Retriever
Senior Member
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?
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?