Nasty accident

Panda · 09 September 2011, 15:38

I just heard last night that the chap I was working for up in the outer hebridies has had a serious accident in his zodiac. Apparently he was towing his son on skis, when he picked up a floating lobster pot line. This tipped him out of the boat, wherupon the boat circled and ran the poor chap over twice. This has left him with i think a broken leg and serious lacerations from the prop. I know the chap always wears a lifejacket, but it would appear he has not been wearing the kill cord attached to his person.
I have to confess, I have only recently started routinely wearing it on my wrist, but it's EVERY time out from now on. The slight inconvenience of it occasionally snagging or cutting the motor is i feel more than made up for by the sure knowledge that if you do fall out, the boat will neither disappear over the horizon, abandoning you to your fate, nor return, like Jason in Halloween, to repeatedly slice'n'dice you.

Poly · 09 September 2011, 15:42

Panda, for maximum safety it is usually recommended you attach around your thigh or to the belt of your lifejacket. It has been reported that on your wrist the cord can get tangled on the wheel/throttle etc and therefore not stop the engine on ejection.

Hope your mate/ his son recovers quickly. Whilst it probably doesn't seem like it right now he sounds like he got off not too badly.

BogMonster · 10 September 2011, 02:01

As above - tie it round your leg. Mine goes on at about knee height. The only time I have accidentally killed my engine is when I get up to move around the boat and forget it is still on there!

Nos4r2 · 10 September 2011, 05:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by BogMonster

As above - tie it round your leg. Mine goes on at about knee height. The only time I have accidentally killed my engine is when I get up to move around the boat and forget it is still on there!

The OP has a Zapcat though.

jyasaki · 10 September 2011, 06:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by BogMonster

As above - tie it round your leg. Mine goes on at about knee height. The only time I have accidentally killed my engine is when I get up to move around the boat and forget it is still on there!

I've done that with the killcord on wrist, leg, and inner pocket D-ring on the drysuit. (Suppose it doesn't say much for being aware of all that's happening.)

If you feel you need to have it on the wrist, plumb in a secure velcro strap that can't leave without the rest of the cord.. Wrapping the cord by itself with the normally supplied gate clip is just begging for it to slip off.

jky

Hightower · 10 September 2011, 15:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

I've done that with the killcord on wrist, leg, and inner pocket D-ring on the drysuit. (Suppose it doesn't say much for being aware of all that's happening.)

If you feel you need to have it on the wrist, plumb in a secure velcro strap that can't leave without the rest of the cord.. Wrapping the cord by itself with the normally supplied gate clip is just begging for it to slip off.

jky

That's a very good idea and one that I will be employing on the SIB

Poly · 10 September 2011, 16:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hightower

That's a very good idea and one that I will be employing on the SIB

PWC (Jetski) killcords come ready made like this. Might be easier (and more reassuring?) to use one of them? (there are some aftermarket ones with multiple ends to fit "any" engine if you don't want to mess about swapping your engine's end on.

SPR · 10 September 2011, 16:57

the bracelet I have is from a PWC multi kit, you don't need to use the the kill cord with it!, but handy in using club boats who people only remove the kill cord and not the keys from boat!

S.

wavelength · 10 September 2011, 18:26

sod's law dictates that the one day you forget that kill cord ....it all goes pear shaped! Hope the guy makes a full and speedy recovery.
Pot markers are a dangerous fact of life in some places esp when they are poorly marked. I've picked one up in a 14ft fishing boat with a 40mariner on the back. Came to a complete and sudden stop, luckily we got away with it and nobody was hurt.
We have an ongoing duel with potmarkers at one port. One of my crew is the only licenced potter in the area we are working but the privateers have been dropping the pots bang on the leading lights line for what is a very narrow entrance (cos the lobsters down there don't normally get caught as it should be pot free). We try and avoid them but what can ya do when you have 14 pax onboard mega bucks worth of boat. In the dark ...well thats tough. They arent going to stop us but if the b****y rope gets in the jets we do lose a lot of thrust and unless we can backflush it out again then we need to be back in the sheltered water of the dock before we open the jet inspection hatches, otherwise we risk flooding the engine room.

