Guest Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Pretty horrible news. I just heard it on radio. Launch ran out of fuel and he tried to swim to shore, with life jacket on, but drowned. Probably too early for this sort of inquiry, but might the life jacket have hindered rather than helped his effort to swim to shore? And - surely someone must have had a cell phone, or the boat a VHF to call the coastguard before risking yourself in the water. My heart goes out to his family. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Lesson #1 - stay with the boat. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Lesson #1 - stay with the boat. Yes. Also, a correction: it was a fishing craft of some kind, not a launch. Link to post Share on other sites
otto 31 Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11172733 Link to post Share on other sites
grant 40 Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 yep, most people cant swim as far as they think, and if it was just a lack of fuel there was no reason to leave the boat. think they could have chosen a better photo for the story, Link to post Share on other sites
The big T 40 Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 Auckland Council, after lobbying from Watersafe Auckland, Coastguard, Water Safety NZ and other associated groups are now looking at implementing a Navigation and Safety Bylaw requiring all powered vessels leaving any land based facility in the Auckland region to furnish a Certificate of Fuel Management before leaving any coastal area in the Auckland Region. Spokesperson for the fuel industry, Wanna Makeabuck, welcomes the move saying that such instances can be prevented by good bureaucratic management and with the right legislative tools people will be able to ensure the safety of themselves and their crew. All fuel providing facilities can easily provide such a service at a nominal cost to the maritime community. Council spokesperson (and cousin to Wanna Makeabuck) Kanni Passabuck applauds the initiative and advises that Council will be advertising the proposal on 24 December with submissions closing 31 December. Link to post Share on other sites
philstar 61 Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 so even with the lifejacket law we can't stop these dumb arses killing themselves. Can't believe it . This is absolutely why the life jacket law won't work. people will wear them and feel invincible and die anyway. darwins theory applies once more. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 I bet the lifejacket wasn't, I bet it was a bouyancy aid for waterskiing or water activity. I saw similar the other night on the news when they were interviewing boaties about life jackets and one guy picked one of these vest things up and said, "it's there to grab if I need it". No one picked up on that and it shows the level of numbty there is out there in boats. The entire point of a proper lifejacket is that it keeps you head above and out of the water. So this fellow should have still been safe even if he had passed out. Link to post Share on other sites
Steve_C 0 Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 Be interesting to here the outcome on this, if it was a buoyancy aid, highlights a real risk, what happens if you are knocked out when you go overboard? USAF had to redesign their system after a pilot ejected from his aircraft, he was unconscious when he hit the water, and the life jacket held his head under the water so he drowned. He suffered injuries during the ejection sequence but the theory is not immediately life threatening. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Certainly with the uneducated boating public out there now, anything with a small degree of floatation and wearable, seems to be considered a life jacket these days. Link to post Share on other sites
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