Posted on 03/04/2009 10:46:36 AM PST by Zakeet
As the Coast Guard ended its search for three missing football players whose boat tipped over in high Florida seas, the lone survivor said two of those lost gave up after hours in the frigid water and the third tried to swim to safety.
South Florida player Nick Schuyler told investigators that all four of the friends on a fishing excursion were initially wearing life vests and clinging to the 21-foot boat belonging to Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper.
But two to four hours after the boat capsized, one of the NFL players removed his life jacket and let himself be swept out to sea, the St. Petersburg Times reported. A few hours later, the other one followed suit.
"We were told that Nick said the two NFL players took their life jackets off and drifted out to sea," said Bob Bleakley, whose son Will Bleakley, 25, is also still missing.
After Cooper, 26, and Corey Smith, 29, were carried away, Bleakley and Schuyler hung on until morning — but then Bleakley decided to swim to get help when he thought he saw a distant light, the paper said.
He, too, took his life vest off, 24-year-old Schuyler told the families.
"I think he was delusional to think he could swim someplace," the Times quoted Bob Bleakley as saying.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Hypothermia leads to bad decisions, happens to campers
too. Many instances of hikers taking off all their gear, packs, coats etc and wandering off the trail.
Remember, if you are shaking you are in the first stages of
hypothermia, If you feel cold...PUT SOMETHING ON!
Stay with the boat!
My husband and son spearfish in those waters and it’s cold right now (low 60’s.) Without a wetsuit, hypothermia probably set in quickly. These guys had no body fat either, they were athletes, I’d imagine low body fat could bring on hypothermia more quickly.
Man! It’s like they were drinking the sea water to go delusional that quick. Very sad.
Really?? Its not bravado.... I’m just saying I would not give up until it killed me, not until it forcefully takes me, not because I take of the jacket.
what!....No Emergency Beacon Transceivers (EBT) 
Well obviously one guy made it, he was determined so its not impossible. sheesh.
I’m agreeable on the body fat angle. A guy who is very lean....in cool water like this...probably will last half as long as a guy who is 300 pounds and very much overweight. The curious thing...this was not a big huge boat and its the size you’d expect in a lake or bay area...NOT on open sea. Several folks in my office commented on the idea of taking something this size out.
I think something like that happened to those guys who died up on Mount Hood in Oregon a while back. One of them (the injured one who was left behind while the others went for help) called someone on his cell phone and said his two companions went down the mountain to meet a friend who was coming to help them. There was no such “friend” coming for them.
See my post # 10.
First law of survival training. Stay at the crash sit or in this case “the boat”.
I always thought this referred to the times I got lucky in college.
No doubt the rough seas that caused them to capsize did not cease the moment they went in the water either.
Yep, as a kid I got caught out in the cold and had decent clothes on for the weather but got wet when I fell through ice in a shallow creek and in just fours hours was loony toons. My friends got me to shelter and I was mumbling and ranting till they got me warmed up.
I was shivering so hard I was barely able to walk with help (Two guys on either side of me) after a few short minutes of being wet in Zero Degree weather.
Very sad. Prayers for their families.
From the little I’ve read of people suffering hypothermia it causes delusional behavior.
Ugh, the point is that someone made it! So its not impossible to say that I couldn’t make it just cause two guys gave up.
Obviously one guy was so determined to fight death he fought it off long enough to survive.
I don’t care if I was sick or not, Ive been through alot of pain myself, and as I said I would rather death take me and endure so without a doubt in my mind I could say I did everything I could.
The amount of panic would be overwhelming in this situation. Think about riding out 14 foot waves in a 21 foot boat when the boat is upright.
Flip the boat over and you feel completely helpless, you cannot right the boat, you cannot hang on, you are shivering cold, etc... They were constantly being slammed on the grooved hull...
The winds are blowing 30 or more...insane situation.
They would invariably be taking in salt water as they are taking an extreme relentless pounding. The salt water intake only adds to the delusion, add hypothermia and you have the perfect “storm” if you will for self-destruction.
It is a testament to the mental prowess of Schulyer - it is literally the only thing that saved him and his love for his family.
Sounds like Bleakly was a hero in this scenario...
The entire story is quite sad.
Hypothermia, ingesting salt water, and the stress of the situation does lead to loss of judgment, delirium and hallucinations which led to their giving up, or thinking that they might be able to swim to land, a boat, a light, etc. That description is typical for someone stranded in cold ocean waters for a long time; but less than 40 hours does seem a bit too short. I think they were just not mentally tough enough to get through it, but they could have if they stayed calm, stayed together and supported each other, and had their wits about them, knowing that a search and rescue would be sent for them.
Somewhere I believe I read that the survivor mentioned that they were anchored when a wave capsized the vessel. I would assume they were anchored even after the vessel went "bottom up". Get some rope, rig up something quick, hold on for DEAR LIFE.
The guy that survived was sitting atop the over-turned boat, hugging the motor. Being out of the water, he avoided most of the effects of hypothermia. That saved him for sure.
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