Chris · 11 September 2011, 08:27

I had a similar experience to this with my little Navigator and a 2hp mariner (which did not have a kill cord fitted).

I was coming up onto a beach with my brother in law and our two 5 year old kids when a wave cam up behind and I could see what was going to happen so jumped out to try and grab the boat before it got tipped (all this was in about 4 feet of water). The little Mariner swung onto full lock and I had knocked the throttle up when I jumped off so the boat span round several times, I fell back and twice the engine passed over the top of my legs and must of missed them by inches...

My brother in law managed to cut the engine and we all headed sheepishly up the beach.

Since then I have bought and fitted a killcord switch to the Mariner.

Ironic really that having taken my Osprey 6.5 out in all kinds of snotty weather and covered 130 miles down the bristol channel in a force 6/7 the thing that nearly got me was that fecking egg beater whilst mucking about at the beach....!

m chappelow · 11 September 2011, 11:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by wavelength

. I've picked one up in a 14ft fishing boat with a 40mariner on the back. Came to a complete and sudden stop, luckily we got away with it and nobody was hurt.
.

One of my mates ran over a poorly marked illegal salmon mono net in a narrow fairway as he was out doing his own pots ,
boat was an old woodern coble one that weighed about 2 tons ,the rope wrapped around the prop doing about 10 knots pulled out the prop and shaft leaving him with a 4inch hole where the bearings and shaft should have been ,luck for him the the lifeboat got to him and saved the boat but it was full to the gunnells before they got him.

Robbie Diesel · 11 September 2011, 12:04

Panda, where abouts in the hebrides did this accident happen? I live in the Hebrides and didnt hear anything about it? and news usually travels VERY fast in these small communities

Panda · 31 January 2013, 23:44

Hi Robbie, not looked on here for ages, it was in the sound of scarp, the guy who owns the island was the victim. Although you probably know that by now lol.

boristhebold · 01 February 2013, 08:12

Check what the killcord is made from, some are cheap plastic rubbish that can break as they get brittle, the best ones are the ones with a metal fibre running through them which dont break even if the plastic outer part becomes brittle.

two stroke mick · 01 February 2013, 10:12

I have hadthe experance in meeting a lobser pot marker at peed. It can stop a small rib very very quickly

tsm

j.i.wilson · 01 February 2013, 10:30

I have been giving this issue some thought as I prepare my first RIB for the season.

Has anyone tried having a foot kill switch? My ride on lawn mower has one.

I know there are disadvantages but the major advantage is you cannot forget it!

biffer · 01 February 2013, 11:39

Foot kill wont work. When you get airborne the boat will die. Could get yourself in all kinds of trouble. You can get a wireless kill cord. When you get a set distance from the boat it breaks the link. My advice would be learn to drive better. Read the sea. Use the throttle properly. Keep a good eye on where you're going

j.i.wilson · 01 February 2013, 16:02

Biffer

I intend to do all that. However I was always told to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Hence I carry Life Jackets, Flares, throw line, VHF, etc. These are all carried "just in case". The kill switch falls into exacatly the same category.

Basically - "Sh1t happens!"

But do take the point about foot coming off switch. A delay would help - kidding!. Those wireless ones are so bl00dy expensive!

Ian W

9D280 · 01 February 2013, 16:29

Kill switches are designed to short the ignition. The electrical failure is going to be a corroded joint, the mechanical is going to be a broken spring.

I test the thing before I get too far from launch (but not so close I end up back ashore!)

And yes, mine is round my knee too.

Copinsay · 01 February 2013, 16:55

Creel lines (pots to you southern folk!) are a common hazard here in Orkney too, even on the routes routinely used by the ferries and on leading light tracks... Makes night trips interesting to say the least.

I put few creels down and keen to avoid where they'll be snagged, but I guess commercial pressures change one's perspective.

One of the suggestions in the recent Scottish Government consultation on crab and lobster fishing was regulation on creel/pot placement to:

"Reduce the danger from creels to other users of the sea"

It's here if interested:

Consultation on New Controls in the Nephrops and Crab and Lobster Fisheries

Cheers

Steve