I got wet today...

[dutchman2858]

For the first time I can recall I fell overboard today. That's the bad news. The good news was it was in a small freshwater lake with warm water and I had my inflatable suspenders on, so no emergency existed. So why the post? I thought there might be some value in relating the incident, and some realisations I came to.

Some particulars: I'm 66, 6'1", 205# and in reasonably good condition (gym a couple times a week). In addition to the inflatable suspenders I was wearing jeans and a fleece jacket. Boat is a 16' Starcraft powered by a stern mounted electric motor and a 35hp main. We were using the electric motor today.

I leaned over the transom and cleared some weeds from the trolling motor. My adult son was seated in the front of the boat fishing. When I backed into the cockpit and stood up my weight shifted and KERSPLASH! When I came up I was only 6' away from the boat...no panic...so I didn't inflate the vest. I held up my rod for my son to grab and drag me to the side of the boat. I made my way back to the transom, and when he dropped the main into the water I clambered up on the cavitation plate and worked my way up and back into the boat.

The first thing I noted...I was heavy! I'll bet the fleece jacket soaked up 20 or 25# of water...add another 5 or 10# in water weight for the rest of my clothes. Under anything less than optimal circumstances I wouldn't have been able to climb over the transom. If the main motor hadn't been down I wouldn't have been able to climb back into the boat.

My 35hp has tilt buttons on the side of the motor, so even if my son hadn't been on board I would have been able to lower the motor so I could stand on the cavitation plate and get myself back in. But note, with the increased weight of the water in my clothes, I question whether I would have been able to accomplish a "self rescue" in choppy or marginal water conditions.

No harm done, except to my ego (and to the cell phone) so we kept fishing and had good bass fishing for a few hours until I got too chilled and we headed home. If anyone can pick up a thought or two from my experience it was worth writing about.

[BentRod]

Wow, sorry to hear of your soggy experience, but thanks for sharing. I don't think any of us really understand how hard it can be to get back into a boat when fully clothed and soaking wet. Add cold to that and it's a dangerous situation. A good reminder.

[Larry3215]

Thanks for the writeup! When I took the CG Aux boating course several years ago they went out of their way to emphasize how hard it was to get someone on board from the water.

If you had not been wearing your life jacket and things had not gone well getting back on board, you might have had a bad time.

Glad you were ok.

[Amx]

Good that all is well. Next time be sure to take along some bubblebath.

[dutchman2858]

Good that all is well. Next time be sure to take along some bubblebath.

Wouldn't that be polluting?

[Amx]

Good that all is well. Next time be sure to take along some bubblebath.

Wouldn't that be polluting?

Nope, all the bad stuff goes away when the bubbles pop.