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Knife

treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
Today I went swimming "off piste" in that I went open water swimming in an popular and approved lake but with no life guard etc. Now I am not a great swimmer but I have a couple of Winters with at least one hour per week swimming and I have completed several tri's and LD tri's - anyway I got badly tangled up in weeds to the point that I had to stop and take stock.

Tomorrow I am going to my local diving supplies for a stainless steel knife - Discuss!

Comments

  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    Firstly were you on your own? If so, I think you're extremely stupid.

    There is always the possibility of getting in to trouble swimming, however good a swimmer you are.



    I used to know a guy back where I used to live in hereford, who was ex-SAS and a very very confident swimmer. He was the dad of one of my mates who went on the bus.

    He lived in a village called fownhope, which lies on the river wye, and used to go to the pub in a small village on the other side of the river. Going round would be a 20mile or so round journey, so he used to swim across the river with his clothes in a bag, and put them back on the other side, he would then swim back later in the night.

    He did this regularly for about 10 years, then one day he never came back. His body was found a few miles down the river, it was believed he may have got caught up in the weeds, as he had removed the knife he kept for such an event.



    Just my opinion
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    No I was not on my own, there was a local kayak club on the lake who I asked to keep an eye on me , but this was a coincidence, conditions were calm and the bottom line is ... I put my life on the line after doing my own risk assessment....and just like the old days when I swam out to the island with my mates (no wet suit) I lived!..... A victory for the non pc brigade ...or a bloody wet funeral!
  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    As you say, it is always down to you whether you want to put your own life on the line.

    Personally I have had far too many people die around me recently, that I believe most people take their own life for granted, and put themselves at needless risk.

    I also spend all day in a hospital often talking to people who have done stupid things and will live to regret them (like the young guy who decided to go for a midnight swim in hotel swimming pool, despite the warning signs. It had just been chlorinated, which severely burnt his lungs, he now can't walk for more than 5 mins because he can't breath. He will be like that for the rest of his life).
  • honchohoncho Posts: 23
    you made a mistake i dont think u need a knife,unless u are going to make the same mistake again.but then again u didnt need a knife the first time

    theres no place for knives in triathlon
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    I'd take pride in guttin' you boy.............
  • Bad luck. I've been in a similar situation, completely ensnared by weeds but luckily was able to stand up and just touch the ground, so I could eventually walk out (though I'd've been stuffed if I was under 6"). It was in a French river with several other people, including my wife, swimming close to me - the last thing I wanted was for any of them to swim into the weed block in order to try and help me, because they'd've hit the same problem I had. I'm not sure about a knife - I think you'd just look a bit Walter Mitty'ish going into the water with a knife belt, would probably get arrested under whatever new anti-knife laws get introduced, and would never be able to cut your way through a serious weed bank in any case. I suspect that the answer is just to avoid the place where you got caught up and to try to follow in someone elses wake.

  • What a stupid comment Treefrog!.



    R u sure that you are in the right sport, i.e. - should you not be sitting up on some tree stand as your name implies? Focus on blasting away some Bambi's with your redneck buddies and leave the lakes safe for the rest of us!
  • honchohoncho Posts: 23
    I'd take pride in guttin' you boy.............
    how am i supposed to take this comment? its obviously not a joke.
  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    If it makes you feel safer then get one,chances are it will get you more tangled up as the divers knives are usually attached to you leg and are more likely to get snagged on weeds whereas a wetsuit clad leg should slip through them.Best option is similar to quicksand,don't struggle and just reverse so as to take the taughtness from the weeds and slip slowly out of the weed bed.

    As an aside would movie quotes please be placed in inverted commas and to avoid confusion add the characters name.The quote given is used twice in the film by 2 different characters and in two different contexts.Don't they teach anything in school these days.
  • ashthetashashthetash Posts: 164
    divers knives are usually attached to you leg
    My first priority was always to have a knife somewhere in around my waist area. This was precisely because I wanted to be able to get at it with either hand even if my legs were tangled up.



    I am not sure how this would be attached to a wetsuit though.
  • cranmerecranmere Posts: 34
    A small knife can easily be carried in a waist sheath, try one of the small Finnish plastic-handled skinning knives which has a good, secure sheath.



    I'm rather sad to see the knee-jerk "Knives are dangerous and illegal" attitude appearing here. I nearly always have a knife/multitool about my person somewhere, to open parcels, cut my knitting yarn, slice my lunchtime apple, mend my computer printer, do up the screws in my glasses etc. Those of you who are horrified at the idea should perhaps consider that the Government nannies have successfully brainwashed you.
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    I got me a big machete and I aim to spear me a big pike for starters and than to get me a caught up tri-ath-lete for main vittles......boy
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