ADDED: Perhaps there are many examples of human beings swimming that long and longer — even much longer — but never finding land. We never learn of their heroic effort. If you are stranded miles out at sea, and you don't drown, all you can do is stay in one place or move. You might swim until you die of thirst. You can rest and even sleep while floating, but why wouldn't you continue swimming whenever you could, especially if you knew the direction to find land? I think the main answer depends on whether you believe people know that you are stranded and are searching.
ALSO: If you found yourself stranded at sea and you didn't know which way to swim, what could you do to choose a direction?
Look at the water around you and as far as you can see, if there is lighter colored water that indicates shallow water and land is usually right by shallow water. Wave patterns can also be observed, waves refract as they approach land. Lastly, birds! If you see many birds together flying towards a certain direction, then that can be your key back to land!
How far away can you see? When you are at sea level, you can see other things at sea level only up to a distance of 2.9 miles (because of the curvature of the earth). So the answer would depend on the elevation of the land.
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Reported everywhere from Arab News to the Guardian, as well as the London Times, this story of survival by two people, swimming separately, is remarkable.
"My time to die hasn't come yet." Makes me think the general worked on that quote for about 12 hours before saying it to reporters.
Sign him up for the Olympics. Or something.
Reminds me of a song from my childhood:
I sailed away on a big steamship
Fell overboard one Sunday
So I swam forty miles
To a tropical isle
They're blowing it up on Monday
I wonder if he is related to Jusse Smollet. I read the article and something is not right with this story. I'd bet money on it. He swam for 12 hours in combat fatigues. Yeah.
strong swimmer - should join some girls teams
That's impressive. Obviously they didn't panic at all.
It doesn't strike me as surprising. There are lots of low-energy ways to swim if you're not in a hurry.
Was he Methodist?
Would have been more interesting if he was accompanied by a priest and a rabbi.
Either way, damned impressive...
The Bermuda Triangle now officially replaced by the Madagascan rhombus.
Holy cow. People amaze me. Oh- they can be awful, too- but, 12 hours!!? Water is deep!!
A Madagascan Minister ...
And when we learn that this isn't a story about the strength of faith and wonders God works, but rather about the tenacious will to survive of a politician or bureaucrat, another angel loses his wings. You can hear the stained glass shatter and tinkle when it hits the ground.
Open ocean swimming?? Twelve hours?? Unprepared?
The current has to be with you.
I'm thinking Corey Booker will soon try a similar stunt.
Did anyone else read the article? There is some skepticism about his claim, and the photo and details smell odd. Perhaps I'm getting jaded.
He was in bad straits?
The article indicates he used a seat cushion as a flotation aid. Seems like that would be a critical factor.
I looked it up and the ocean temperature today off that section of Madagascar's coast and it was 82.6 F (28.1 C), so hypothermia isn't an issue. So as long as the Minister and the mechanic have life vests on so their heads can stay above the water they should be able to make the swim as long as they don't get caught in a strong current.
It's simple to turn clothing into a flotation device if you've had very basic survival training. And the water there is probably very warm
The Norse used birds for direction in sailing west to discover (at least for them - there is evidence of others discovering these lands a bit earlier) Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland in the late 9th Century. If the birds left and did not come back in the first days sailing they knew they had not escaped the coastal currents from their point of departure. If the birds circled and returned to the boat they knew they were truly at sea. When the birds flew in the direction they were sailing and did not return, they knew they were approaching land.
"It's simple to turn clothing into a flotation device if you've had very basic survival training. And the water there is probably very warm"
I remember back in the 1995 a Marine went overboard in the Arabian Sea from the USS America, CV-66 who stayed afloat for 36 hours using his coverall as a floatation device before he was rescued by a Pakistani fisherman.
exhelodriver1 brought back a childhood memory of being amazed at the flotation my clothes provided in my lifesaving training class. Can almost smell the chlorine!
As a teenager a diving buddy and I got separated from our boat and had to swim ashore. But we had floatation devices on. I almost did not wear mine that dive. We swam about 5 miles (due to current pulling us north) and the seas were 3-5 feet when we hit the shore. He kept his speargun and gave me his diving knife. But he was too cheap to ditch his weight belt. My poor father, who was on the boat, called in the Coast Guard and after getting ashore, I hitched a ride on pricey Jupiter Island. Being very nearsighted, I had to put on my diving mask (with lens glued inside) to see oncoming cars, which during the summer were few. I made my way to the marina we came from and got on a commercial fisherman's boat to alert the coast guard. Then I took a shower, got dressed and went to work as a line cook at a local restaurant. Just another day in paradise for a youngster. Couldn't get in touch with my dad or mother. Turned out the Coast Guard saw my diving buddy on the beach and announced on the radio that they had located "one of the divers". Gave my dad the worries. I am not a strong swimmer and without the vest I don't think I would have made it
Oh and your 2.9 mile horizon assumes that you are emulating Jesus and standing on top of the waves.When your head is buoyed up by a flotation cushion your effective range is measured in tens of yards depending on wave action.Water temp is the determining factor.
The problem is the currents. If the current is pulling you toward land fine and dandy, if its not, that's a problem.
True or false claim, either way, I've got to recommend The Deep (2012). Directed by Baltasar Kormakur, one of the best working today: he makes both "serious" films and popcorn movies. This one's serious, not just survival action genre, but it is thrilling.
Isn't that a man?
Blogger rhhardin said...
It doesn't strike me as surprising. There are lots of low-energy ways to swim if you're not in a hurry.
Depends on the current. The article doesn't include the estimated distance. For those who have never done open ocean swimming: 1) you cannot swim against even a 1 knot current for very long. 2) Without visual reference or compass, it is hard to swim in a straight line or even a zig-zag against the current, 3) surface visual distance is hampered as only your head is above the water.
Bottom line, he and the other guy were lucky, very lucky that the current was not against them. We lost a diver in the middle of the Coral Sea and were lucky to find him 90 minutes after he surfaced. Spotting a person in the water during search is also crazy difficult if they have no marker or reflective item.
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