~~If you fell overboard while out at sea, would you know what to do?
What would you do with or without a flotation device?
Too many variables. How am I dressed? What is the water temperature? Am I hurt? Can I attract someone’s attention? Can I assume some is looking for me? What’s the weather like? Are there sharks in the area? Why did my wife push me off the boat?
~~Up to you…
Start off by assuming the best, no sharks, warm water, daytime…
Or assume the worse…
If I went overboard, I would assume it would be without a flotation device. I would instantly panic due to my fear of the ocean to get it out of the way. Then I would quickly kick my shoes off and take my pants off. One, to make a flotation device out of them and two, to facilitate the use of my fear deployable biological dye marker and shark repellant (being happy I ate mexican the night before). Then I would use my watch to get my bearings with the sun and then slowly start heading towards a land direction while singing Irish drinking songs and show tunes until getting tangled in kelp and being slowly eaten alive by sea creatures after a large fish bites my willy off.
Wasn’t there a story some years back of a guy in Florida who feel overboard with a big cooler he was moving and he survived several days at sea surrounded by sharks just sitting in that cooler? I remember seeing him interviewed on TV.
Best situation: you fall overboard and they come to get you in a question of inutes. Nothing to worry about.
Worst situation: you are sailing singlehanded across the north atlantic in winter when, in the middle of the night, you fall into the freezing brine. You’ll be dead in a matter of minutes and all your worries are over.
I used to sail aboard the schooner Alexandria and it was by chance I was not on board the day in December 1996 she sank in the Atlantic off Cape Hatteras. Most of the guys made it to the raft but one of my friends was in the water all day before he was rescued by the Coast Guard just before it was getting dark. It must be quite an experience to be in the water for hours wondering if they’ll find you or not.
Without any other assistance, I’d float on my back. Conserves engergy. This is assuming the seas are not very rough. The flotation device would be great! A wet suit even better. Gives warmth and flotation.
Best position is to huddle and float face down, sticking your head up enough to breathe every few seconds as necessary. Referred to as the heat escape lessening position (H.E.L.P.). Even in somewhat warm water, heat loss is the primary threat, until you reach the warmth that you have to worry about sharks.
Me?
Scream my bloody head off, and if no one’s rescued me by then, strike out for land (if I know where land is. If not, just swim randomly).
(upon preview) Waterj2, that’s about the way I swim/float… dagnabbit, I thought I’d invented that position all by myself. 
Drown.
There have been written some very excellent books about real life sea survival stories, but I think I like spooje’s response best.
Even though I was a competetive swimmer in my past, the seas can be a rough place for a land lubber to attempt to live without the normal acroutrements they are familiar with. But the really big question is…are you planning to help your spouse collect a very large life insurance sum and then y’all two will meet in some distant and exotic island resort? That would make it worthwhile, I guess.
15 years Navy. Depending on water conditions, I’d stay alive for quite a while.
Surviving a “man overboard” is quite a crap-shoot, and depends on your physical condition, water conditions, how long before your absence is noticed, what you’re wearing when you go, how busy that are you went over is, and what time of day.
One marine fell off a carrier and was in the water for 37 hours before being rescued. The only things he had on him when he went over was his uniform.
well, where i grew up, if you fell in and didn’t get out in a pretty big hurry, you were dead.
now, assuming the BEST situation, it would go something like this: fall overboard! i hit the water and pop up to see the entire bare-breasted female crew of my 448 foot motor yacht scramble to action! the recovery craft, the rope ladder, the divers are already deployed. the actual details of the recovery i won’t get into, but as i climb back on board, a cold beer and towel are thrust into my hands. some of the girls think this is just great fun, and start jumping overboard too! after hours of water games, we all set sail toward the private island for a specially prepared feast and party…
any other questions?
It was off the coast of Myrtle Beach during the late summer, August-ish. We were maybe seven miles out, I’m not really sure. I was pretty nervous, considering the area was nick-named “Baracuda Alley,” but I managed okay.
What I did was this: purged my snorkle, inflated my BCD, checked my regulator, signaled the Dive Master that I was okay and clear, and continued the dive to 83’. Piece of cake.
I fell overboard today
I float here in the sea
I watch the clouds go drifting by
And with they’d carry me
[sub](I wrote others but they’re located on my old pc and I forgot them. Plus I could never get the last stanza to sound right.)[/sub]
In the ocean? I probably panic and nearly drown (Deep water is my one great phobia.) before I get fatalistic and pull a Thomas Magnum. You remember the one where he floats along in the ocean? If I saw land I would try and swin steadily and smartly towards it.
I’m a former lifeguard, and I’ve spent years sailing. That said, I could probably be the last to drown. Depressing, but the odds aren’t very good.
Drowning is my worst fear, so I’d probably panic and drown.
I saw a show about this once though, and it said you could make a floatation device from your pants by tying the legs together and trapping some air in there. If I was calm enough to remember that I’d try it. Hopefully that would give me the ability to swim towards land in bursts, where I could stop to rest with my floating pants.
If I had shorts on? See you on the other side.
Well, in my experience that pants thing works, sure… but not for very long. With most material, the more waterlogged it gets, the more air can escape. Or maybe not - that’s just based on my observation. In any case, clothing does poorly as a flotation device. It’s helpful, but you definitely cannot just hang on to it and float…
In this situation I would likely try the inflatable pants thing, though. Something is better than nothing.
I was in the Navy, and that’s where I learned the following:
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Take off your shoes, tie them to each other and then hang them around your neck. That way you’ve still got them if you make it to shore and have to climb up sharp rocks.
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Take off your pants. Tie a knot at the end of each leg. Grab the pants by the waistband, hold it behind your head with the legs hanging down your back, then whoosh the pants forward through the air and down onto the surface of the water. They should inflate like a windsock, and hold the air after you gather the waistband together and hold on. Sure, Grelby, the air will escape…no problem; just repeat the inflation process.
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If the pants thing isn’t possible, hunch forward, gather your shirt front in your hands, and breathe into it. This will make the back of your shirt fill with air. As long as you hold the back of the collar tight against the nape of your neck, the air will stay put and keep you afloat. It’s not as good as pants, but it’s better than nothing.
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If the clothing can’t help for whatever reason, do the H.E.L.P. position waterj2 described. At OCS we heard about an aviator who survived for 72 hours doing this. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’d like to think so.
Note that none of the above is simply theoretical. I tested all those methods in the pool at the NETC in Newport and found them to work, at least when the materials at hand were cotton wash khaki uniforms.
If the water’s cold, like 60 degrees or less, maybe you shouldn’t take off your pants as nudity would exacerbate heat loss. But that hardly matters, as you’ll be dead within minutes anyway.