Next message: (no name): "Re: lv-ab: Falling overboard in the slip"
In a message dated 8/11/99 7:42:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:
<< this poor fellow realized he was falling of the top of the boat and
though he'd dive for the water. >>
A skill I have learned (just barely - I need to keep at it) is to sit down
quickly if I start to loose my balance, mostly in the dinghy. I was cleaning
the dinghy one day while it was hanging in the davits about three feet off
the water. A wake rocked the boat and I almost fell overboard - sober. I
was alone and had no way to get back aboard if I had fallen short of climbing
the anchor chain. Then and there I tried to instill some new reflexes of
suddenly squatting if I felt unsteady. There seems to be a natural or
learned reflex to put your feet back under your center of gravity when
falling but in a boat it may be impossible to do this as your center of
gravity may very well be over a point the feet cannot move to. The only
recourse is to suddenly lower yourself to reduce the off-center vector. It
is something you have to do a few times to get your body used to doing it.
Norm
S/V Bandersnatch
Anchored Norfolk VA
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