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#291014 - 11/06/18 05:52 AM Re: Fowlers equipment for winning 'Alone'. [Re: hikermor]
rafowell Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 11/29/09
Posts: 258
Loc: Southern California
Originally Posted By: hikermor
... Consider an actual WWII survival story-Poon Lim adrift for 133 days in the S Atlantic in 1942. He was the sole occupant of a life raft with food and water for 50 days, but did the rest of his stint surviving in rainwater and fish. ..

I learned the Poon Lim story after spotting a photo of him being presented with one of the first engineered US signal mirrors by the head of the US agency responsible for developing equipment for safety of life at sea, the Committee on Emergency Rescue Equipment.

Poon Lim Signal Mirror Presentation, Aug 1943

This news story describes Poon's technique for catching seagulls:

Article on Poon Lim Ordeal, Nov. 1943

There's a pretty good overview on Wikipedia:

Poon Lim article on Wikipedia
_________________________
A signal mirror should backup a radio distress signal, like a 406 MHz PLB (ACR PLB) (Ocean Signal PLB)

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#291015 - 11/06/18 01:13 PM Re: Fowlers equipment for winning 'Alone'. [Re: rafowell]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
Great article, with many more details than the source I have. Ingenuity is a key ingredient in survival.
_________________________
Geezer in Chief

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#291022 - 11/07/18 05:35 AM Re: Fowlers equipment for winning 'Alone'. [Re: quick_joey_small]
Phaedrus Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/28/10
Posts: 3148
Loc: Big Sky Country
Originally Posted By: quick_joey_small


Like all the Survivorman episodes I've seen. Trying to survive in the wilderness seems to be basically a slow death sentence.&#65279;
qjs



To be fair though both shows had many arbitrary rules that a normal person would not have. On 'Alone' the contestants were pretty much assigned areas that they weren't allowed to leave. IRL you'd move to find resources. Also guns were not allowed and all game and fishing laws had to be observed. In a real survival situation you'd do whatever it takes to stay alive.
_________________________
“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman

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#292550 - 06/24/19 09:20 PM Re: Fowlers equipment for winning 'Alone'. [Re: quick_joey_small]
willpo Offline
Stranger

Registered: 06/24/19
Posts: 15
Fowler had no idea what was what. If he hadn't had 70 lbs on carleigh, she'd have beaten him within 2 months. He had 80 days of staying power on her, right there, and caught 60 fish, to her 6 fish. he wasted all sorts of time and energy, on a shelter, on firewood, on traps, on a fishing dock, on steps and handrails. What he should have done was make a pontoon outriggger raft, using the pants of the rainsuit, the backpack, the camera case, the life vest the spare pair of clothes, the airhorn, the bear spray, as pontoons, so that it wouldn't matter if his local wood floated well. The above items provide 6x the needed flotation potential for a man. So just use the craft to move on down the lakeshore with ease, including all your gear It can be built in one day, so why not? he's supposed to be a 'boat-builder", eh? Get where the hills next to your lakeshore aint so steep. Stick to a small tarp shelter, until it's really cold, then use a dugout stuffed full of debris, so you dont need to heat it with wood. If he'd put in 1/4 as much effort, making netting out of the 2 person hammock, the 12x12 tarp and half of the 20x20 tarp, he'd have caught 600 fish and burned a lot less calories while doing so.

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