Can moboers swim, I bet yotties can?

[Morpheous]

I always think it's odd when I invite people out on the boat and they say - "but I can't swim"

I usually reply that despite being in a few hairy situations no-one has had to do any swimming yet. Some have volunteered to but its not compulsory. It's funny the perception that some people have of boating.

 

[Locki]

I wish I could remember which documentary it was, but just recently there was a segment about survival training for pilots (or was it the navy?) and they stated that the single greatest contributor to survival when you're a MOB was to train your body against the initial shock of the cold (since this caused you to inhale water on entry, primary and secondary drowning).

If this is true (and going by the other posts here), the best initial option for a non-swimmer might be to at least learn to tread water with minimum effort (in case you don't have a life jacket), and to practice handling sudden immersion in quite cold water.

I also hear the RYA Sea Survival courses are excellent and plan on completing one as soon as I have the time...

 

[Ron Dean]

I cant swim. Thats why I have a boat.

You're in good company then.
When John "Skipper" Woodhouse MBE of Caister Lifeboat appeared on the Terry Wogan show, Terry said "I believe you never learnt to swim".
Skipper replied "Why should I learn to swim? I've got a boat".
(Quotes may not be word perfect - I'm just going on memory).

 

[prv]

Have to say it seems bizarre to me that someone would not be able to swim. Sure, most people (myself included) are not super-fit long-distance swimmers, but to declare oneself as entirely unable to swim seems as surprising to me as an otherwise normal adult announcing that they couldn't read.

Then again, I was similarly surprised when I took a friend sailing the summer before last, and although being a reasonable swimmer in pools, he was horrified at the idea of swimming in the sea (on a calm, warm day off the Cornish coast) and said he'd never swum or even paddled in the sea in his life. He claimed to be frightened of lobsters

Pete

 

[[2068]]

Many people would travel on a plane, without being able to flap their arms and fly

 

[Shorn100]

I wish I could remember which documentary it was, but just recently there was a segment about survival training for pilots (or was it the navy?) and they stated that the single greatest contributor to survival when you're a MOB was to train your body against the initial shock of the cold (since this caused you to inhale water on entry, primary and secondary drowning).

If this is true (and going by the other posts here), the best initial option for a non-swimmer might be to at least learn to tread water with minimum effort (in case you don't have a life jacket), and to practice handling sudden immersion in quite cold water.

I also hear the RYA Sea Survival courses are excellent and plan on completing one as soon as I have the time...

Locki
A cold shower every day for a week is enough to reduce your responses to cold water shock - whether you are a swimmer or a non swimmer. You don't have to go in the water.

By the way, can we just clear up one thing. Prue Nash's lifejacket did not hold her down in the water. It was because she fell over the side with a lanyard attached and the flow of water into her face was causing her to drown so she had to cut herself free. Luckily for her she was sailing at the time of year when the water is almost at it warmest.

The crew of the yacht had a problem with getting the sails down which delayed them turning to get back to her. Which is why they lost sight of her. It was lucky that another yacht caught sight of her - albeit briefly - who were them able to give the helo a smaller area to search to find her.

Shorn

 

[Searush]

Thanks for the info on Prue's rescue, but wasn't she picked up by her own boat rather than a Helo? I understood that the 2 remarkable elements to her survival were her staying afloat for so long & the ability of the boat to return & pick her up after all that time.

 

[fisherman]

At the sea survival last week they said that as a test Duncan Goodhew and Sharon Davies were put into cold water to see how they got on, and in not many minutes they were giving up and close to panic. Of course, they are more muscle than fat and would suffer quickly. I remember going for a swim in summer, there was a weightlifter with us, he got in trouble very quickly.
I can swim 100 x 25m in a pool, no sweat, did 60 today, but in the sea, even in summer I go downhill fast. I don't think swimming far is an option, for me anyway.

 

[AndieMac]

I can swim 100 x 25m in a pool, no sweat, did 60 today, but in the sea, even in summer I go downhill fast. I don't think swimming far is an option, for me anyway.

Agree, it's one thing slipping into a crystal clean, warm pool with piped music and a large black line to follow on the bottom, in a calm, stable state of mind.......opposed to getting thrust over the side from an unexpected wave jolt on a wet deck at midnight, taking a pee in 25 knots of wind, while concentrating on not dribbling down the leg, and the boat disappearing in the distance.