On Nov 30, 10:15�am, wrote:
On Nov 30, 12:34 pm, wrote:

On Fri, 30 Nov 07, Chuck Gould wrote:
A boat capsized about five miles from
shore, killing the three fishermen on board, authorities said

No word on what caused the boat to capsize???

The usual suspects will blame it on
1. Stupidity
2. Alcohol
3. Ignorance

All without any evidence of such.

There is nothing in the story to indicate alcohol was a factor.

Stupidity? Ignorance? Maybe extreme........but carelessness can be
inferred from the fact that they were out in a small boat in the North
Atlantic, during late November, and not a single one of them thought
to put on a PFD. The jackets were apparently all aboard, just as
*required* by the USCG...

They may or may not have survived had they been wearing pfd.

In 50 degree water, the major challenges would include:

1) remaining conscious after hitting the water. It's not tough to
imagine getting a conk on the head as the boat turns over, and there
is a lot of evidence that many people go into cardiac arrest as a
result cold water immersion. If three guys go in wearing PFD, and one
gets conked out, the other two have a better chance of grabbing him
and keeping his face out of the water than if they're using every bit
of strength available just to try to keep themselves afloat.

2) avoiding hypothermia. Almost impossible without a survival suit or
getting out of the water. If the boat was still floating, upside down,
wearing a pfd *might* provide just the extra flotation and lift needed
to
haul out onto the wreckage instead of remaining in the water. The cold
air will also result in hypothermia, but it takes longer for 40 degree
air to cool the body than 50 degree water, particularly if any portion
of the clothing is dry.

3) summoning help. Options are pretty limited if you don't have a
personal ebirb attached to the PFD, but whatever the options are they
will be better if the boater is conscious and afloat. Hopefully the
small boat was rigged with a ditch bag, and that should be floating
somewhere nearby with a portable VHF, a couple of flares, and some
basic survival stuff. Retrieving the ditch bag will be much easier if
any sort of cold water "swim" to its location is assisted by PFD