You all need to defer to Commode Joe's expertise on the subject of unzipped
flies.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Commodore Joe Redcloud" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 09:59:04 -0800, (Thom Stewart)
wrote:

Thanks Gary,

I was just about to post the same thing about the " unzipped fly myth."




It's almost certain that if you are ever a MOB, you'll be recovered with
your
zipper down, Thom.

Meanwhile, when I was much younger, I had two occasions where I had to
pull
somebody back onboard while at anchor because they fell overboard while
answering the call of nature. It's a pretty common accident, although it
isn't
always a fatality. If it happened in cold water, or while alone, its more
serious. In the cases above, it was cause for a lot of teasing for a long
time
afterward, but no one died.

There is no way to say it is a myth, since I doubt there is a central
record
kept. I think it's extremely safe to say it has happened many times, and
some
times it has been fatal. I know of one case in Stamford, CT that was a
fatality,
so that automatically takes it out of the "myth" category. The guy was a
liveaboard, and it was early spring. He was alone and the water was so
cold that
he ran out of steam before being able to rescue himself. His fly was open
when
he was recovered.







Commodore Joe Redcloud