Panic?

Good grief! Yacht 'Don't Panic' Is Found Run Aground With No Sign Of Crew Off Scarborough | HuffPost UK

If someone fell overboard not wearing a life vest, would you jump in to rescue them?
Maybe both would drown. The boat could simply float away from you and you from the boat in the water due to the currents.
I have read a panicking drowning person can drown the rescuer.

Greetings,
Mr. 717. I just found it ironic that a vessel named Don't Panic would experience 2 incidents in a year and STILL be unequipped (no communication and no life saving gear). Your overboard scenario is, unfortunately common, I suspect.

The crew are safe. Apparently they left the boat but didn't bother to tell anyone.

Scarborough sunk boat crew make contact after search - BBC News

Greetings,
Thanks Mr. B.

Britannia said:

The crew are safe. Apparently they left the boat but didn't bother to tell anyone.

Scarborough sunk boat crew make contact after search - BBC News

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What lead me to think that the crew are just hopeless... Like mentioned by Mr RTF, 2 incident and it was not enough to have any security gear aboard and just to add a bit more they abandon the ship but don't bother to tell anybody so the rescue wasted their precious time to search for them... for me this are all proof of deep stupidity.

L.

There apparently are some people who just should not be allowed on the water.

If someone fell overboard not wearing a life vest, would you jump in to rescue them?
Maybe both would drown. The boat could simply float away from you and you from the boat in the water due to the currents.

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True story. A long time ago, early 80's if I remember, a young couple departed the marina on a cold winter day. Father at the controls on the flybridge, mother and child in the cockpit. She sat the child down on the gunwale, of course the child fell overboard. Mom jumps in to save the kid. Dad jumps in to save both. No one was wearing life jackets, the boat was still in gear motoring away from them.

Very fortunately for them a nearby boat picked up all three. I don't recall what became of the boat that day. But it was sold a very short time later.

In answer to the question would I jump in? No. More than likely there will now be two victims, not a rescue. The only way I'd jump in is with a line tied to the boat and my PFD. And then only if the victim is unconscious or unable to assist in their recovery.

That UK coast guard boat looks perfect for those choppy days...

There was a tragic event here a year or so ago - a father with his young daughter were out in his runabout - they have never been found. The theory is that the child didn't have a life jacket on and fell overboard. The father jumped in to save her without a life jacket. They found the boat.

If a child falls in, the gasp reflex of hitting cold water will likely drown them if they don't float and can be rescued. Without a life jacket they'll sink right now. How will you rescue your child if they sink? If you have a pfd on, you can't dive. How fast does a child sink?

What if they fall off the dock on the way to or from the boat? If they are holding your hand and you both fall in? Can you swim in all your clothes and save the child too?

ALL children under 12 should wear a life jacket all the time on the water. This should be Rule Number One. I feel so strongly about this I offer to loan PDFs to visitors to the dock that I don't even know. I almost think its child abuse to not have them wear one.

Xsbank said:

There was a tragic event here a year or so ago - a father with his young daughter were out in his runabout - they have never been found. The theory is that the child didn't have a life jacket on and fell overboard. The father jumped in to save her without a life jacket. They found the boat.

If a child falls in, the gasp reflex of hitting cold water will likely drown them if they don't float and can be rescued. Without a life jacket they'll sink right now. How will you rescue your child if they sink? If you have a pfd on, you can't dive. How fast does a child sink?

What if they fall off the dock on the way to or from the boat? If they are holding your hand and you both fall in? Can you swim in all your clothes and save the child too?

ALL children under 12 should wear a life jacket all the time on the water. This should be Rule Number One. I feel so strongly about this I offer to loan PDFs to visitors to the dock that I don't even know. I almost think its child abuse to not have them wear one.

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That's my position as well.
I don't budge from it. If you're not a teenager then you wear a pfd plane and simple. Otherwise there's the dock.

We once had a family on board for an afternoon cruise, two kids, 10 & 8, the older boy didn't think he needed to wear it. His father actually started to defend the kid. A private conversation with the father and the kid was complying.
I told the father privately that we weren't leaving the dock , period, end of discussion. Once he knew the rules we were fine.
My extended family calls me a hardass, I sleep well.

in addition to 12 years old....anyone that isn't comfortable and good enough to remain afloat despite cold water and gasp reflex issues....some people have the experience and/or training....


I can see going less than 12 for some...but you do have to draw the line somewhere.

Question? So when is a boat just a boat and when is it considered to be a yacht?

