Nick Schiller, Chair of East Anglian Divers( Branch 11), talks about lessons learned from a boat recovery accident that left him with serious injuries. Interview by Simon Rogerson
SCUBASAFETY
East Anglian Divers( l-r) Barry Lister, Stan Moore( DO), Sam Lister, Paul Whistler and Simon Phelan with one of the club RIBs
Stay clear of the Red Zone
Nick Schiller, Chair of East Anglian Divers( Branch 11), talks about lessons learned from a boat recovery accident that left him with serious injuries. Interview by Simon Rogerson
It was a relatively bumpy day, but well within the capability of the boat and the people on board. At low tide, we went out, had a great dive and headed back. When we came back, the plan was to recover the RIB at an artificial bay at Sea Palling. It’ s a sandy beach, and the breakwaters gave us some protection. It was a bit lumpy in the bay, so we paused and had a discussion about how best to recover the RIB. It’ s a 6.5-metre Humber Destroyer with the consoles moved forward from their normal position, a hydraulic steering system and a cylinder rack. It’ s a heavy boat, but handles beautifully in bad weather.
Anyway, it was very lumpy on the north and west sides of the bay, but in the corner a fishing boat was being pulled out, and it was pretty flat there. So, we decided to go for a conventional
recovery. We headed over, everyone jumped out of the boat and I went around the front to take the painter and connect it to the trailer to pull the boat onto the beach, rather than directly onto the trailer.
Then two big waves came in from nowhere, picked up the RIB and drove it onto the beach. I was in the worst place at that point. As soon as the boat hit my shoulder, I knew there was nothing I could do and that I was in
" Then two big waves came in from nowhere, picked up the RIB and drove it onto the beach " real danger. I thought that going floppy was probably the only response; fighting it would make it worse.
I’ m not sure exactly what happened because I was knocked out, but I think I was projected forward. I ended up under the trailer, which was actually a pretty good place to be because the boat couldn’ t crush me there. I regained consciousness a couple of seconds later under the trailer and rolled onto my back. Then I saw the bottom of my leg waving in the wrong direction and realised I had sustained a serious injury.
I pulled myself up and bellowed for someone to call an ambulance. One of my buddies, helped by an RNLI Lifeguard, dragged me up the beach, holding me under my arms. I spent 45 minutes lying on the beach waiting for the ambulance and the Coastguard to arrive. The RNLI Lifeguards offered me Entonox, which I had to refuse because of course I had been diving. So, I asked for some oxygen, not that it was going to do me much good but it made me feel better! [ Editor says: Entonox, often called‘ gas and air’, is a 50 % nitrous oxide and 50 % oxygen mix used for fast acting pain relief. It can worsen decompression sickness and diffuse into bubble-filled spaces faster than nitrogen can escape, causing those bubbles to grow. It can make neurological DCI or arterial gas embolism much worse.]
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