Posted on 03/17/2016 11:08:25 AM PDT by nickcarraway
David Thompson, a retired engineer from Kalamazoo, Michigan, is being treated for dehydration and expects to be hospitalized for at least four days
David Thompson felt the smack of a wave and found himself hanging by a tether off the back of his sailboat in the Atlantic Ocean, the northern coast of Puerto Rico off in the distance.
No problem, Thompson thought. He was still tied to his boat, wearing his life jacket. All he had to do was hoist himself back onto his boat.
But conditions were rough: 20-knot winds and 10-foot swells. As he climbed back on board, another wave tossed him off. Then the surging water stripped away his life jacket, which had linked him to the boat, and he watched as the boat moved farther away by the second.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcmiami.com ...
That’s why all the newer sailboats have built in fiberglass swim steps. Ours has a swim step that was added on but is permanent.
10 ft swells are okay if you’re headed in the right direction. We were out recently with 10 ft swells and 3-4 ft waves on top of those. Not ideal but kind of fun once in awhile if you have a large enough boat. Kind of a woohoo! Day. Lol
We keep a close eye on the weather though. Don’t want to get caught in a real storm.
Damn. How did he even know which direction to swim except basic East/West? Could he see land?
First mistake, his tether was too long. Tethered should keep you in the boat, not but hanging over the side.
Second mistake, should have had the crotch strap on his vest fastened.
Third mistake, should have had a last chance line trailing behind the boat, rigged to the self-steerer, that if grabbed would steer the boat into the wind.
Always good to trail a warp when single-handing in heavier weather; it performs many functions.
At the same time, nothing’s more important than being clipped on to the binnacle.
Very strange for a quality life-jacket to be torn off - glad he made it!
Is that the one with Billy Zane as the young psycho and Sam O'Neill as the husband?
My wife and I diving in the Keys once and were not at all pleased with the professionalism of the dive company. Just a few days later they left two divers and they spent several hours clinging to a bouy. Luckily someone noticed their absence later in the day and somehow figured out what had happened. Word spread fast in the dive community and the outfit went under. (pun not intended)
Yeah, that one too.
Sequel?
It sure was.
I watched it once and I will never watch it again.
/can’t swim worth a damn, anyway
You can float in fresh water, too. It’s just easier in salt water.
Drown proofing is the technique. I learned it in college, required class.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drownproofing
Your point about water temps is important. Hypothermia is a real problem in colder waters.
None of that applies to me as you’d have to frog march me at gun point onto any boat headed onto water deeper than 6 feet.
:D
O.M.G.
A real life Open Water.....o.O
Ping
Hubby uses a tether that can be clipped to port and starboard jacklines running from bow to stern used in bad weather.
When I had my 21’ outboard, I wouldn’t venture out the inlet if the forecast called for seas 4’ or more. I also could check out the inlet from their videocam. Good thing nobody was waiting for me to discover north America. We’d all still be living in some hovel in Co. Limerick. I’m a wuss.
We have a 40 ft blue water cruiser. She’s a heavyweight. Swells are just a bump in the road, so to say. It’s amazing how smooth she is.
Same here.
That was one movie I wished I’d never seen
In the U.S. Navy we were taught to use our dungarees, both pants and shirt as flotation devices. It can be done. We had to do that to ‘pass’ the class.
Come to think of it, the guy who rented the yacht -- and sponsored the whole event -- turned out to be a phony who had gone bankrupt and was trying to impress all his old buddies. So yeah, it does sound like Bernie's guys.
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