"Rosalie B." wrote in message
...
"Lars Johansson" wrote:


"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
news
OK. Just find out (unless you already know) the relationship between
water
temp and minutes to death. Isn't it something like 20 minutes, with the
water around 40 degrees? Sometimes, a life vest ends up being just a
nice,
fat handle for lifting your corpse. :-)

Yes, something like 50% chance of survival after 20 minutes. But you loos
you ability to do anything about your situation much faster than that. 4-5
minutes maybe.
/Lars J

It isn't a straight line function. The occupational physician that I
was working with when I fell off the dock in November (in Maryland - I
was folding the sails) said that there was a 50-50-50 rule. In water
of 50 degrees F, 50% of people will survive for 50 minutes. From that
I infer that some people have more resistance to cold water than
others. And in fact that is what one sees when people's boat sinks
when it is in cold water. Some people die quicker and some people
hang on longer.

grandma Rosalie

All this assumes that you are still conscious. Sometimes people are injured
before hitting the water. Anyway....your point is still valid.