on the boat yet (still too cold up in northwest MI) so I haven't checked the manuals but I was unaware of a kill switch being offered for our 2.3 or 2.5hp Honda. Are they available for a little engine like that?

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My 2HP Honda has one - and I used it! Now I have a 20HP and definitely use it all the time, along with a PFD and attached waterproof VHF.

Richard

My 2.5 Suzuki has one.

BandB said:

Each person has the right to determine what risks they assume....

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Risk assessment requires an ability a lot of people don't seem to have, and that's the ability to anticipate. Personally, I don't believe it's an ability that can be learned because in my observation the ability to anticipate is tied into logic, common sense, and the ability to visualize something that's not there or hasn't happened yet. And these, I believe, are tied to a person's personality and character. In other words, some people have it and some don't.

There is a phrase popular in business and politics, and that is pick your battles. I think risk assessment is somewhat similar. Almost everything involves risk. We watched a man die while eating in a restaurant from a bite of food that got lodged in his throat. An acquaintance was killed simply stepping off a curb to cross a street at a crosswalk with a "Walk" sign. We all know people who have suffered the consequences of risk, be it from rock climbing or getting married.

So if one worried about every potential risk he or she would never get out of bed, and even that has risks associated with it.

So in order to live something approaching a normal life, we prioritize risks. But.... in order to prioritize them intelligently one has to have a very accurate sense of anticipation.

Risks I don't spend any time worrying about are being hit by a meteor, bus or train. I don't worry about being attacked by a pit bull. I don't worry about risks that I know my skill, training, or experience can overcome should they arise. I don't worry about landing a plane or driving a vehicle, for example.

Risks should be prioritized by the likihood of their occurring and the consequences of their occurance. So while I don't worry about being hit by a train, I do worry a lot about FedEx's ability to deliver our production equipment to our locations on time. The risk of not getting to the place we're supposed to be on the planet when we're supposed to be there has a high priority in my and my crew's minds and we take sometimes extreme and expensive steps to reduce the risk of missing our schedule.

Risk assssment is a very flexible "occupation." At home, the risk of slipping on the side of a canal lock in the UK and falling in between the boat and the lock wall is non-existent so I never think about it. When we're operating a narrowboat the risk is very real, particularly on a wet day, and our anticipatory senses are on high alert. In some of the places we fly to the risk of encountering a bear is extremely high while the risk of encountering a member of the Crips is extremely low. So we take the necessary steps to be prepared for a bear encounter but we do nothing to be prepared for a street gang encounter.

In my estimation the risk of falling out of the dinghy on our PNW boat is extremely low. The risk of not being able to do some of the things I do while operating the dinghy with the safety lanyard clipped on is very high. So I don't wear the lanyard.

Pick your battles.

For those risk takers out there not wearing a bike or motorcycle helmet, not wearing a seat belt, or not wearing a pfd or kill switch, if you have good health insurance then have at it. But if you end up needing medical care or hospitalization and don't have insurance, you are making the rest of us pay more, which is what I object to. At the very least, sign up to be an organ donor.

Given that the primary function of government these days is to squeeze as much money out of everyone as they possibly can, you're going to end up paying much, much more out of you own pocket to fund things like two-year studies of the sex life of the Edwardian earthworm than you are to pay for health care costs because someone chooses to not wear an outboard safety lanyard.

As I say, pick your battles.......

Marin said:

I was under the perhaps mistaken impression that it is a mandatory device on all outboard motors sold in the US. The smallest outboard we have is a 4 hp from the year 2000. It has one. Our largest outboard is a 1987 90 hp, and it has one although it's on the throttle/shifter control, not the motor itself. They've been around for a long, long time.

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Thanks fellas. It is starting to come back to me that we have one. Just bought the rib and motor late last summer and only used it once and didn't really pay a lot of attention to it but now I am remembering a red curly cord we are supposed to wrap around our wrist when operating the motor. Another senior moment I guess.

Glad you are ok!
I always were the kill switch lanyard on my dingy. At least once a week I get whipped when I forget and stand up to grab a rail or dockline. I added one of those imitation caribiner clips to the hard-to-use little clip to make hooking to my vest easy.
Thanks for the reminder.

Marin said:

Risk assessment requires an ability a lot of people don't seem to have, and that's the ability to anticipate. Personally, I don't believe it's an ability that can be learned because in my observation the ability to anticipate is tied into logic, common sense, and the ability to visualize something that's not there or hasn't happened yet. And these, I believe, are tied to a person's personality and character. In other words, some people have it and some don't.

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While I agree that some part of it is how we're naturally wired, I do believe you can teach some as well. I don't think you change a person completely. Now, I find that's an area we're missing something in teaching of young people. And I emphasize young, because I think the younger we do so the higher the probability of success. That is teaching one to think through situations, use some logic, sort through the options. Teaching the logical consequences of their actions. Even in business I tried to teach. If someone came to me with a problem, I would always try to get them to think through it and figure out a solution. I'd help, but I wouldn't just take the problem off their hands and solve it myself. Doing it that way, they'd have to come to me every time it occurred. I'm a strong believer in having people trying to decide something to take out a piece of paper (or use the computer) and make a list of pros and cons. That's what we should be doing mentally in assessing what risks we're willing to take.

Operational Risk Management (may be evolving but you can see them use it on the TV series Coast Guard Alaska) as practiced by the USCG uses a checklist to evaluate risks and assign numbers to the risks...past a certain number and the mission has to be evaluated at a higher level or something has to change.


The checklists are tailored to many scenarios and developed by experienced people. That's the rub with risk assessment...many people don't even know what many of them can be.


While a "safety" mindset is partially nature...it is also developed along life's way with both learned experiences, education and how that all fits with one nature of fear, comfort, etc...etc...

BandB--- I agree that the ability to anticipate and then plan contingencies for what you anticipate is developed to a degree with experience. I also agree that this ability can be taught, particularly at an early age.

But I firmly believe that people are born with proclivities toward things, be it music or writing or math or taking care of other people (doctors, nurses, etc.), or anything one cares to name. I don't believe people come into this world with a blank sheet of paper to work with.

I believe that people, given the chance, will move into doing things that they have an inherent interest and ability in. I have no clue if this is due to genes or something else passed on from the family's genetic line.

But I have met, and deal with all the time, people all over the world who may be able to deal with problems when they occur, but they can't see them coming to save their lives. Even when we patiently explain the consequences of sucn-and-such happenting, they simply can't visualize the potential problem untill it happens. This is extremely frustrating in my line of work.

I can't even hazard a guess where my ability to anticiapte and visualize situations and problems and devise not one but multiple ways of dealing with them came from. Perhaps from my French father: you need a fair amount of pessimism to anticipate and visualize problems and the French invented pessimism I think. But I could not do successfully the things I do, from work to our recreational undertakings over the years, without it.

In additon to the ability to anticiapte and visualize one also needs the confidence required to carry out the actions necessary to defeat the problems one anticipates.

Or have the confidence that what one anticipates or visualizes won't happen. While never say never, this is why I have no qualms about not using the kill switch lanyard in our dinghy.

The operative words here are "in our dinghy." In a different dinghy, one that can go very fast, has a bumpy ride, can make sharp turns, banks hard in turns and so forth, the parameters have changed and I would visualize and anticipate situations that cannot arise in the dinghy on our PNW boat. And then take steps to ensure these situations don't happen. One step possibly being to use the kill switch lanyard.