A couple of weeks ago I was in a marina that had a locked entrance. The
lock was small (4-6 boats), and there was hardly any wind.

Coincidentally, a customer, who has a 40 ft power boat was visiting the same
marina. On the Sunday morning I noticed that he was standing on his
flybridge alone. I wandered over to his boat and went aboard.

He told me that he was watching the "fun" in the lock. He was moored no
more than 100ft from the lock, with a view straight in. He said that nearly
every boat that went in was getting into difficulties.

We chatted for a few minutes, and saw one 30 ft yacht try to wedge itself
between the lock walls. Later, we watched a 40+ foot old wooden motor boat
get into difficulties. The bow seemed to be secured, but the stern was
drifting away from the wall. There was lots of shouting, and we were smugly
commenting on their incompetence when there was a splash!!

I'd like to think that I react quickly in an emergency. However, the brain
doesn't work that way. I said that I thought that someone had fallen in.
Roger said that he thought so too. Roger then said that maybe we should go
to help. It was only at that point that we realised that a real emergency
existed, and we ran like mad.

It only took a few seconds to cover the 50 yards, but when we got there the
lockeeper was already in the water, supporting the 65(?) y/o woman who had
fallen in. They were holding onto a vertical rope on the lock wall. The
motor boat's stern was about 4-5 feet from the wall - and it was threatening
to come in and crush the pair in the water. I sat on the wall and was able
to get my feet into a position to stop the boat coming against the wall.
Roger is shouting at the skipper to switch his engines off. The skipper
seems to be more concerned with getting his boat alongside the lock wall-
and doesn't seem to have figured out that he might kill his wife (and the
lockeeper). At this point, I have a rope from the boat, and I also have my
feet on the stern -holding it off. I'm now also shouting at the skipper to
"turn the Fu*king engines off".

The engines got switched off, and we pulled the boat against the wall, a
couple of feet forward of the pair in the water. They pulled themselves
over to the boarding ladder of the boat. The skipper (husband) leaned over
the stern and told his wife to climb up the ladder. She tried, and said
that she couldn't. The skipper told her again to climb up! At this point I
said to him (our heads were only a foot apart) "she's in shock from the fall
and the cold". The husband didn't seem to understand.

Anyway, the lockeeper pushed her up onto the ladder, and he followed.

The lockeeper then got onto the wall - and expected a "thank you" from the
skipper. He was dissappointed. He even passed a comment about "seeing you
next week".

The keeper went up to the controls and closed the inner gates, then opened
the outer gates. The motor boat sailed off without a word of thanks.



With hindsight, I realised that the lockeeper had gone straight into the
water - without hesitation. He didn't have time to empty his pockets.
When *we* started to run, the lockeeper was still in his observation tower,
and less than 10 seconds later he was in the water. I suspect that he had a
wallet in his pocket - any money in it was ruined. He wasn't even offered a
bottle of wine.



This page shows the lock in question.
http://www.island-harbour.co.uk/getting.html


Regards


Donal
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