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How to float using pants
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Looks simple enough... But I question if I'd be able to do that in 50-something degree water, while wearing deck boots and rain bibs.
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Same. Camp Napawon, Wisconsin. I think it's part of the swimming merit badge. Boy Scouts was awesome for a suburban kid who didn't have outdoorsy parents.
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We did our in the community pool. Getting your pants off while treading water was interesting.
Sadly no longer a requirement of that merit badge
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My Jr. High school had swimming as part of their PE for a semester and we did the pants thing in that class. We also practiced a number of other skills to avoid drowning, like taking a canoe out to the middle of the pool, capsizing it and then dealing with the situation as if we were in the middle of a lake. Without PFD's of coarse, because they assumed we were dumb kids that would be out in the middle of a lake in a canoe without PFD's.
I think we did some other emergency survival, keep from drowning stuff, but I don't remember what, so I'll likely drown one of those comes up.
My kids have gone through all the swim classes at the local community center. I mentioned the technique of using there blue jeans as flotation devices and they looked at me like I was a crazy old man.
I think we did some other emergency survival, keep from drowning stuff, but I don't remember what, so I'll likely drown one of those comes up.
My kids have gone through all the swim classes at the local community center. I mentioned the technique of using there blue jeans as flotation devices and they looked at me like I was a crazy old man.
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Much, much better idea is to be WEARING your PFD when the need to go in the water can't be avoided. Mike makes it look easy there in that still water by the dock, but when you go into the open ocean, chances are that you'll just drown yourself the quicker by attempting that maneuver. One of the things you want to do when you go into this cold NW water is to conserve as much energy as possible. You have about an hour before you go unconscious, more if you're carrying an extra layer of blubber. The more you splash around, the quicker that you'll succumb to hypothermia. Even swimming is not a good idea. Better to hug your legs up to your chest and hope help arrives in time. For that you'll need flotation...
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Smart man. :applause:
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In the army I learned to swim in jump boots and full load of gear, ammo and my weapon. As I recall this test caused alot of people to wash out.
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In cold water I would consider 5-10 min about the max time you can survive with out floatation. If your wearing a life jacket 20-30 min.
The guy was very lucky. He was big. His boat ran onto South Beach and thank goodness some buddies showed up and redirected search crew from beach to likely autopilot course. He was able to get to his pocket knife and cut the buoys loose and stuff under his tee shirt. I'm remembering 45 minutes but you could be right. Memory is not one of my strong suits.
Learned it in Navy boot camp 53 years ago. Only then you jumped into a pool with mean guys on the sides of the pool with very long poles used to keep you from going to the sides of the pool if you panicked. I am sure in today's Navy that would not be politically correct. But, it sure got everyone to pay attention and learn that trick quickly.
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