Here is a picture of the "Don't Panic" from The Sun:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content...t000023513182.jpg?strip=all&quality=100&w=960

LOL, I guess that I have a yacht sitting on the trailer in my driveway!

Jim

Greetings,
Mr. JLD. I think "yacht" is a British (European?) term for any sailing vessel to differentiate it from a motor vessel.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. JLD. I think "yacht" is a British (European?) term for any sailing vessel to differentiate it from a motor vessel.

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Correct, but a small sailing craft might be termed a dinghy or sailing dinghy. Though a high performance sailing boat like an "18 footer" which can plane at speed tends to just get called an "18 footer".

It is spring time and one of the local lakes has already had two drownings. Most of the drownings happen in the spring. There might be a few in the summer but most are in the Spring.

The stories are usually similar. People wading or swimming when their heads go underwater, often from slipping into deeper water. The lake's water temp is still in the 50's but the air temperatures have been in the low 90s off and on for a few weeks. One has to wonder if the people are drowning due to the gasp reflex.

There might be drowning later in the summer but there will be thousands of people in the lake. Right now there are very few.

Years ago a grand father and grand son where fishing on a boat. They pulled up to a column under a causeway bridge and the grand son fell into the water when he tried to tie a line to the structure. The grand father jumped into the water to save the kid but the man drowned. The grand son was helped to shore by a guy bank fishing. This was in colder weather/water than current temperatures and it sounded like the gasp reflex happened. The shore line was maybe 30-50 feet away...

Later,
Dan

Xsbank said:

ALL children under 12 should wear a life jacket all the time on the water. This should be Rule Number One. I feel so strongly about this I offer to loan PDFs to visitors to the dock that I don't even know. I almost think its child abuse to not have them wear one.

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WA state agrees with you. RCW is Revised Code of Washington.

RCW 79A.60.160


Personal flotation devices required—Penalty.




(4) No person shall operate a vessel under nineteen feet in length on the waters of this state with a child twelve years old and under, unless the child is wearing a personal flotation device that meets or exceeds the United States coast guard approval standards of the appropriate size, while the vessel is underway. For the purposes of this section, a personal flotation device is not considered readily accessible for children twelve years old and under unless the device is worn by the child while the vessel is underway. The personal flotation device must be worn at all times by a child twelve years old and under whenever the vessel is underway and the child is on an open deck or open cockpit of the vessel.

WA State also strongly recommends that children under 12 wear a life jacket at all times while on a dock. Many municipal docks have loaner pfds for children at the head of the dock.

in Massachusetts all children under 12 MUSt wear PFD's, as well as all jet ski users and canoe and kayakers from Sept to May.

If the soap box is open I'd like to step up and point out that drowning is one of the largest causes of death for children, and swimming lessons reduces the risk of drowning by 88% in kids ages 1-4. Whether you opt for formal lessons or do it yourself...kids need to be taught to swim and the The American Association of Pediatrics says you can start at 1 year old.

XS

Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue | Kids Don’t Float

contact your local RCMSAR to see if you can get a "KIDS DON'T FLOAT" board and loaner PFDs at your marina.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. JLD. I think "yacht" is a British (European?) term for any sailing vessel to differentiate it from a motor vessel.

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RT, I think you'll find that virtually anywhere else in the world, 'yacht' means sailing vessel, except when prefixed with motor = 'motor yacht' = large rich persons vessel.

I think that one is actually a Hunter 19'. One of those was sailed out to NZ from the UK years ago actually, amazing as that may sound. It took a very long time.

Peter B said:

I think that one is actually a Hunter 19'. One of those was sailed out to NZ from the UK years ago actually, amazing as that may sound...

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There`s a frightening thought. I once owned a Santana 22 "yacht",one day we got into some weather, green water flowing both sides of the leeward winch....not a day you forget, in small yachts.

No cure for stupid. Last year in Maryland a family rented a cruiser for a day. No experience. The father's hat blew off and he jumped in to retrieve it while in gear - leaving his wife and child aboard a vessel underway. He drowned in the process. To the good fortune of his family, a samaritan was able to catch up, board the now dead man's boat, bring it to a stop. No PFD, float plan, nothing. Multiple failures that became fatal.

Islanddreamer said:

No cure for stupid. Last year in Maryland a family rented a cruiser for a day. No experience. The father's hat blew off and he jumped in to retrieve it while in gear - leaving his wife and child aboard a vessel underway. He drowned in the process. To the good fortune of his family, a samaritan was able to catch up, board the now dead man's boat, bring it to a stop. No PFD, float plan, nothing. Multiple failures that became fatal.

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And now we are back to Darwin's law

L.