Yachting Monthly - July 2018

Brian Jannsen / Alamy

A wee tip
Several years ago, my partner Bill and I were
made aware of a study of men drowned in a
Scandinavian harbour, a large proportion of
whom had their zips undone.
Among Bill’s obsessions were scientific
method and the necessity of accurate
facts and statistics to back them up: he
has nothing to do with woolly phrases
like ‘studies have shown’ and ‘scientists
believe’. So recently, I spent an interesting
afternoon trawling the web for a survey
of ‘Men drowned with their zips undone’
and found no trace of whatever study had
fascinated us. So the above paragraph
remains, regrettably, merely anecdotal.
What I did find was a 2013 study by
Karlstad University in Sweden, which
considered 4,000 cases of drowning
between 1997 and 2011 and found that
men accounted for 80% of fatalities. ‘It
was surprising that there were so many,
many more men. It raises many questions,’
said Johanna Gustavsson, lecturer in risk
management at Karlstad University and
one of the study authors. According to
the study, every second male drowning
victim had alcohol in his body, rising to
65% among those in the 45-64 age group.
These figures are confirmed in the UK
by the Royal Life Saving National Drowning
Report 2015 which stated: ‘This year’s figure
of 271 drowning deaths is an increase of
five on the 266 drowning deaths recorded
in 2013/14. Sex and age group: 80% of all
drowning deaths were male.’ No mention
was made of alcohol, still fewer undone zips.
I have observed sailors weaving back to
their boats after an evening’s merrymaking
all my life, on foot or by dinghy. We’ve
all done it. It came close to home when
a few years ago, a lifelong friend and
his companion went back
to their boat after a boozy
evening in the yacht club

• one of them fell in, the
  other tried to save him,
  both drowned.
  Ladies – as you return
  to your boat after a happy
  evening in the pub or
  tavern, do not let your
  bloke ‘check the anchor’
  or whatever your preferred
  euphemism is. Make him
  go below and pee ladylike,
  which could save him a
  tumble as well as death by
  drowning. Anyone finding
  my concern exaggerated

should look up vagal inhibition, which

I haven’t the space to go into, but deals

(among other things) with fainting while

urinating standing up. It happened

to my son in his upstairs loo. After

several hours of observation in A&E,

he returned safe and unharmed apart

from a bruise or two – at least he didn’t

drown. Laurel Cooper

Beat the Dutch

I’ve just sailed to and from Stellendam

on the Haringvliet, Netherlands and was

boarded by Dutch Customs & Immigration

a few miles off the coast. They were very

pleasant and polite and confirmed that

red diesel in the tank was no problem

as long as I had the receipts, which

I duly showed them. They were unable

to comment officially on the Belgian

attitude – I suspect they were simply

bored stiff. In a week’s sail from Tollesbury

to Holland and back (admittedly in mid

January), I saw not one other yacht on the

move. Alan Wilson

Starting

them early

Keen sailor and regular

Yachting Monthly reader

Chris Lowe is certainly

putting his son Tom

on the right path by

introducing him to Britain’s

best sailing magazine

at a young age. The six-

month-old will experience

life at sea on board

a Jeanneau Sun Fast

32i when the family

sail to the Isle of Wight

later this season.

Have you seen

this yacht?

Can any Yachting Monthly readers shed

light on the identity of this yacht [see picture

above]? The photograph was on display at

the Residential Education Centre in Ferryside

near Carmarthen in Wales, but no one local

seems to know its origin. Please contact

YM or [email protected] if you have the

answer. Dave Smith

Food for thought

In Graham Snook’s article ‘A Long Weekend:

The River Fal’ (YM, May 2018), under the

notes on Mylor Yacht Harbour he states that

‘The Mylor Yacht Club cafe and Castaways

serve food daily.’

By way of clarification, the two eateries

in the harbour are Castaways and Cafe

Mylor, but Mylor Yacht Club also extends

a warm welcome to visiting sailors. Details

of opening times and further information

can be found on the yacht club website,

http://www.myloryachtclub.org.uk, or you can

give the club manager Mark a ring on

01326 374391. John Bray

After a night of drinking, use the heads

Do you recognise this boat?

LETTERS

A young YM reader

WIN
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