One lucky man in rubber dinghy in the path of a container ship

[westhinder]

I have the impression the ship had put its engine in astern, it appears to slow down

 

[Stemar]

Maybe things have changed, but I seem to remember reading an article that said the engine(s) on big ships can take several minutes to go from ahead to astern.

 

[Greenheart]

I gather you can be trained to survive that immersion.

That's why inmates at Alcatraz were only allowed hot showers.

The incident has to be a good reason always to carry oars on a tender while using an outboard, even if the consequences are rarely as dramatic.

Sitting in an inflatable with no power over the influence of wind or tide (or shipping of limited manoeuvrability) is a pretty grim prospect, considering how easily it is mitigated by oars...

...is it likely he swam further from the path of the ship, than he could have rowed, had he been equipped to?

 

[Stemar]

...is it likely he swam further from the path of the ship, than he could have rowed, had he been equipped to?

Very unlikely, I would think.

I know I can row my flubber a LOT faster than I can swim. , but I reckon I'd get a bigger increase with the oars



That sort of motivation would increase my speed significantly for both but, even so, I don't reckon I could get on the plane swimming...