[Jason Perlow]

If you either fell or got thrown overboard from a ship, how well do you reckon that you would be able to cope and be a good enough swimmer until some sort of help arrives, for example another ship going past?

[stvn758]

Having been on a ferry I have to say the sea is damn scary and can see how people can be swallowed up by it even if they can swim quite well.

[JonDoe]

Depends entirely on what sea it was and whether it was a busy enough shipping lane.

If it was the English channel, I reckon I could swim to the closest shore, considering I couldn't be much more than ten miles away from one of them.

[HaloJoe]

All depends on weather.

[ejm]

I would drown. I don't like deep water and get palpitations if the bath is too deep, so I wouldn't cope at all.

[SpamJavelin]

The overwhelming majority of people wouldn't cope, and would die rather quickly. Ships don't turn round and go back for anybody who's gone overboard, and in the vast majority of cases if anybody goes overboard it would be where it's much, much, much too far to swim to dry land. Even if you fell overboard in the middle of the English channel, unless you were a suitably prepared, well-trained endurance swimmer with a rescue team close by every step of the way you'd be dead within minutes.

Sorry to urinate on anybody's chips and all that, but that's the way it is.

[SeasideLady]

I would be terrified - always had a fear of deep water even though I can swim. Love to go snorkelling in clear coves where you can see the seabed beneath, but daren't go too far into the murky depths.

[Si_Crewe]

Given that you'd probably go into shock after about 2 minutes in anything except a tropical sea, you wouldn't have to worry about being a strong swimmer.

[el_bardos]

Even ships going past wouldn't necessarily spot you, a person in the ocean is tiny and easily missed (rescue teams can spend hours looking for someone even when they have a good idea where they are). If it's at night, you're really screwed.

As for swimming to shore, you still need to keep your head enough to know what direction to go - the horizon is only about 5km when you're standing, so less when your head is nearly at sea level. And it's very easy to get turned around without any features on the landscape to guide you even if you start out heading the right way. If it's cloudy so you can't get an idea from sun/stars.... doesn't really bare thinking about.

[MiaBird]

I would swim.

[Paradise_Lost]

Wouldn't fancy my chances in this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-HaTWIznGE

[SilvioDante]

I'd throw you a concrete lifebelt OP

[Lulz77]

Depends if its been at least an hour since I'd last eaten.

[vosne]

Originally Posted by JonDoe

Depends entirely on what sea it was and whether it was a busy enough shipping lane.

If it was the English channel, I reckon I could swim to the closest shore, considering I couldn't be much more than ten miles away from one of them.

Not unless you'd covered yourself in goose fat or wear a precautionary wet suit at all times when you travel you wouldn't

[vosne]

Originally Posted by Paradise_Lost

Wouldn't fancy my chances in this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-HaTWIznGE

That was ace. Last bit was mental.

[WinterFire]

Originally Posted by Jason Perlow

If you either fell or got thrown overboard from a ship, how well do you reckon that you would be able to cope and be a good enough swimmer until some sort of help arrives, for example another ship going past?

Depending on the water temperature and currents, I would hope that I'd be OK. Say, provided that the water temperature was 18 Celsius or more, and provided I was within eight kilometres or so of shore, I think I'd be able to make it. At say 13C, I might be in trouble even if I was only a kilometre or two from the shore.

Originally Posted by Si_Crewe

Given that you'd probably go into shock after about 2 minutes in anything except a tropical sea, you wouldn't have to worry about being a strong swimmer.

My cold shock response is much reduced. I swam in 5C water without a wetsuit over the new year, and didn't experience any noticeable shock, e.g. no hyperventilation/gasping. I was definitely in there a bit more than two minutes, but not much longer. At that temperature, I would not be able to swim anywhere near a full kilometre. There are people I know who are much more resistant to the cold than me and who could swim much longer and further than me in even colder temperatures.

Edit: I looked up the Brighton sea temperature, and despite it being a temperate, not tropical, sea, the temperature is above 10C for much of the year. And over 15C for a bit of the year. At 15C or higher, even those not acclimatised should last a while before becoming hypothermic.

[JonDoe]

Originally Posted by vosne

Not unless you'd covered yourself in goose fat or wear a precautionary wet suit at all times when you travel you wouldn't

I've surfed in a lot colder, for a lot longer than it'd take to swim ten miles but I did have a wet suit on, so perhaps I'm being a bit ambitious there.

You'd have to give it a go though.

[vosne]

Originally Posted by JonDoe

I've surfed in a lot colder, for a lot longer than it'd take to swim ten miles but I did have a wet suit on, so perhaps I'm being a bit ambitious there.

You'd have to give it a go though.

lol, well indeed

[WinterFire]

Originally Posted by JonDoe

I've surfed in a lot colder, for a lot longer than it'd take to swim ten miles but I did have a wet suit on, so perhaps I'm being a bit ambitious there.

You'd have to give it a go though.

I wonder how much distance you get doing a stroke like, say, elementary backstroke after hypothermia has weakened a swimmer to the point where they can't do anything else.

[shhhhh]

Originally Posted by Jason Perlow

If you either fell or got thrown overboard from a ship, how well do you reckon that you would be able to cope and be a good enough swimmer until some sort of help arrives, for example another ship going past?

Every time you come back you keep starting loads of threads.

WHY WHY WHY?????????????

[Takae]

Originally Posted by WinterFire

Depending on the water temperature and currents, I would hope that I'd be OK. Say, provided that the water temperature was 18 Celcius or more, and provided I was within eight kilometres or so of shore, I think I'd be able to make it. At say 13C, I might be in trouble even if I was only a kilometre or two from the shore.

I think the first and biggest issue would be get far away enough to avoid getting hit by one of the ship's propellers.

[swaydog]

Originally Posted by SpamJavelin

The overwhelming majority of people wouldn't cope, and would die rather quickly. Ships don't turn round and go back for anybody who's gone overboard, and in the vast majority of cases if anybody goes overboard it would be where it's much, much, much too far to swim to dry land. Even if you fell overboard in the middle of the English channel, unless you were a suitably prepared, well-trained endurance swimmer with a rescue team close by every step of the way you'd be dead within minutes.

Sorry to urinate on anybody's chips and all that, but that's the way it is.

They do if they're aware of someone going overboard.

"P&O confirmed that the woman fell overboard on Friday evening, when a major search operation was immediately ordered, but it remained unclear last night why she had fallen."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2LNjWRoGa

[d0lphin]

Originally Posted by ejm

I would drown. I don't like deep water and get palpitations if the bath is too deep, so I wouldn't cope at all.

haha same as me. I also panic if I'm having a shower and I get water in my face. I prefer a shower with a detachable head or else I feel like I'm drowning

[PunksNotDead]

Probably eaten by a shark

[WinterFire]

Originally Posted by d0lphin

haha same as me. I also panic if I'm having a shower and I get water in my face. I prefer a shower with a detachable head or else I feel like I'm drowning

Sorry if I'm following up your joking comment in an over-serious fashion, but people do drown due to panic. Sometimes in water shallow enough that if they had control of their senses, they could just stand up and walk out.