I read that, too! Man, I wouldn't be able to do that! Or at least I'd sure hope to have to try.

Saw that. Extraordinary. And, a good lesson. WEAR A LIFE VEST WHEN ON THE WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Drives me nuts when i see all these people out on the water with no life vests.

And suitable insulation as well, like a wet suit. In our brisk California waters, life vests are more aptly termed BRDs,(body retrieval devices) if you are immersed too long (typically more than two hours).....

I'll go a bit further than what Doug said. Wear a life vest with SIGNAL gear. An EPIRB and some survival gear would be nice as well. I have our vests fully packed and ready to go.


Hikermor

It would be nice if they wore wet suits, but who would do suck a thing on a boat under normal circumstances?
An inflatable vest in a carrier with some pockets would be much more practical, if you could get them to wear even that. Even I tend to wear just trunks onboard when its nice. What I want to know is how they both fell overboard?

scuba divers, urchin divers, and surfers....

you make a very good point, but if you are on a boat, don't be in all that big a hurry to take it off.

We had been diving (business, not pleasure) and I came up from the last dive, got out of my suit, and noticed we were heading west, toward an area of heavy weather that we had left a few hours earlier. "what's up?" I asked the captain. "Responding to an emergency - lady overboard in Forney's Cove (Santa Cruz island). He and others were still in wetsuits. I soon wished I had kept mine on as building seas and wind bashed our 36 footer about. We maintained sea level, but if we had gone into the drink, I would have been the first to die.

Oh, yes,and my obit would have described me as an "experienced" diver........

It's June and just off the coast of Florida the water is nice. The average Caribbean water temp is 81°F. According to NOAA (S.East Coast) the average for South Florida in June is 84°-85°F which is even nicer. So while a wetsuit would be great, current temps off Florida are survivable for extended periods without a wetsuit.

As hikermor said though, it's a whole nuther thing off the coast of SOCAL. According to the same NOAA site, S.West Coast is in the 60's -- 60°F even off Anacapa Island, 63°-64°F off Oceanside, CA depending on how far off the coast. That's 20F degrees further away than Miami from 98.6 which is going to work against you in short order. Wetsuit is highly recommended.

I was on Anacapa Island just yesterday. The water was indeed chilly.....

That's a good reason for wearing a wet suit hikermor. But the average person won't. The boss won't wear a vest because she likes to tan and I spend half my time putting a safety line back on her.
Now in bad weather I wear my abandon ship gear and have my bag ready to go. Not only am I Equipped To Survive, I'm a tiny bit paranoid about the survival of those I care for. After all, I finally found one that can cook and puts up with my job.

A Hypothermia Table is germane to these discussions. Note that the table was designed for sea kayakers. In colder conditions without flotation, somewhere between loss of dexterity and unconsciousness, you drown. This couple was fortunate they fell overboard in the Gulf Stream and were spotted by a couple professionals.
Ah man, went fishin' and all I caught was a couple idiots -- can't eat 'em, can't throw 'em back.