one lucky lady

when I was working in Alaska a colleague called Ed told me why he stopped working on boats. Well he couldn’t swim, fell off the boat he was working on in full gear, the boat was turning around to get him and he was drowning, he realised the boat wasn’t  going to get to him and he was done for. Suddenly a voice in his head said “the crabs are going to eat your eyes” he reckoned that gave him the energy to kick and thrash enough so that the boat got to him.

True cool story 😀

I think the mash nails it:

Ten hours in sea ‘more fun’ than ten hours on cruise ship

She either jumped or was pushed

Agreed, you don’t just “fall off the back” of a ship like that!

Agreed, you don’t just “fall off the back” of a ship like that!

When I was in Hobart we had 3 cruise ships a week coming through, I have no doubt most of those passengers could have fallen off a boat quite easily.

Probably a bit more to this story still to come .

you don’t just “fall off the back” of a ship like that!

Why not?

I’ve lost count of the people who have just fallen off Sauchiehall Street and it doesn’t rock from side to side.

Does silicone float …

She jumped off after having an argument with her fella apparently.

If that’s the case then she must be a “Louise” and he should dump her pronto, attention seeking bint

Theres a really lovely bit of radio on Jarvis Cocker’s Wireless Nights featuring a woman who fell off a North Sea ferry in the dark

https://www.sail-worldcruising.com/n/All-by-the-book-but-sailor-has-narrow-escape/-72279

Very impressed she had the will to keep going for 10 hours, I think I’d have given up and drowned after a couple of hours….

Well she had to live so she could go back and win the argument.

She was just sitting at the back of the ship and fell off. Yeah, right.

one lucky lady

I always think, in these cases, the ones with the luck don’t actually fall off a ship into the sea and stay there for 10 hrs wondering if they are going to die. Or, more lucky are the ones who don’t go on a cruise in the first place.

She was just sitting at the back of the ship and fell off. Yeah, right.

This is it for me, if she said “I was standing on the railings at the back to get a good selfie and fell in”, then maybe. But not “just sitting there, then splash”.

Good to see the muster for the Ship was in order for breakfast.. That’s good practice to count all passengers (they do in the evening after supper, again at breakfast)

Obvz don’t know the whole story, but clearly the alarm was raised early morning becuse the ship had been steaming for at least 7hrs and too late to turn back.

Its easy to fall off a ship of that size, the railings are only waist high.. though does beg the question why the rear railings were that low at the rear of the ship.. dunno, I’m not a Marine Architect. If she’d fallen (I’m of the assumption she did fall) then far better to fall off the back than on the bow or side gunwales because you’d get dragged under into the props..

Sea was 24-26C so pleasant enough for a paddle. She’d only moved about 1k from where she landed, thankfully the Med has little tide and current movement so easy to trace back the COG.

She is fit and healthy, that’s got to help but did wonder why she was still in clothes?? Unless she used her top as a buoyancy bag by capturing air.. but looked like from the photos she’s still wearing jeans of some sort. They’d be the first things off as they soak water and weigh you down, could be used to fill each leg with air and use as a lilo 👍🍆

Interesting story.

Its easy to fall off a ship of that size, the railings are only waist high

Only if you’re 8+ ft tall

but looked like from the photos she’s still wearing jeans of some sort.

They were little shorts not full jeans.

to get a good selfie 

Ah, that says it all.

They’d be the first things off as they soak water and weigh you down, could be used to fill each leg with air and use as a lilo

I’m not sure water weighs you down in water. Clothing slows down the movement of water over your skin, so there would be a small reduction in heat loss (I know it was 20 odd degrees but that is still less than body temperature, and water has a high thermal capacity). Clothing does hinder your ability to swim but as she was 60 miles from land that wasn’t ever going to be an issue.

Clothing does hinder your ability to swim

And also tread water, surely?

Its the med, so as long as it wasnt choppy you can just lie back and relax and float with head well above water.

