Must Watch This !!

Herkileez

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
This was posted from an incident on Sheridan Lake, in BC.
I had to pass it on:
If this isn't a reminder to wear a lifejacket, I don't know what is.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/8015530048517940?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V
A tiny voice just heard.
He was just hanging on.
Brent B Gill and another guest at Piney Point Resort arrived seconds later and got him on board and safely to shore.
A happy ending to what could very easily have turned our very differently.
Glad I was close at hand and able to help.
 

Old406Kid

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Glad he made it but I have to wonder what he was doing that he fell out of the boat?
 

Herkileez

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Her was probably doing what most men are doing when they fall out of the boat, and his fly was probably un-zipped.

Just ask the Coast Guard about that in that they actually have records regarding such things.

Dave
I have a friend who retired from the coast guard..He says the same thing.
No one ever expects to fall in. or drown. It's always a surprise. No one gets in my boat w/o a lifejacket.
 

Old406Kid

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Her was probably doing what most men are doing when they fall out of the boat, and his fly was probably un-zipped.

Just ask the Coast Guard about that in that they actually have records regarding such things.

Dave
That would be my first guess. I see guys peeing over the side of small boats quite often and it always looks like an accident waiting to happen.
A pee bucket is such a simple thing, especially as we age and become 'less nimble' on our feet.
Also, plus one on the importance of life jackets which are even more important as water temps drop.
 

Otter

Steelhead
Update with the survivor the next day:

P.S. Even if the water isn't cold, you can still drown. A few years ago, two brothers were fishing out of a 12' cartopper in an urban lake in Nanaimo, on a warm, sunny Spring day. One reached over for something, tipping the boat over, and both fell in. Neither had a PFD on. One drowned while his brother tried unsuccessfully to save him. Nearby boaters also couldn't save him.

What drives me nuts is adults not wearing their PFD, while insisting children in their boats wear them. I see this all the time, in real life and in photos and videos. This teaches the children either: 1) they will become invincible when they grow up, or 2) that adults are hypocrites. And, if they all end up in the water, who is going to save the adult who is trashing around without a PFD on?
 

Eastside

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
My brother-in-law and I just finished a five day trip on the Deschutes River in Oregon. In our younger days, we would only don life jackets before entering whitewater sections of the river. This year, we wore them the entire time. Both of us are over 60. This year, I also bought a NRS Chinook life jacket for fishing lakes in my float tube and pontoon boat and wear it all the time. Need to get a whistle for both jackets.
 

ABITNF

Steelhead
I've seen 3 incidents of people falling out of a boat. One when I worked up north on the Taku River. One in Simon Lake when both husband and wife ended up in the water. And again on Peterhope Lake about 3 years ago. Each one was out of a flat bottom Jonboat like a Lowe or Crestliner. People think these are the safest boat around but from what I've seen they aren't.

One lucky fellow. Thankful for his rescuers he should be.
 

Clean Willy

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
I lost my balance and fell head first out of my friends small boat last year. Flat calm day. Was sitting on my life jacket. Never again.
 

ABITNF

Steelhead
When I saw the guy fall into Peterhope I was on the phone with the paramedics and they asked me to help get him into dry clothes and monitor him for shock. After answering a few questions like his name, date of birth and such to see how coherent he was I mentioned he should have had a life jacket.
"Oh, I had one. I was sitting on it."
"It doesn't do you any good when you're in the lake and it's in the boat."
"Oh, I know. And this the second time this happened."

WTF?
 

ABITNF

Steelhead
I took the RHIOT course with the Canadian Coast Guard in Bamfield about 20 years ago when I did patrol work on the west coast of Vancouver Island. We learned the technique in the attached video. It's known as parbuckling and it's pretty effective. Although the boats we used were 23 foot rigid hull inflatables which are a lot more stable, it really gives you an advantage of situating yourself more in your boat's centre so you aren't destabilizing your own craft while you haul the person in. A lot better than you and a buddy hanging over the gunwale of your boat lifting someone over the side and risking capsizing yourself in the process.

 
Last edited:

Ceviche

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
My complaint: Poor explanation on how to rig “The Parbuckle.” You’d have to really look closely to actually figure this out. You see the rescuers pass the line(s) around the victim, but what isn’t explained or shown is that either the middle of a long line or the ends of two separate lines need to be secured to the gunnels or inside and below there. Like, how else are people going to be able to use some line to roll a person aboard?

Nonetheless, this method of retrieving a person overboard is solid. The point is to have the majority of the rescuers’ weight inside the gunnels when they pull the victim aboard.

Another method would be to have one person bring the victim more to a vertical position (them being in a survival suit, like in the video) along side. Once there, you shove them down and then pull them aboard when they bob back up. However, it’s important for the second rescuer to counter balance the boat at first. If the victim is only partially aboard, then the back up should only then lend assistance. Keeping the boat steady is tantamount.

I learned this technique from my first time at Basic Safety Training class. We had to haul maybe ten people up into a life raft from the water.
 
Top