How To Survive In Open Water: A Survival Guide
You may never know when your survival skills will be needed, whether you’re stranded in open water or trapped in a cave. Be it in the middle of a terrain, plane crash, or sinking boat, these survival tips will come in handy for life-threatening challenges. In this article, we’ll give you some tips on how to survive in open water, even if you don’t have a floatation device.
How to Survive In Open Water
There might be a far more horrific situation where you’ve been tossed overboard and have nothing aside from the clothing you’ve put on. If something occurs, don’t worry because it’s not impossible, you can still survive. You also need to learn how to improvise the same garments you put on a flotation system. There are various solutions to this.
The Blow Method
To those that aren’t excellent swimmers, this method of transforming the pants into a flotation tool. Take these actions to achieve this:
- Take a deep breath, then lean down.
- Take off your shoes or boots and bind the laces together; meanwhile, put them around your waist.
- Drop the pants, then press or zip the closed fly to limit the airflow.
- Tie the pants legs beneath together in a knot.
- Place the pants straight and face the front.
- Breathe slowly, then let yourself fall about two feet below the top of the bath.
- Place all hands in the pants waistband, then blow air into the pockets.
- Repeat this cycle before the pants get inflation sufficiently.
- Hold the waistband submerged and clip it or loop it around with the shoelaces to secure the trousers to keep air from escaping.
- Loop the inflated legs of the pants around your shoulders, and “hug” the trousers, with your torso facing the wind. Open or fold the closed waistband, trapping the air in.
- Rest the head on the knot, hold the legs of the trousers closed, and go into HELP. Remain motionless until help arrives.
Jacket or Shirt Floatation Device
You may even transform it into your make-shift lifejacket, whether you add a hat, sweater, or another cover you may close off to catch oxygen. Take these measures to achieve this:
- Flip the collar around the back to create a bond.
- Tie the jumper or jacket up to the largest jumper on the suit.
- Push up the jacket or shirt as if you’d cover it; avoid until your mouth is under the jacket or shirt, and your head is visible.
- Also, ensure sure the sleeves will form a seal; if the sleeves are small, fold them inwards to avoid air from escaping.
- Breathe in through the nose and exhale through the mouth. The jacket or shirt can be filled by your sweat, making an innovative flotation system.
Boat: Survival in Open Water
If you’ve got a nutritious supply, some fishing equipment, and some fresh-water, you will live on a cruise for a long time. People can live in a boat that is already staying for months at sea. If it’s freezing, the overhead cover can help keep you dry and the sheets warm throughout the night. That ensures that you will be able to stave off some cold-weather illness, such as hypothermia. You should use the same shade covering because it’s hot out, to prevent heat stroke to sunburn. When you don’t have any fresh-water, a rainwater storage scheme can be constructed with a tarp or raincoat that flows into a tank.
Drink at least one liter of water a day, catch a little, and you can survive at sea for a long time.
Life Raft: Survival in Open Water
Being swimming in a life raft is like living in a storm — you have just a larger risk to sink. You should avoid tearing, ripping, leakage, or even faulty life rafts. The positive news is that modern life rafts are fully tested, quite long-lasting, and come with plenty of bells and whistles to help you live. These can vary from tiny rafts for two to large ones for 16 men. A top-notch raft arrives with the following combination:
- Covered deck
- Paddles
- Insulated flooring
- Bailing buckets
- Ladders
- Flares
- Water collection pouches
- Signaling mirrors
- Reflective tape
- Fishing kits
As long as the raft stays floating and you are fortunate enough to catch water, fish, and stay dry and safe, you will live both on a raft and on a cruise.
Things to Consider When Stranded in Open Water
The key survival is not to panic. Hold your wits about you and fight the temptation to flatten your arms and legs; you can just intensify your tiredness and induce quicker and higher loss of body heat, culminating in freezing or hypothermia death. Panicking can cut the odds of success dramatically.
Remain cool and evaluate the condition, and plan the next step. When you carry a life vest, you will improve your odds of success by performing the Heat Escape Lessening Posture HELP.
Cross your arms and legs to achieve so, leaving your extremities “locked” and your body compact. Remain motionless, and just swim or shift if appropriate.
Stay Calm
It is essential to get over the shock as soon as possible and keep calm once you’re in open water.
It is harder than easier said, so if you will keep calm and not waste any of your precious time on panicking and thrashing about, the odds would be much higher. However, if you hold splashing to a minimum, you are much less likely to draw sharks.
Stay afloat
There’s no question that things are tougher because you don’t have something to cling onto to support yourself alive. However, if you’re in such a scenario, there are certain strategies that you might use.
According to the US Navy instruction on survival and safety, keep your face down with, raising your head when you require oxygen is a strategy known as drown-proofing.
Don’t take off your clothes
Given how much water they can hold, you may think your clothes weigh you down, but do not be tempted to take them off.
These are important to shield you from the sun – while out in open water, you are vulnerable to both heatstroke and sunburn, as there is virtually little protection accessible and rays reflect off the surface. If you’ve got an extra clothing object, you can tie it over your head and cover yourself as soon as possible.
Don’t drink seawater
If you’re in open water for a long time, water is one of the essential items you’ll miss more so than food. Chances are you won’t have the equipment to clean seawater, so ideally you’re better chance to have some type of jar that you can keep up if it rains.
While we can easily consume tiny quantities of salt, the salt concentration of seawater is far higher than what the human body can absorb. You’d have to urinate more than you consume and get rid of all the extra salt brought in from swallowing seawater, and ultimately that will induce catastrophic dehydration.
Don’t try and swim too vigorously
Stop the desire to swim to shore, or to see a boat in the area. Waiting for a Rescue Squad is your best choice.
While it may be tempting to swim to safety, it’s crucial to note that if you’re not close to the shore, remaining where you’re would help you to conserve your strength and offer rescuers a far greater chance to reach you.
Not only that, but distances are challenging to determine on the ocean, and the odds are that the boat is far farther away than you thought.
Conclusion
Remember: The first step on how to survive in open water is not to panic. You should gather your wits and use these tips to make a floatation device that can help save your life. Plus, minimize your movement so you can conserve your energy and preserve your body heat against hypothermia. When you’re in the middle of the ocean, you won’t be able to do much; that’s why we recommend to stay calm and wait for rescue. Know more about emergency plans.