Cold-water capsize 300 m from shore with one person missing
You are in a 4.3 m aluminium open boat with three adults on a mountain lake in late October. Air temperature is 6 degrees C, water is about 9 degrees C, and the wind is 20 knots with 0.6 m chop. None of you is wearing a lifejacket, though three are stowed under a seat. About 300 m from the nearest shore, a wave catches the bow and the boat swamps and capsizes. Two of you surface beside the hull and one person is not visible. You have a floating throw line clipped to the boat, a whistle on your jacket, and a working phone in a waterproof pouch on your belt. Shore is a rocky bank with trees, no dock.
1. Set out your immediate priorities in order, starting from the moment the boat capsizes.
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Priority order:
- Account for all three people. The missing person is the first emergency. Shout, look around the hull, and check under and beside the boat. Do not swim away from the group to search alone.
- Get flotation on the two who are visible. Reach for the stowed lifejackets if they are accessible, or use the throw line and the hull itself as flotation. Stay with the boat; it is the largest, most visible object and it floats.
- Conserve heat and reduce movement. Huddle together against the hull, keep heads out of the water, and avoid unnecessary swimming. At 9 degrees C water, survival time is short and swimming burns the heat you need.
- Call for help. Use the waterproof phone to call the emergency number, give the lake, the nearest shore feature, and the number of people, and say one person is missing.
- Signal. Use the whistle and any bright object to help rescuers find you.
Do not attempt a long swim to the rocky bank in 20 knots and 9 degrees C water. The exam rewards staying with the boat, accounting for everyone, and calling early.
2. The missing person is found conscious but very cold and shivering hard. What do you do, and what do you not do?
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Treat this as hypothermia and handle the person gently.
- Get them out of the water and out of the wind, onto the hull or into the rescue boat, and remove wet clothing only if you can replace it with dry insulation.
- Insulate: dry layers, a blanket, anything dry, with the head covered. Shield them from wind.
- Keep them horizontal and still. Rough handling of a cold person can trigger dangerous heart rhythm problems.
- Do not rub the limbs, do not give alcohol, and do not apply direct high heat such as hot water or a hot pack to the skin.
- Do not let them walk or help with the boat if they are confused or unsteady.
- Give warm, sweet drinks only if they are fully alert and able to swallow.
- Get medical help; shivering that stops is a worsening sign, not improvement.
The exam point is that cold-water rescue is gentle, insulated, and slow to rewarm, and that the phone call and the stay-with-the-boat decision come before any attempt to self-rescue to shore.