[Focault's Pendulum]

Well, it seems to me that sailing indicates some kind of directed propulsion whereas floating is just launching yourself for whatever reason and going wherever the waves and wind take you.

OK...I'll buy that.

I do have a problem with a hominid just launching off into the sea on a log..or log raft. Neanderthals weren't essentially stupid or reckless.

My thoughts go here. The Neanderthal in all probability had no sail....nor did they have any ability for navigation.....they certainly couldn't swim that far.

Island to island seems plausible....however...

and please excuse me....I'm just trying to catch up a bit.

I think it was a long walk.

[dread78645]

The Neanderthal in all probability had no sail....nor did they have any ability for navigation...

You don't need navigation, it's 8-9 miles across. On a reasonably clear day you can see the land on the other side. While modern champion swimmers can swim it in under 4 hours, that's extremely doubtful for Neanderthal man, IMHO.

With a raft of some kind it's possible ...
If there's some evidence that they had rafts; then I'd rate this as very probable.

[FreedomCalls]

I do have a problem with a hominid just launching off into the sea on a log..or log raft. Neanderthals weren't essentially stupid or reckless.

They were just as stupid as modern humans. I can point you to a hundred videos on the web of teenagers being incredibly stupid and doing things that result in their death or near-death all documented by their friends holding the stupid video camera. I can easily imagine a group of hominids looking at the Rock of Gibraltar from the African side and imagining they can easily reach it on a reed raft. Tens to hundreds of them may have drifted out through the straits before one or a group was successful. I can easily imagine one doing it.

Here's what it looks like from the African side. It looks tempting.