Fell from a ladder - lessons learned

[marisa-t]

I watched my wife (in doubles) get launched off a ladder when the boat pitched on a rough day in Lake Michigan.

She pushed off to get away from the boat and almost took a guy on the boat who was trying to hold onto her manifold with her.

I never though some one in doubles could fly so far. She landed a long way from the boat. It's one of those Newton things...object (like doubles) in motion tend to stay in motion. LOL

It times like those I bet we all wish we had WINGS!!!

I love it when people have funny stories .. it's make the cubical walls in my office dissapear for a bit, and makes me feel like I am right there, seeing it all.

Marisa

 

[Diver0001]

I watched my wife (in doubles) get launched off a ladder when the boat pitched on a rough day in Lake Michigan.

She pushed off to get away from the boat and almost took a guy on the boat who was trying to hold onto her manifold with her.

I never though some one in doubles could fly so far. She landed a long way from the boat. It's one of those Newton things...object (like doubles) in motion tend to stay in motion. LOL

LOL. Sounds like one of those winning home-video moments ....

R..

 

[RICHinNC]

Mike....I almost had the same thing happen when I was in Barbados.....from the point of holding the tanks.

The dive boat (and I use that term with kindness...it was a converted glass bottom boat)...had the ladder from heck on it. The first rung hit you at chin level and you had to climb like crazy to get up it. They wanted you to take your gear off but when the guy in front of me did and they hauled his gear up by the hose....I declined.

Then ...as I was getting good footing...they kept grabbing my first stage and pulling me in....like if I fell they were going to keep my 233lb butt and all that gear from falling back. I had to literally swat their hands away and once on board sit down with the dive master and ask her did she think she could really lift me....and me and all my gear. Dumb stare in return. I told her if I started to fall...she would have prevented me from arching backwards and clearing the boat as I fell back into the water. What she would have accomplished would have been to drive me forward face first and give my ugly chops a bouncy ladder ride back down to the water. She turned so red and admitted she had never thought of it that way. And, I have to admit....she never did it again and stopped the boat captain from doing it.

It took another day to get all the other divers from congregating right under the dive ladder. Not a good place to be when a diver loses it.

I guess she may survive diving in NC on a rough day after all.
rich

 

[marisa-t]

Yep!!! LMAO....... Thay are all time classics !!!!!! My fiance loves to bring this story up when everyone at the table has had a few drinks.. Of course his version and mine are two different stories!

Marisa

 

[aquaoren]

I fell from a ladder this weekend and I just wanted to post a quick lessons learned about that.

I was on the Fogo Isle (www.fogoisle.nl), which is pretty much the biggest dive boat in Western Europe. We were diving on the North Sea and we had force 4 winds.

The boat was rocking back and forth about 15 degrees and we had 1 metre (2 metre absolute) waves. I was parked just short of the ladder waiting to exit and when I went to exit two things happened.

- the boat rocked my way
- a wave lifted me

I was transported until just about the top of the ladder. My first thoughts were *hey great, I'm out*. I grabbed the ladder and tried to hold on.

But the wave dropped and the boat rolled the other other way and suddenly I was about 4 metres above water level with the feeling of doom you get just before you realise that you're about to have a car-accident..... Namely, My grip on the ladder wasn't good enough......

And i fell.....

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG

All the bloody way down the ladder back into the water again. 4 metre free-fall and a messy entry back into the North Sea. Then picked up and slammmed against the ladder again just to make sure that Mr. Murphy had made his point with all the proper puncutation.

I'm covered in bruises and very VERY lucky that I didn't get a leg stuck in between the ladder.

So.

This is obviously something that not everyone will find themselves doing but I learned an important lesson that I want to pass on.

if you don't have good grip on the ladder in waves....then push off and wait for the next good chance. Don't hang on and hope.....because that's going to hurt.

R..

Ouch, sounds very painful.
I hope you didn't hurt yourself too much.
Quick recovery

 

[DivingGal]

Classic... I laughed at the images presented here by a couple of members. I'm also very glad all came out relatively unscathed.

 

[Aeolus]

On a dive trip to Roatan, we were returning from a wall dive and I noticed that the sea grass was swaying a lot in the surge from the wave action (first clue). During the safety stop, I was about fourth in line and I saw that the people on the surface were moving vertically a lot (second clue). Apparently a thundertstorm had come up during the dive. The boat was moored and most of the divers were already back on the boat. I was the last one to return. Just as I started to move closer to the boat with one person at the bottom of the ladder and another about five feet back on the trail line - the mooring line broke. The boat rose up on a wave and moved back over the diver on the ladder and the one one the rope. Both had removed their fins in preparation to exit. The one that was on the ladder was hanging limp in the water so my buddy and I moved up to try to help him. At that point, he shook his head and started to put on his fins, so I moved toward the second diver and he gave me the OK sign. We regrouped at about 20 feet to allow the boat to get started and reposition for the pickup. We were recovered without further incident, but it did give us something to consider when exiting - do not get too close to the boat until it is time for you to exit.

 

[Diver0001]

Ouch, sounds very painful.
I hope you didn't hurt yourself too much.
Quick recovery

Thanks to all. I just want to make clear that I'm fine. I have some bruises but otherwise I'm not injured. Only the spot just below my knee on the left shin that got the biggest blow still hurts when I touch it.

R..

 

[The Kraken]

Think I'll get a dry suit inflation bottle filled with helium, hook it up to my BC and just float up out of the water into the sky.

Guess I'd have to make sure I surfaced upwind of the boat, huh?

 

[The Kraken]

Glad you weren't seriously injured, Rot.