I still say a good swimmer could swim in such water long then the above cites say.
On 6 August 2003, Lewis became the first person to swim around North Cape in Norway. This famous landmark is situated at 71 degrees north and is the most northern point in Europe. The 5km swim was completed in 1 hour 4 minutes. The water was 8 degrees and no wetsuit or dry suit was used. Lewis was severely hypothermic when he finished the swim. The swim broke the world record for the “Most Northern Long Distance Swim in the World”. The previous record had been held by the American swimmer Lynne Cox, who swam a section of the Bering Straits between Alaska and Russia. The North Cape swim was also the first long distance swim north of the Arctic Circle. It was filmed by a number of TV crews including National Geographic who produced a documentary on the endeavour entitled “Swimming Norway”. from here
The 8° is colder and he swam for longer then an hour. I’m not in any way saying that most people could do this, but it is possible.
And from here:reguarding grease. Theoretically, a layer of grease only 1 mm thick evenly spread over the body surface would be equivalent to raising the temperature of water from 58°F to 60°F for the average swimmer. a very, very attractive prospect indeed for the swimmers but unfortunately full of snags. So adding grease, while it does help, doesn’t seem to help out a lot over extended periods of time.
Also, leaving aside the factual stuff for just a moment, I’d agree that if the guy let the dog run about on deck, or thought that diving into december water would be easy, then he’s asking for it[1], but if he’s genuinely risking his life knowing there are risks, it’s more ‘too compassionate’ than ‘stupid’ imho.
[1]Though making a decision under pressure and emotional stress isn’t quite in the same leage as tying weather balloons to your deck chair, or using a live bullet as a fuse.
About 2 years ago, near my house, a woman swerved her minivan into oncoming traffic. Two vehicles were wrecked and three people were sent to hospital (none, fortunately, with anything more serious than a broken leg). The reason the woman swerved was to avoid a squirrel in the road.
if you are going to jump in after some sort of being; do be sure to toss an inflatable or a life ring in as well. that way you will have some thing to keep you afloat as you are waiting for the big boat, or heading ashore.
you may not be lucky enough, to happen along, a wayward bale of marjuana.
But the instinct to avoid animals in the road could be the right one anyway – after all hitting an animal could cause an accident itself if it’s one any larger than a dog. In fact, you’d have to be consciously uncompassionte to overcome your “not hitting things” instinct, and that won’t necessarily be the case if something darts in front of your vehicle unexpectedly. That said if the squirrel is one of the ones that dart this way and that yet still seem determined to stay on the road, I’d expect a good driver to be able to steel themselves to do the safest thing for the humans involved and stay in their lane.
A cairn terrier, eh? Based on my mother’s two, it probably got bored and decided to see what this whole ‘drowning’ lark was all about. Goofy little beasts.