Another killcord accident

[Nos4r2]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11117566

A father and son have been injured after being thrown from their boat off the coast of Cornwall.

Brixham Coastguard said the two men, aged 41 and 25 and from Stoke-on-Trent, were then run over twice by the boat's outboard motor.

The alarm was raised by members of the public who witnessed the accident at Pentewan Sands, near Mevagissey.

The father and son suffered serious head and leg injuries and were taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

The father was airlifted by helicopter, while his son was transferred by land ambulance.
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They are believed to be in a serious but stable condition.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the men were thrown from their 17ft (5m) dory at about 1520 BST.

Spokesman Nick Ratcliff said: "It seems the vessel had somehow hit the bottom and thrown both father and son out, and the uncontrolled boat had then circled, hitting them both twice.

"They had both been hit by the boat's propeller.

"We urgently recommend to boaters that the kill cord [which cuts the engine if pulled] be attached around your leg or securely to your personal buoyancy aid.

"In either case it should not foul the steering or gear controls."

The MCA said the Marine Accident Investigation Branch has been informed and the boat taken away for investigation.

[Mollers]

We heard this one 'going off' this afternoon. The guy I work with is a member of Falmouth CG cliff rescue. His pager is tuned to zero, he also has a base set in his LR which we switched on. We thought it was serious as those involved were instructed to phone through details rather than pass them on over the air as the press monitor zero.

[Polwart]

Slightly more information in the MCGA press release: http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga07-...BF7&m=8&y=2010

[C2 RIBS]

Another avoidable terrible accident- I note "The weather on scene was a calm sea, good visibility and light winds." We all know how quickly an incident happens and see other peoples misfortunes to highlight it.

Yesterday we were out and saw some three RIBs in the Solent with helms not wearing any killcords and a couple of clowns in a "fletcher" type speedboat screaming up The Hamble I guess at 15knots with no lifejackets. They were annoyed when we asked them to slow to 5-6knots due to refuelling berth and other craft!

I dont know what else the coastguard and harbour guys can do to get the message out.

[willk]

Originally Posted by C2 RIBS

I dont know what else the coastguard and harbour guys can do to get the message out.

Compulsory Licensing and Training as per the "Mainland" and big fat penalties thereafter...



To be fair to all involved, it IS possible that they simply forgot to attach the cord. I certainly have a few times until I modified the setup a bit...

[tonymac]

Originally Posted by willk

To be fair to all involved, it IS possible that they simply forgot to attach the cord. I certainly have a few times until I modified the setup a bit...

Unfortunately its too easy done. How did you mod the set up Willk?

[Cypman]

Unfortunately, some of our kind appear to have a death wish. I bet they are the same kind of people who don't use seatbelts and use mobile phones whilst driving!!
All we can do is continue to publicish these sad accidents and reinforce the use of lifejackets and killcords.......unless,of course, the UK government introduces some sort of mandatory qualification.
Ducks under incoming bullets.

[neilda]

Terrible.... I hope they both make a recovery. It must have been the most awful thing.

As most of you know, this happened to me (chucked out and not wearing a kill cord), so I read this type of story with a real chill running through me - and I'm normally a sensible fellow.

[HUMBER P4VWL]

Now we have top mount controls, not side mount with the lock at neutral I worry that an unsuspecting passenger will knock the throttle when I'm letting go of the mooring etc. I start the engine to let it warm up, then faff about with ropes etc It's so hard to remember to turn off the engine everytime i disconnect the kill cord to do something. Though i know i have to.

As previously said, it can happen to those who are normally so careful.

Best wishes to those involved.

[m chappelow]

for all we know they might have had the kill cord fitted ,,but getting it wrapped around the steering wheel and its clipped on to the belt loop on a pair of jeans and its not going to hold when you go over the side ,,,

with regards to compulsery training /licencing for boats ,,i know of a few people that have passed their car driving test and have a driving licence but they still drive around speeding with no seat belts and use mobile phones ,