Re: [Paddlewise] swim for it?

On 11/8/07, Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com> wrote:
>
>
> In terms a dumb chemist might understand, I think this means we don't know
> what proportion of bodies found dead swam, and which proportion, instead,
> held onto the hull until they passed out and could not hold on any longer.


Nor does it quantify who might  have drowned because they were incapacitated
in other ways (drunk, for instance). A rather large proportion of people who
fall out of boats have been drinking.

But I think that there is some value in a study that tells us that a person
might be better off making a judgement about whether to swim or stay based
on the water temperature, the distance to shore, and their ability to swim
(with or without a pfd). As opposed to sticking with a hard and fast rule.

Someone observed here that there are swimmers who habitually spend an hour
or more in water that experts tell us will have us dead in 30 to 40 minutes.
It might be that the experts really don't know much about this after all.

Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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