Man rescued after falling off cruise ship

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Benthic2

Benthic2

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That's crazy, at least 15 hours maybe 17 in 70 degree water! Just did 2 cruises, and on both ships you would have to want to fall overboard, i.e. climb over the railing. But I did feel like one night you could have been blow overboard the wind was so strong out front.
 

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Its quite a coincidence that both incidents were on the same ship. I agree that it would be very difficult to fall off a ship accidentally. I've been involved in some "man overboard" drills and even under ideal conditions it would take 30-40 minutes to get the ship turned around and a boat lowered to retreive the dummy.
 
Then there was a guy who fell off a containership near the Florida keys years ago.

He wasn't reported missing until the ship was way up the Florida coast and no one knew where he fell off. So he had to tread water for nearly 20 hours.

The story goes (probably 1/2 truth, 1/2 sea story) that the only reason the USCG found him was it was daybreak and a Coastie from a Keys small boat station had to relieve himself while out searching....he started to, near the stern of the small boat, and a voice came from in the water "hey, stop that" or to the same effect (probably in a different language and more colorful but just the same for the story). :D

The unofficial USCG motto in those situations... "always better to be lucky than good (smart)" :thumb:
 
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I have not seen a picture of him, but this is a case where extra body fat can make the difference. Many long distance open ocean distance swimmers look like couch potatoes, but they need the extra fat for insulation. I believe there are tables for duration vs. water temp to determine survivability the CG uses. Regardless, 15 hours in 70F is impressive. If the water was just a few degrees colder he may not have made it.
 
Fletcher500 said:
I have not seen a picture of him, but this is a case where extra body fat can make the difference. Many long distance open ocean distance swimmers look like couch potatoes, but they need the extra fat for insulation. I believe there are tables for duration vs. water temp to determine survivability the CG uses. Regardless, 15 hours in 70F is impressive. If the water was just a few degrees colder he may not have made it.
Click to expand...


And you float better too.
 
I suspect his rescue can be mostly attributed to being in a relatively restricted channel where he fell off, and where all the boat traffic travels
 
Bet he had the drink package .
 
Even if the guy is a moron he certainly is a lucky one. In the FLIR image from the tanker he looks pretty tired and unable to keep his head above water. Every once in a while someone defies the odds and lasts longer than what is accepted as possible. The sole survivor of a commercial fish boat in Alaska was in the water for hours before landing on shore on a remote ( are not they all ) in Alaska.

Hollywood
 
The FLIR footage in the above link is labeled USCG Footage...does look like it could be from a hovering or low, slow flying help.
 
Sorry, Benthic - missed the tanker part - I have not seen anything much regarding that ship other than the one-phrase reference to it.

My wife and her girl gang took that cruise on that ship just a month or so ago. She's of the opinion that a good deal of effort would be required to go overboard. I've never been on a cruise ship, so I'll take her word for it.
 
Saw his interview on Good Morning America this morning . Not the brightest and looked as though he wanted to be on TV . Said he "had " a few drinks ,could not say how many . Won a air guitar contest ,and the video looked like he was in no pain . Said he went to go to restroom , and doesn't remember going over board ,hitting water . Woke up in the water . How does someone fall over a railing 4 1/2 feet high ? He is lucky to be alive and will sue the cruise line for his stupidply.
 
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