Kill cords

Originally posted by 29er397 A guy at my club had to do an emergancy stop and he wasn't on the throttle quick enough, he was straight out the side of the boat with it going in full throttle and right lock right beside him! at one point he was only a couple of feet from the prop! This guy was quite an experianced driver, but everyone makes mistakes. lucky a towing line fowled the prop before the boat was on the rocks! (the kill cord fell off his leg - his own fault for not securing it properly )

What on earth should put him in a situation where an emergency stop is required? Surely he was only travelling at an appropriate speed for the situation whilst maintaining a proper lookout and wearing a kill cord?

Where ever you go you often see the safety boats roaring around with only two apparent speeds - flat out or tied-up. It's only a matter of time..............

ps rant over....................................

Originally posted by Phat Bouy What on earth should put him in a situation where an emergency stop is required? Surely he was only travelling at an appropriate speed for the situation whilst maintaining a proper lookout and wearing a kill cord? Where ever you go you often see the safety boats roaring around with only two apparent speeds - flat out or tied-up. It's only a matter of time.............. ps rant over....................................

hmmmmm, interesting point, but, whatever the situation is, an emargancy stop may be neccesarry for unforseen circumstances. Can you honestly say you have never had to stop suddenly in a car? and that you never speed? i think not.

Anyway, the point is, its is just iressponsable not to where a killcord no matter what the conditions

Originally posted by 29er397 hmmmmm, interesting point, but, whatever the situation is, an emargancy stop may be neccesarry for unforseen circumstances. Can you honestly say you have never had to stop suddenly in a car? and that you never speed? i think not.

Emergency stops are no longer taught on Level 2 courses, certainly not in the last 3 years. I do not know of any RYA course where they are taught though you might (not reccomended) see one demonstrated. Any sudden change in speed or direction can cause a person to be thrown out of the boat.

Cars can not be compared to boats - chalk and cheese. Yes I have had to resort to the odd emergency stop and yes I do speed (talking cars here )

Originally posted by Phat Bouy Where ever you go you often see the safety boats roaring around with only two apparent speeds - flat out or tied-up. It's only a matter of time..............

To be honest, with most club safety boats, there isn't much else you can do, and in any case whether you're planing and doing 20 knots or 35 knots (not many clubs have boats this fast!) it doesn't make much difference to safety of the thing.
Also, if the boat is going to rescue someone, who could potentially be drowning, there is only one speed which it should be operated .... flat out! (unless the sea is so rough this would result in you tipping the safety boat in)
And no, I don't find blasting around in RIBs exciting, it's just noisy and uncomfortable, particularly when there's a 4 foot short chop, force 5 headwind and hail.....
As for kill cords, essential in any boat which planes - and also make sure the cord is short enough ... it should trip the engine when you fall away from the driving position, not just when you fall out of the boat!

Originally posted by Phat Bouy safety boats roaring around with only two apparent speeds - flat out or tied-up.

I have painfil memories of a club rescue boat going across the bows of my Cherub at max displacement speed when we were *very* well places in the first race of a major winter open event. The resulting pitchpole as we plumbed the depths of the hole in the water it left cost us not only an excellent result in that race, but also the whole of the rest of the event as my drysuit found sopmething to rip open on. Safety boats should travel at sppeds calculated to minimise wash, and if that's full on planing then its fine by me. That's vcertainly the case with my clubs boat, the lowest wash speeds are flat out and walking pace.

Edited by JimC