How to maximize survival chances if falling into lake?
Former Member
Sorry if the subject is out of topic. Just out of curiosity what would you advise in the following scenarios. These are imaginary just for educational purposes on the survival capacities.
Question 1: I fall in the lake. I am still wearing my winter clothes and shoes. Let assume that I am not wearing a personal flotation device (PFD). Shoreline is 5 km away. What should I do to maximize my chances of survival?
Question 2: Same as Q1 but this time I wear a PFD.
My fitness level is enough to allow me to swim 5km in a swimming pool. I swim 3 times / week with an average distance of 1.5 km. Although I had never tried to swim 5K non stop. But if my life is threaten, I hope I will be able to make it.
Thanks in advance for any help.
By chance I just saw on another bb this description of a fall through brook ice (the typical brook in the area is not more than 20 yards across, and probably closer to 10), with companions immediately at hand:
" went through the ice. . . . Being forced chest first into the water and soaked through. Others had crossed the same spot but had no problems. If its never happened to you, the cold water cleans the wind out of you and cramps your long muscles. Within five minutes the clothes were freezing solid."
It had a happy resolution: "We got her in a winter tent, in second set of clothes, in two sleeping bags with a torso warmer against her chest in half an hour."
Note that the inadvertent swimmer was incapacitated basically immediately.
VB
By chance I just saw on another bb this description of a fall through brook ice (the typical brook in the area is not more than 20 yards across, and probably closer to 10), with companions immediately at hand:
" went through the ice. . . . Being forced chest first into the water and soaked through. Others had crossed the same spot but had no problems. If its never happened to you, the cold water cleans the wind out of you and cramps your long muscles. Within five minutes the clothes were freezing solid."
It had a happy resolution: "We got her in a winter tent, in second set of clothes, in two sleeping bags with a torso warmer against her chest in half an hour."
Note that the inadvertent swimmer was incapacitated basically immediately.
VB
