We keep square floatation cushions for comfort on deck; when swimming, we'll tie a few of these to some lines and toss them into the water. They make easy targets to swim after if we see the boat getting away from us, which it usually does since the boat has higher wind resistance than our bobbing heads do. :) But that's just here on Lake Michigan, where we generally don't have much in the way of currents.
Regardless though, we pretty much always leave someone on board who can control the boat for the safety of the swimmers. In recent years, swimming in the harbor at dock has been much less yucky. David On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 8:46 AM, John Jennings <[email protected]>wrote: > > > Several years ago a young man went swimming on the Chesapeake Bay while his > girl friend stayed in the boat as it floated away with the tide. She did > not know how to operate the boat and rescue him. He did not make it. > > John J. > > > > Mar 24, 2010 09:31:50 AM, [email protected] wrote: > > > > Use life sling/nylon/ski tow rope... so that it floats in the water. I > always hooked up a few lines off the back and let them trail. > > Derek.- > > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Amy > *To:* [email protected] > *Sent:* Wed, March 24, 2010 8:36:27 AM > *Subject:* Re: [IC27A] swimming from the boat? > > > > Swim with a line tied to the back of the boat. I have no idea what the > currents and winds are in the Great Lakes, but if you have a long line tied > to your back cleat and just swim behind the boat, you should be fine. > Amy > > --- On *Wed, 3/24/10, Ron Ginter *wrote: > > > From: Ron Ginter > Subject: [IC27A] swimming from the boat? > To: ic...@yahoogroups. com > Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010, 8:18 AM > > > Ok, this is probably a really stupid question. Back in the olden days when > I was on a race crew in Lake Erie, there was the odd time when we would > abandon a race due to lack of wind, and just go swimming. I was an > invincible teenager at the time, and never thought about anything that could > go wrong. > > If the boat is just drifting, is there a chance that it could drift away > from someone who has just jumped into the water? Would any current in the > water affect the boat and the swimmer much the same? Could an average > swimmer overcome it and "catch up" to the boat? The obvious solution is to > drop anchor, but I have discovered to my dismay that much of Lake Ontario is > too deep, unlike Lake Erie. > > I'd only be interested in swimming on a hot calm day. Also, it probably > wouldn't be a bad idea to jump in and float around in a PFD once in a while > as a test. I have this mental image of coming up out of the water only to > see the boat receding into the distance. > > Any thoughts? > > ...Ron > > > > >
