A poll to assess your skill and fitness for climbing out of the water.

[swbca]

My first real ski boat was a new 1975 Nautique ($2600 without trailer) that came without a rear platform. Even my casual skier friends, men and women all who grew up on the lake could pop into the boat just like a competition diver getting out of the pool. It was effortless for most of them.

 

Most water skiers have been around boats and water for a good part of their life. You've develop skills and functional strengths that most other don't have.

 

I had a project to fix a deployment problem 68 feet down with my new submersible slalom course which could only be done from a stable position - on the ice 2 weeks ago. I had a few hours of work through a large hole in the ice.

 

While planning this I realized there was a small risk of ending up in the water . . then what ?

 

Yes this is an unusual circumstance, but it lets you recall your levels of agility around boats and water over your lifetime. Ice-Boat owners know some of the tricks . . its part of the their sport. They sail early and late over the winter season, rarely when the ice is safe.

[Rednucleus]

I am over 60 and no way would I play by a hole in the ice!!

[dvskier]

How about those of us who do not live in the frozen tundra?

[S1Pitts]

After skiing in cold water with a dry suit, I regularly remove the suit and go for a dip with the lake often sub 45 deg. The question is how well I could handle the wet winter cloths or how long it would take to remove enough to maneuver out of the water.

Getting out of the water into a boat with or without a swim grid does not pose a problem for me yet, thankfully.

[lpskier]

I always carry awls in my pockets when going on ice alone. If necessary, you can jam them in the ice to pull yourself out.

[ral]

I am under 55 and believe that increasing buoy count is better achieved in the likes of Florida behind a boat rather than near that hole…

[drmadd]

Had a good friend (water skier) in great physical shape, that lived on an island, on a nice little

lake in Wahington state. Always carried a 2x4 in case he fell thru the ice, so to pull himself out.

 

We essentially had this same conversation after a tournament, at his lake. About two years later, at about one in the AM, he fell thru the ice. He was on way home. He was found 3 months later.

 

Be careful!

[swbca]

I am over 55 and I know I could easily get out without the winter clothing. But with the winter clothing I would need to do something more than simply lifting myself at the edge of ice. Fortunately, the towel gives your hands or forearms some traction for lifting your weight out of the lake. Putting your hands or forearms directly on ice to lift yourself could be much harder.

 

@ral @Rednucleus

I wish I could spend winters in Florida. I can do my job from anywhere, but my family isn't mobile.

[BrennanKMN]

I have no idea.

 

Getting out of the water onto a ski boat platform in 60-70 degree water is very different than trying to haul yourself up onto something slippery with a water logged snow suit. Especially considering when you fall into the ice water, you're not prepared. The shock alone might make things more difficult than you expect. I don't mess with ice and I live in MN...

[thager]

I sure as 7734 wouldn't be working there alone!!!

[UWSkier]

In boots, no chance. Try to get on your boat's platform in jeans and tennis shoes once, then multiply difficulty by 20.

[Jody_Seal]

One of the problems with ski boats are that the manufacturers install grab handles in the wrong place.

Shoulders do not work like they did when many of us were younger so alternative procedures for egress must be learned.

On my previous 200s I would install a grab handle on the transom just below the lift ring.

I had to get real creative on my Shamrock.

I used a trick handle braid attached to a support bar that slides into a pole holder.

Even with a ladder under the platform this boat can be difficult to get up into out of the water.

 

[swbca]

@Jody_Seal @Bruce_Butterfield I see a lot of discussion about shoulders recently on this forum. rotator cuff surgeries seem to be popular with older skiers. Some attribute it to skiing but is it because of skiing, or because of falling while skiing ?

[swbca]

Its not in the photo, but when working through this hole in the ice I had a 5/8 knotted rope attached to an ice anchor to pull myself out if needed. So it's not quite as foolish as it looks.

[A_B]

Don't under estimate falling in water that cold and what impact it will have on your coordination and stamina. Many years ago we were pulling the course out and there was thin ice around the lake but not completley covered (so I was still young and foolish) and I left the drysuit in the car thinking we could just do it from the boat. Wrong. Somehow we didn't drop the cable quick enough and the loosend stainless cable got wrapped around the prop a couple times. I stripped down to my Jockeys and jumped in. Holy cow was that cold, and my hands got numb in a manner of minutes and I had a lot tougher time getting up on the swim platform. I barely had enough time in the water to get it unwrapped. I was done for the day.

 

Don't assume you will have the same physical capablities in that kind of water as you do in summer.

 

I would wear a drysuit and have something to create grab handles and possibly have a rope around my waist for my buddies to yank me out.

 

 

[ral]

@swbca, you are trying to hijack your own thread?

[6balls]

If that goes wrong you get a Darwin award in retrospect. Make the hole smaller and fish thru it at best.

[jimbrake]

That's a scary proposition. I'm 63 and I can still (but barely) pop out of the pool after a swim workout onto one foot and then standup (very un-Louganis). I don't go to my butt or knees and I don't suffer the embarrassment of crossing lanes to go to the steps, BUT if I had to get out of water that cold onto the ice, I think it'd be a way tougher, different deal and I don't think I'd purposely do it without having a guideline and backup on the ice. Being under the ice scares the crap out of me.

[BobF]

I fell through the ice on our river a couple of years ago while ice skating (pushing 60 at the time). The water under the ice was only 4-5 feet deep, so I contacted the bottom and didn't go completely under. I will say that wearing hockey skates and full insulated coveralls, I don't think I could've simply kicked myself back up over the edge of the hole. My son with a hockey stick helped pull me out. Friggin' cold.

[Skoot1123]

Never stop doing your pull-ups - ever!

[Vernon Reeve]

This seems like good advice. Basically, wait for cold shock to pass, kick your feet up behind you, and army crawl back onto the ice while kicking your feet.

[Keukaskier]

I always wear ice picks and check the ice thickness in multiple areas before I go ice boating. And never alone

 

 

[ski6jones]

Hard NO to all of that stuff you said.

[swbca]

THIS IS THE EXPERT VIDEO first posted by @Vernon Reeve but edited down to the to get to information fast. Having ice picks designed for this type of thing are also a good idea.

 

[lpskier]

@Vernon Reeve @swbca I have to say that video is pretty darned insightful. That could be the single best, most useful and certainly most life saving piece of advice I’ve gleaned in the 12 +/- years as a devotee of this site. Thanks for posing that video

 

[Vernon Reeve]

Here's another showing the same thing. This guy is a real trooper jumping in multiple times. Showing without ice picks, with ice picks, and with professional help.

I'm watching this thinking, "Nooo, don't jump in again..." However, not much difference than us jumping in to water ski early spring:)