4 ms·

>> Sascha had gone to the side to relieve himself and simply fell overboard. He’d reached for the railing to grab it on the way down, but he missed. And that wa

>> Sascha had gone to the side to relieve himself and simply fell overboard. He’d reached for the railing to grab it on the way down, but he missed. And that was it — his boat sped away without him, nearly 40 miles away from shore. There is an old story told about how most drowning victims are found with their fly open... drunk people peeing into the water slip and fall into that water. I don't know anything about this particular incident, but peeing off a dock or over the edge of a boat is always dangerous. You are doing something very routine at the point where land meets water. Even without alcohol/drugs, overconfidence with a routine task quickly leads to big mistakes. (I saw similar incidents with people who decided pee over the edge of cliffs. Don't do that.)

mozman 4y ago
... where should you pee?
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > where should you pee? The head. If there isn’t one, give a buddy a heads up.
  - jacurtis 4y ago
    In this case there was no buddy either. Really if you ever need to go the edge of the boat you should be tied in. This is especially true with sailboats since you often work at the edge of the boat doing things like pulling lines or other actions where you can easily lose balance or the boat can quickly shift. If you are sailing in open water like this, miles from shore, especially solo, you should be tying yourself whenever you go to the edge of the boat. This is standard equipment on most boats, a full-body harness (often intergrated with an CO2 inflated life vest and water activated beacon). There is a big industrial caribiner style clip you clip onto the railing or similar with so that if you fall overboard you can pull yourself back. The rig is similar to what you would wear while roofing a house. This applies to all offshore boating, but if you are ever boating solo, even more precaution should be taken to do this.
- dzhiurgis 4y ago
  Cut a piece of plastic bottle to make a portable urinal
- oh_my_goodness 4y ago
  Who is downvoting this? This is very literally the key life-and-death question. Too bad if there's some humor in it. You have to live with that sometimes.
- wyldfire 4y ago
  Deactivate the propulsion before peeing. Maybe even drop anchor? If you fall overboard you could probably get back onboard.
  - sandworm101 4y ago
    Anchors are only a thing very very close to land. Few boats carry a thousand-foot anchor rope.
    - rationalist 4y ago
      Anchors do not need to touch the bottom of the ocean for them to slow the watercraft down or reduce its drift. Anchors are very much a thing far away from shore.
- wiml 4y ago
  You should clip on. If you're moving around anywhere you could possibly fall over, and you're alone or the water isn't calm or you're far from shore or basically any other risk factor, you clip yourself to the jacklines first.
- blamazon 4y ago
  If you're alone and can't stop and don't have anything the other commenters mentioned and your boat is fiberglass and in good condition? Just pee inboard on the deck in a place with good drainage and wash it off. Can't be much worse than the droppings that birds provide. But, personally in general (car camping especially) I like the humble pee bottle. At Walmart in the RV section they have the blue chemicals used in portable toilets and plane lavatories and the like. You can get it in a little tide pod format. Cuts the smell and keeps things sterile. Drop that into any container (preferably non-translucent and 2+ liters) add a little water and you've got your own miniature portable toilet. You can also buy a real portable toilet, they are quite nice these days, but can be bulky. The keyword to find them is "cartridge toilet" because typically the waste volume is a container that is detached and carried to the dump point. I once hiked 3 miles holding one of these portable toilets just so I could take a dramatically scenic (and civilized) poop and it was absolutely worth it.
  - jimnotgym 4y ago
    I think a bucket is more traditional...
  - sandworm101 4y ago
    Or at least pee from behind a railing of some sort so that when you slip you won't fall outside the boat.
    - KMag 4y ago
      Note that the railing has to be high enough that even with the swaying of the boat, it's not going to hit you below your center of mass. A lot of boat railings aren't tall enough.
- yafbum 4y ago
  Bucket Gatorade bottle (the dude even had his own supply according to TFA) Worst case, on deck near the drain holes, then wash it off
JumpCrisscross 4y ago
> doing something very routine at the point where land meets water Men are also doing something that typically requires two hands on an unstable platform with limited visual cues for the horizon.
- LarryMullins 4y ago
  > requires two hands That's quite a humble brag!
  - mhb 4y ago
    Two guys are relieving themselves into a river. First guy: Boy, that water is cold. Second guy: And deep, too!
- hinkley 4y ago
  More serious answer. The drunk man’s lean is a tale as old as time. Get your zipper down, get situated, and your left arm goes against the wall to stop the world from moving out from under you. You should only need both hands for a moment. Less if you’ve practiced. Don’t some boats have a tether to the power key, like treadmills?
  - Mixtape 4y ago
    If my memory serves, every boat I've ever been on has had one. In my experience though, it rarely gets used, especially if the individual driving is also fishing. The article states that Scheller was trolling at the time, so he likely wanted to be able to leave the console and grab his rod at a moment's notice. Reckless as it may be, driving with the power key attached to the console in some way rather than yourself makes that process faster and much easier. It's a trade-off between convenience and safety that, unfortunately, leads many to favor convenience a majority of the time.
    - matthewdgreen 4y ago
      Seems like there should be some inexpensive way to buy/built a BTLE “kill switch” that hooks onto your belt. (And indeed a simple search turns up such a product for about $200.)
DonHopkins 4y ago
Also true of the tourist corpses fished out of the icy canals of Amsterdam in winter.
mmaunder 4y ago
Usually told at the the start of a trip as the “harnesses always on when solo on deck or at night” policy is explained to crew.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

mozman 4y ago

... where should you pee?

