First Aid skills are something you hopefully don't use very often, so the more you practice them the less stressful it will be if you ever need it. After a while you start to develop an auto-pilot of sorts, that makes dealing emergencies much smoother.

What is a fair distance? I used to a lot of 50m laps, and FWIW, I think learning to float is more important

Fitness and practice with gear ( gps, stove, knots, etc.) I'm a big believer in test, test, test.

Do you mean wading?

Floating well (without wading) depends mostly on body fat percentage, right? My body is relatively dense. I sink like a rock if I don't wade. Floating does not work for me.

For me that would be:
- social skills
- physical fitness
- situational awareness
- first aid
- fire making
- communication (HAM, judging potential connections, testing range of hand held transceiver, CW skills)
- fishing
- archery
- navigation (GPS and old fashioned techniques)
- maintenance for equipment

To stay fit a first aid I volunteered as first responder at the office. As a bonus I get free training and refreshers during paid work time. I also can be sure that the first aid equipment is in good condition.
I recently volunteered as evacuation helper at the office. Once again free training, more knowledge and contact to specialists who give related information generously.

I agree completely. If you get with a good group, as I have been lucky enough to do, you'll learn a ton and make life much better for a bunch of kids in the process. It's the most rewarding thing I have ever done and it's boosted my survival skills tremendously!

An Olympic sized pool is 50 metres each way so it would take 16 complete laps to swim a mile. One of the senior swimming instructors here who also coaches Triathletes once told me that on average, people who swim lengths on a regular basis and depending on swimming style, can do 8-10 laps non-stop in a pool of this size which is just over 1/2 mile.

That said, there are many more variables out on open water that could be well beyond your control to swim this distance or shorter such as wind, current, water and ambient temperatures, clothes you are wearing etc.

If someone finds themselves in a situation, hopefully they have a PFD on as it would make a big difference even if they decided to stay put and wait for help or decide to swim to shore.

In my local waters, a wet suit is vital. A PFD merely renders easier retrieval of your remains.