Boat swim hitch
Jul. 22nd, 2023 04:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnWent for a brief swim from the boat yesterday - upstream, because it was windy out to sea, so photo is from the middle Cleddau, still a wide tidal river, but a good way upstream. Getting out was easy. Getting back in was hard. I had to shin up the outboard motor by standing on the... fin things in the end.
Lesson from this is that getting into a boat even when there's someone on board to pull you is really difficult (at least now I am old and fat), and we should have a ladder in case of accidental de-boating, because even standing on the outboard, I didn't really have the upper body strength to pull myself back in fully (and anyway, you might not always be in a situation where turning the engine off was a comfortable option).
We had picked a spot where we could moor to a buoy to experiment and I was pretty sure I could swim to the bank behind us if worst came to worst. Also I have this very robust inflatable bag/buoy that has a waist strap, which usually I use so I don't need to leave my wallet phone and car keys behind me on the beach, but is also generally good and visible and also gives me something to rest on if for any reason I had to swim further than expected. Yes, I am a bit hyper-careful!
Lesson from this is that getting into a boat even when there's someone on board to pull you is really difficult (at least now I am old and fat), and we should have a ladder in case of accidental de-boating, because even standing on the outboard, I didn't really have the upper body strength to pull myself back in fully (and anyway, you might not always be in a situation where turning the engine off was a comfortable option).
We had picked a spot where we could moor to a buoy to experiment and I was pretty sure I could swim to the bank behind us if worst came to worst. Also I have this very robust inflatable bag/buoy that has a waist strap, which usually I use so I don't need to leave my wallet phone and car keys behind me on the beach, but is also generally good and visible and also gives me something to rest on if for any reason I had to swim further than expected. Yes, I am a bit hyper-careful!
