Do boat owners ever fall off their boats?

[grahamdouglass]

Query on US Navy regulation

I heard that there was a US naval regulation against urinating off the deck of a US navy ship because of the chance of falling over bored. To all you ex navy guys out there. Is this true?

 

[Tangler]

I’ve fallen into every hatch of this boat at one time or another but never ob...wish it was the other way around as falling into hatches hurts. Mostly it happens because I’m in a hurry and not paying attention. I’ve learned to slow down.

 

[Capitaine R]

I suspect this is apocryphal but in my boater safety class, I learned that 75% of male victims of boat related drownings have two things in common: 1) alcohol in their system, and 2) zipper down when recovered.

I had one friend who died while boating with his family. There was drinking involved and I'm sorry to say there was sometime before his family realized he was missing from the moving boat. The next day his body was found in this exact way.

 

[AlanT]

Post-Birthday bash returning to the Marina in Barcelona wearing the beautiful leather jacket my wife purchased me for my birthday, fell in stepping from the dock to my stern step, at night, in dirty harbor water. We went out the next day and bought a passarelle!
~Alan

 

[AlanT]

I had one friend who died while boating with his family. There was drinking involved and I'm sorry to say there was sometime before his family realized he was missing from the moving boat. The next day his body was found in this exact way.

I was in the maritime industry for 40 years. If a deckhand or longshoreman was ever pulled (dead) from the water the first thing the investigation checked was his fly. More often than not it was one last pee stop before getting on the boat at night that killed him.
~Alan

 

[AlanT]

A good friend had a nightmare experience last year and lost his teen son. They are not mariners at all but rented a speedboat in the Greek Islands. The son was bounced out of the boat (sitting on the bow) by an unexpected wake, then run over by the prop. Tragic story and I shiver whenever I see a child on the bows of a small boat. I only post this very personal story in the hope that someone reading will learn from it.

 

[Bill Wells]

I have gone over the side a couple of times, no alcohol involved.....

 

[Slider70]

I have boated and commercial fished for 60 years. Went over board once, perhaps deliberate? I was working in my engine room with my two boys inside the cabin. They were five and six. And yes they were not wearing a life jacket as they should have been. They opened the forward hatch and were paying on the bow deck which I did not know.

I heard a splash and my wife scream Aaron had fallen in. This is the Pacific North West in November.

I jumped out of the engine room, and over the side onto the dock finger. I lost my balance coming out of the boat and, inside of trying to regain it, I simply dove into the water and swam under the boat. Very clear water and no Aaron. I surfaced to find a neighbor boater had seen what happened and quickly grabbed my boy out of the water.

We bundled up and drove quickly home to get dry and warm. On the way Aaron said 'I don't know why everyone is upset? Once I got to the bottom I was going to walk to shore.' Logic of a five year old.

 

[FatBear]

On the way Aaron said 'I don't know why everyone is upset? Once I got to the bottom I was going to walk to shore.' Logic of a five year old.

My grandfather actually did that. He was duck hunting from a canoe while wearing chest waders. (Don't ask me why, I don't know.) He turned the canoe over and found himself on the bottom with no chance of getting out of the waders before he drowned. He was a level-headed guy (fire chief at the time) and knew where he was and so just started walking ashore. He even carried his shotgun out, too. Lived to die of old age.

 

[FatBear]

So do rowing shells count? I've got over 17,000 miles in rowing shells and have fallen in exactly once. That was probably during the 14,000+ mile timeframe. When you row you always know you could get tipped in at any time. I was an open water rower, so wakes and waves and wind and such were par for the course and I could handle them all. But apparently I could not handle an idyllic fall morning. I was rowing with a friend on flat water, perfect temperature, beautiful fall colors, etc. Utter bliss. And I T-boned a big log floating high out of the water. The boat stopped instantly and I kept going. First thing I knew I was laying on my back on the bow deck, looking at the blue sky and thinking "this isn't going to last". Sure enough, the next sound was a splash.

 

[LakeMJim]

Alan T: I didn't know the person, but the exact same accident was big news on the lake I used to live on. The driver of the boat, a young man, lost his best friend and I believe spent a year in jail. He spent part of the time giving talks to young people about how that one foolish mistake will be with him for life.

I see people doing that (riding on the bow of a speedboat) all the time.

There are currently 3 court cases running that I know of on the 'Big 3' lakes in Muskoka regarding accidents where one boat hit another without lights at night, killing one or more people. One of those cases is in the news a lot due to the famous personality involved.