Water And Ocean Survival

If you have over a quart of water a day to drink, you can now consider food. The survival kit in most rafts will have some foods in it and the kind of food will vary depending on who packed the survival kit. Many of the survival foods will be high in calories, over 2,000 calories per meal is about the average, and there will be some hard candies (energy) in the kit as well. Food in the ocean or large body of water is all around you, but you’ll have to find it and it may be hard to catch. Personally, I’d never worry too much about food because we can go weeks without eating, if we’re healthy. Mostly, food is a psychological factor in survival, or a full stomach is a happy stomach if you will. If you have to procure food, keep the following in mind;
• Fish are always a source of protein in the ocean and saltwater fish can be safely eaten raw. All commercial aircraft will have a fishing kit in the survival gear, so do a little fishing; however avoid eating any fish that does not look like a fish should. Some saltwater fish have sharp teeth, spines, and can be poisonous or cause damage to your raft.
• Pull seaweed from the ocean and go through it closely, looking for small edible crabs, shrimp, or fish. You’ll find some, so don’t waste them, eat them or use them for bait.
• All birds can be eaten, though some (sea gulls) may have a very fishy taste when eaten raw. I’ve always had a hard time getting raw bird of any kind down, but if need be I’d eat it. Birds can be caught with shinny lures, baited hooks, or by using brightly colored cloth. At the odd time, they can be caught by hand, but you will have to be very quick.

Food procurement must be done using a lot of caution, due to hooks and sharp points you might use. I suggest you pack all sharp items not actually being used in the survival kit bag to avoid an accidental puncture of the life raft material. Keep in mind your raft is nothing more than rubberized material filled with air and though it has various compartments you don’t want to puncture it. I have inflated the partial compartments of large life rafts by hand and it is a tremendous amount of hard work using a hand pump. All life raft survival kits will contain both a pump and repair plugs. To use a pump, simply screw the nozzle attachment to the pump and then lock the end of the nozzle to the manual inflation valve. But, what if you get a serious hole in the raft? Always repair an air leak quickly, because it takes less energy to do a repair than it does to keep bailing a raft free of water.

All raft survival kits will have a repair kit, which includes patches, glue and other tools. If the hole is too big you may have to float with that particular chamber deflated, but if the hole is small you can use a life raft repair plug. It is a three piece device that is very easy to use (inner part, outer part, and wing nut on an extension wire). You should cut the fabric on the raft no wider than the narrowest part of the plug face, insert the plug and then rotate ninety degrees. Both the inner and outer part of the plug are coated with rubber to assure an airtight seal once secured. After the inner and outer parts of the plug are lined up properly, screw the wing nut down tightly and bend the extension wire downward and around the wing nut. You will then have to inflate the chamber by hand using the pump.

As you drift along you can set out a sea anchor, which is part of your life raft and it is often packed in a small pocket at some point on the outside of your raft. It looks very much like a miniature parachute and its job is to keep your raft from drifting too fast, thus keeping you near the mishap location. Search aircraft will first key in on the spot the boat sunk, the aircraft went down or your last known location, and then gradually they will begin to work out from that spot outward looking for you. So, set the sea anchor properly and that means when you are at the crest of a wave (the top), the sea anchor should be in the trough of the wave (very bottom). This anchor will retard your drift and keep you in the general area for a while longer than if it was not used at all.

There may come a time when you might be near land, but will you be able to tell when it happens? Use the following as a guide,
• Clouds that seem to be alone or hanging over something (land?)
• You hear the sounds of birds, animals, boats, vehicles, or of people (then blow your whistle or pop a flare from the survival kit).
• Suddenly you notice more flying insects, birds other than gulls, and an increase in the amount of seaweed floating around you.
• You smell trees, jungle rot, smoke or other smells associated with people.
• You see more driftwood or debris in the water, along with more vegetation.
As you float, keep your mental and physical health in mind at all times. You can expect to feel isolated and perhaps deeply depressed at times, but remember all efforts will be made to find you. People will be searching and looking, so stay alive until you are found. Some physical health concerns that may come up are:
• Dehydration, which you’ll notice by dark urine, so drink more water if you can.
• Sunburn or hypothermia, keep all clothing on and the sleeves down on your shirt and your pant legs down as well. For sunburn protection use the sun screen in the survival kit and for hypothermia you’ll need to try to stay dry and increase your body heat. A fire will be out of question, so huddle with other survivors and eat hard candies for the energy.
• Immersion foot is caused by your feet being constantly wet. Try to keep your feet as dry as you can and a couple of times a day place your feet on an air chamber to dry out by the sun.
• Salt water boils are normal and painful, but do not pick or squeeze them because it will usually result in an agonizing infection. Use the first aid cream in the survival kit.
• Sea sickness, keep drinking water. There is not much you can do about this illness, except hang tough and avoid dehydration due to vomiting up your fluids.
• Sun blindness, keep your eyes covered with sunglasses or smear some dark substance (if you can find something) under your eyes to reduce glare. You can also make a pair of goggles (see illustration) from cloth, wood, or plastic. This injury is very painful and can cause severe headaches and eye pain.

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