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.
Parents
Former Member
Don't go near the cold water unless you are preparred.
The Canadian Red Cross report www.redcross.ca/article.asp
Thanks very much for the links. The information provided by this report is even better than what I was hoping for.
Kurt: the risky situation I described was just a bogus example to illustrate the question about safety in cold water. The link above points to the report: The Canadian Red Cross released the first module of a 10-year study on drowning in Canada. The Ice & Cold Water Module: www.redcross.ca/.../ws_final_m2_english2006_04_19.pdf
The chapter "Cold Water Survival" answers to all my questions with very detailed facts and information. This except confirm what you said
A fit person could swim for about 45 minutes in 10°C water before incapacitation. The expert swimmers could swim faster and were able to swim an average 1.4 km, compared with 820 m for the novices.
Don't go near the cold water unless you are preparred.
The Canadian Red Cross report www.redcross.ca/article.asp
Thanks very much for the links. The information provided by this report is even better than what I was hoping for.
Kurt: the risky situation I described was just a bogus example to illustrate the question about safety in cold water. The link above points to the report: The Canadian Red Cross released the first module of a 10-year study on drowning in Canada. The Ice & Cold Water Module: www.redcross.ca/.../ws_final_m2_english2006_04_19.pdf
The chapter "Cold Water Survival" answers to all my questions with very detailed facts and information. This except confirm what you said
A fit person could swim for about 45 minutes in 10°C water before incapacitation. The expert swimmers could swim faster and were able to swim an average 1.4 km, compared with 820 m for the novices.
