Hacker News Reader

Comment by hinkley | Hacker News Reader

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?

View on HN

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.

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.)

Killing the power can help in some situations, but nowhere near all of them. A small boat moves very differently than a person treading water. It drifts in the wind. A swimmer doesn't. Even with the engine off, there is a good chance that he wouldn't get back on. And a one-foot wave isn't so small when your eyes are only a couple inches above the water. You need a positive connection between you and boat.

The tethered dead man's cutoff is a norm on small outboards. I seem to recall it is even a legal requirement to use it in some jurisdictions (including clipping it to the skipper's body). But on anything out in the ocean like this with a larger outboard with a separate steering station it is not something that is normal at all. There are products that achieve the same outcome including wearable beacons that will shut the motor off if you get separated, but they are not common and a little expensive.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com