JumpCrisscross 4y ago
> where should you pee? The head. If there isn’t one, give a buddy a heads up.
- jacurtis 4y ago
  In this case there was no buddy either. Really if you ever need to go the edge of the boat you should be tied in. This is especially true with sailboats since you often work at the edge of the boat doing things like pulling lines or other actions where you can easily lose balance or the boat can quickly shift. If you are sailing in open water like this, miles from shore, especially solo, you should be tying yourself whenever you go to the edge of the boat. This is standard equipment on most boats, a full-body harness (often intergrated with an CO2 inflated life vest and water activated beacon). There is a big industrial caribiner style clip you clip onto the railing or similar with so that if you fall overboard you can pull yourself back. The rig is similar to what you would wear while roofing a house. This applies to all offshore boating, but if you are ever boating solo, even more precaution should be taken to do this.
dzhiurgis 4y ago
Cut a piece of plastic bottle to make a portable urinal
oh_my_goodness 4y ago
Who is downvoting this? This is very literally the key life-and-death question. Too bad if there's some humor in it. You have to live with that sometimes.
wyldfire 4y ago
Deactivate the propulsion before peeing. Maybe even drop anchor? If you fall overboard you could probably get back onboard.
- sandworm101 4y ago
  Anchors are only a thing very very close to land. Few boats carry a thousand-foot anchor rope.
  - rationalist 4y ago
    Anchors do not need to touch the bottom of the ocean for them to slow the watercraft down or reduce its drift. Anchors are very much a thing far away from shore.
wiml 4y ago
You should clip on. If you're moving around anywhere you could possibly fall over, and you're alone or the water isn't calm or you're far from shore or basically any other risk factor, you clip yourself to the jacklines first.
blamazon 4y ago
If you're alone and can't stop and don't have anything the other commenters mentioned and your boat is fiberglass and in good condition? Just pee inboard on the deck in a place with good drainage and wash it off. Can't be much worse than the droppings that birds provide. But, personally in general (car camping especially) I like the humble pee bottle. At Walmart in the RV section they have the blue chemicals used in portable toilets and plane lavatories and the like. You can get it in a little tide pod format. Cuts the smell and keeps things sterile. Drop that into any container (preferably non-translucent and 2+ liters) add a little water and you've got your own miniature portable toilet. You can also buy a real portable toilet, they are quite nice these days, but can be bulky. The keyword to find them is "cartridge toilet" because typically the waste volume is a container that is detached and carried to the dump point. I once hiked 3 miles holding one of these portable toilets just so I could take a dramatically scenic (and civilized) poop and it was absolutely worth it.
- jimnotgym 4y ago
  I think a bucket is more traditional...
- sandworm101 4y ago
  Or at least pee from behind a railing of some sort so that when you slip you won't fall outside the boat.
  - KMag 4y ago
    Note that the railing has to be high enough that even with the swaying of the boat, it's not going to hit you below your center of mass. A lot of boat railings aren't tall enough.
yafbum 4y ago
Bucket Gatorade bottle (the dude even had his own supply according to TFA) Worst case, on deck near the drain holes, then wash it off

JumpCrisscross 4y ago

> doing something very routine at the point where land meets water Men are also doing something that typically requires two hands on an unstable platform with limited visual cues for the horizon.

LarryMullins 4y ago
> requires two hands That's quite a humble brag!
- mhb 4y ago
  Two guys are relieving themselves into a river. First guy: Boy, that water is cold. Second guy: And deep, too!
hinkley 4y ago
More serious answer. The drunk man’s lean is a tale as old as time. Get your zipper down, get situated, and your left arm goes against the wall to stop the world from moving out from under you. You should only need both hands for a moment. Less if you’ve practiced. Don’t some boats have a tether to the power key, like treadmills?
- Mixtape 4y ago
  If my memory serves, every boat I've ever been on has had one. In my experience though, it rarely gets used, especially if the individual driving is also fishing. The article states that Scheller was trolling at the time, so he likely wanted to be able to leave the console and grab his rod at a moment's notice. Reckless as it may be, driving with the power key attached to the console in some way rather than yourself makes that process faster and much easier. It's a trade-off between convenience and safety that, unfortunately, leads many to favor convenience a majority of the time.
  - matthewdgreen 4y ago
    Seems like there should be some inexpensive way to buy/built a BTLE “kill switch” that hooks onto your belt. (And indeed a simple search turns up such a product for about $200.)

DonHopkins 4y ago

Also true of the tourist corpses fished out of the icy canals of Amsterdam in winter.

mmaunder 4y ago

Usually told at the the start of a trip as the “harnesses always on when solo on deck or at night” policy is explained to crew.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]