There is some handy acronym that I can't remember like HEAT or STOP or ???<br><br>Anyway turn on to your back, face towards the sky. Draw your legs up and cross them at the ankles. Hug yourself with your arms. Like you are performing a "cannonball" type dive. This serves to converse your body heat. <br><br>If this is salt water, the salt will help you to float. You will float very differently in salt water than you will in fresh water. In fresh water, you legs will tend to sink and you will float in a more upright position. In salt water your legs will tend to rise and you will float in more of a reclined position. <br><br>Make sure to put your head back into the water. This will tend to push your butt up so you will be looking up at the sky. The more you try to keep your head out of the water, the lower your butt will go and the more you will feel like you are sinking.<br><br>Last weekend I spent the better part of an afternoon bobbing along the Atlantic coast. I closed my eyes, laid back and floated. My legs bent a little at the knees, my butt sank a little, and my arms sprayed out from my sides bent slightly at the elbow. I felt as if I was reclining in a LazyBoy. Sun was warming my face and waves were gently crashing on the beach. Ahhhh..... It required no effort on my part to stay afloat. It was certainly comforting but I was loosing body heat to the water because all my limbs were spread apart.<br><br>For a rescue/stranded position, you want to conserve body heat by being all balled up. As you breath you will rise and fall in the water as your lungs fill with air. I find that if I breath with my belly instead of my chest, my stomach will fill with air and form an air bladder that helps me to float. I can then take full breaths to exchange air and not worry so much about my face dipping into the water.<br><br>Treading water puts you in an upright position with your entire head out of the water. It takes a continous effort. Don't bother. Learn to float. They used to teach that you would ball up into a cannonball with your arms hugging your knees and float face down in the water holding your breath. Periodically you would lift your face to breath. A lot of work.<br><br>Instead turn over on to your back and ball up. Your face is out of the water and you can stay in that position without having to occasionally expend energy.<br><br>If there are several stranded subjects, get next to each other face to face and hug each other. Instead of loosing your body heat to the water, you will exchange body heat with the other subjects.<br><br>Remember that water that is even as warm as 80 degrees is still 16-7 degrees cooler than your body and the water will suck the heat from your body on a continous basis. Your body will strive to produce more heat and the water will continue to suck it away. You will tire quickly, not so much from the extertion of swimming, treading, or otherwise moving but more from trying to keep warm. You can be hypothermic in the middle of the summer on a hot day if you are in the water.<br><br>Hopefully you wil be wearing a PFD while on any watercraft. Even the worst ones will keep you afloat. They also provide a layer of insulation around your torso helping to slow down hypothermia. The vest style are generally more comfortable for most activities. <br><br><br>