Boredom would have got me long before 10 hours though 🙁

Wet clothing only weighs you down when you try and climb out of the water.  Its gets tight and clammy though which might make swimming difficult.

Its  like a flooded dry suit if you are scuba diving.  Not nice if its cold and makes it very hard to get out of the water but it doesn’t drag you down.

I was told that in the last 10 years about 20 people have fallen off cross channel and north sea ferries, only 2 survived…

Good to see the muster for the Ship was in order for breakfast.. That’s good practice to count all passengers (they do in the evening after supper, again at breakfast)

How do they manage that when not everyone eats breakfast, or has dinner at the same time? Some people will eat more than once, some groups will move from restaurant to restaurant as different members eat at different ones.

How do they manage that

Pretty sure most of his post was complete waffle tbh. As a massively experienced cruiser (1), the only time they kept track of you is to see who’s got off and who hasn’t made it back on at port visits.

I was told that in the last 10 years about 20 people have fallen off cross channel and north sea ferries, only 2 survived…

I lived near to RAF Boulmer who used to pick people out of the North Sea, the local GP’s were on the list to go with them. The survival time in cold weather is well, it’s more like body recovery there

Good to see the muster for the Ship was in order for breakfast.. That’s good practice to count all passengers (they do in the evening after supper, again at breakfast)

Nonsense.

Its the med, so as long as it wasnt choppy you can just lie back and relax and float with head well above water.

Most lifejackets these days come with spray hoods which cover your face as you can end up with a quantity of spray in your face. Everything adds up. She did well to survive with no lifejacket, but it is hard to understand how she fell in. I guess statistically it will happen sooner or later.

Agreed, you don’t just “fall off the back” of a ship like that!

Its worth watching Saving Lives at Sea (new series on tonight, I think?). People manage to fall in water everywhere. (Last series they dragged an old guy out of the Thames who had climbed up to balance on the barrier while taking a selfie.)

Around here people manage to die by falling in the river or marina every couple of years. Always when drunk. They go to some ridiculous lengths to get in the water. There are regular campaigns by relatives to barrier off another section which no sensible or sober person would ever have a problem with.

I was told that in the last 10 years about 20 people have fallen off cross channel and north sea ferries, only 2 survived…

The temperature is the killer.  Listening to an expert on the radio and at temperature of 20 degrees you can typically survive for 25 hours with some people have recorded well over 30.  However at lower temperatures (think it was 5 degrees) it goes down to 1-2 hours.

Somouk – where did you read that?  There was a pic  doing the rounds yesterday which showed a ships rail with a bunch of yellow and black safety tape on it – difficult to see from the angle but possibly something missing on the lower part so someone could have slipped under.  (The caption was so vague you couldn’t even be sure it was from this vessel but that was the implication).

bikebuoy – are you looking at pictures of her coming out the water or once the Rescuers have given her a tshirt etc?

Good to see the muster for the Ship was in order for breakfast.. That’s good practice to count all passengers (they do in the evening after supper, again at breakfast)

No, that was the jail you were in! Either that or you were on a very odd cruise. 😉

 the railings are only waist high..

I know I’m a short arse but……

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I heard they had CCTV of her going over?

Do you think she’s after a film deal?

I believe this was explained in detail in Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected.

Probably a bit more to this story still to come

This IMO.

but it is hard to understand how she fell in

Gravity when mixed with the right combination of alcohol and stupidity can result in what would otherwise be unexpected outcomes. Whatever happened in this case I’m sure gravity was not acting alone.

The metro this morning claimed she jumped. Apparently one of the staff saw her.

They said it was from deck 7. Not sure how high this is but the ship is bloody high and there’s nay way I’d want to jump from the top, middle or even lower decks… still looks like a 15m drop even from the lower decks!!

Definatly more to this story and I wouldn’t be surprised if some sort of charge is brought against her if it’s proven that she jumped or fell over board due to carelessness. The boat turned round straight away but couldn’t locate her.  The passengers have all been given some reimbursement as they couldn’t dock at a scheduled location due to the time spent.