I saw this show and was very interesting. These guys were in a real tough situation. I don't know if having a good PSK would help them much more. Probably the only things that would help them better was to have a radio or other form of communication and plenty of water and some food. But the way they were shipwrecked did not leave too much room to save those things. What are your commentaries if anybody watched the show last nite?

" Stick close to your desk---- and never go to sea, and you will be the ruler of the Queen's navy." Apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> It's like the family I took off a sinking sailboat onto my 44' MLB and prepared to run the Bar. " Don't you have anything BIGGER? ma'm this IS the bigger lifeboat!" <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> I watched the show. Sometimes all you have is luck and prayer.

So, you're saying these people were rescued by you and still managed to *itc* about the accomodations?

You're a MUCH better man than I. I would have set them right back.

Yes, they had a tough time of it; they needed to empower themselves with a bit of survival knowledge and maybe a few more survival tools.

With the clear part of the sails and/or plastic, they could have made a solar water generator. By digging a hole near the beach and draping in the plastic, condensation collects on the interior and will run down into a centalized receptacle. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you can generate water from salt water by using a solar generator. If not they could have mashed the cactus and distilled the pulp for plenty of water.

Also, had they dug a hole in the ground a foot or two deep, their bodies could have enjoyed cooler ground; cover yourself with sand and they wouldn't have been so badly eaten by the flies. With added water and sleep they could have had the energy to search for food and would have probably survived quite a long time. Their four day stint was pretty desperate.

At the show's beginning, I noted the 80-pounds of water in the water tank. This is slightly less than 10 gallons for two men, for a four day sail. Even if they had not shipwrecked, it seems to me that they did not have enough water. Maybe they were planning to replenish during their trip? Too bad all of their water was in one container too. Sounds like they kept each other alive. If either had been alone, they might not have made it. Seems to speak to a positive survival attitude.

I missed it.

Cliff's Notes version please.

I also heard that if you dig a hole about 25 ft beyond the high water mark in the sand you can get some fresh water in the hole. I don't remember all the details. Maybe somebody can comment on this.

I've read about that for years, but I remember something about not getting fresh water, but "brackish" water -- I just looked it up and it's defined as "water that is salty - saltier than fresh water, (but less salty than sea water)" Maybe you die of salt poisoning and kidney failure more slowly than drinking straight sea water.

But it could be a good site for a solar still, if you had some plastic & a container. In fact, it's probably the ONLY place that a solar still would work! <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Sue

Thank you Susan!. Where did you look-up the information?

I watched it on Tivo and then read this thread before responding. I'd say all-in-all, the two are really lucky to have made it out not only alive, but in one piece. But I'm pretty unforgiving of their stupidity. From start to finish during the show, I kept saying (out loud, I might add) "How can they be so stupid?"

Let's see, set out on the open sea in a craft not even CLOSE to recommended. Set out in it overweight and seemingly not so well prepared. When the storm comes, jettison your water supply which floats instead of roping it off and dragging it?

Ugh.. okay, then the whole shelter thing, if you have the rigging, why not make an A frame tent and let the breeze blow through and dig into the beach? Set up a solar still or a makeshift still by boiling water in a piece of the catamaran or maybe in a bowl fashioned our of the cactus? They had an entire pontoon and a decent fixed blade knife. They had firewood and matches.

It just went on and on. Obviously it's easy to be the armchair quarterback and I'm sure that I wouldn't want to see anyone perish like that, but it seems to me that they were awful flippant and not really prepared. On top of that they made some pretty bad decisions and didn't utilize the opportunities they had.

I'd say, sometimes it pays to be lucky when you aren't prepared. Oh yeah, maybe one of the Parameds or Docs on here could clarify something. IIRC, drinking too much water at once when severely dehydrated can kill. Something about thinning the blood too quickly or maybe raising the blood pressure?

They had their dry bags, quite a bit of sail and rigging... I gotta think they could have built something with a still in mind and fashioned a container. In fact, I remember seeing the matches in a nice little clear plastic bowl. Not sure if that was TV vs. Reality.

They could have at least chopped up the cactus, mashed it and then filtered it through clothing to remove most of the nastiness.

It is a condition called Hyponatremia. Here are some web sites for additional information:

Hyponatremia
Hyponatremia
Hyponatremia
Hyponatremia

Pete

So they essentially whack their Na concentrations to be too thinned out (drinking pure water vs. something like Gatorade or Lactated Ringers). Thanks for the links paramedicpete. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I think I remember that they had no firewood, so I assumed they were burning their clothing or catamaran material. The cactus could have been better utilized, but it may also have been a species that would have made them sick with diarea which would have killed them. They had no clear plastic sheeting, so all that salt water was useless in terms of solar still. They could boil the fresh water vapor out and soak it into a cloth lid, although I am not certain how well that would work. Discarding their water instead of tying it to the boat was perhaps their biggest mistake, other than not preparing for the climate and geography. But, then again, maybe they had everything they needed, only it was not on their person, so was lost in the storm. That episode shows the importance of a geography specific survival kit small enough to be kept attached to the life-vest or belt (preferably). Those guys survived out of sheer luck that someone happened to come by. One more day and they were dead.

Yes, it would work well there, but also in a jungle, where there is a lot of ground moisture.

I think I read it in an Army survival manual or something like that. It's been a long time! I don't know if the SAS guide refers to it or not.

Sue

No problem, glad they were of interest. Every year we run a number of medic calls for “sick person with disorientation”. I would say a significant number of these are for construction/landscape workers, who were working all day in the heat and drinking only water. A good portion of these, we are able to fix on scene with some electrolyte replacement.

Pete