41–50 of 82 posts
Won't play in a reasonably secured Firefox 35 on Linux. "This operation is insecure" - main.js:6 Because a huge function is on one line, it's hard to diagnose the problem.
Very nicely done, technically. And the marketing message is both true and useful: Swimming at sea is surprisingly hard, and life jackets make a huge difference. I was once a very strong swimmer, and back then, I tried swimming 60 feet to shore in water with choppy, 6-inch waves. I wound up repeatedly inhaling water and choking. To combat this, I tried to keep my head high above the water, which was exhausting. After…
> Similarly, cold water will shut me down frighteningly fast—even with a wetsuit and lifejacket, I've been stunned into near immobility after less than a minute of swimming. As someone who routinely goes swimming in a hole cut in ice with the water temperature typically around 1C, this sounds weird. I suppose it's a reaction you can teach your body to not have?
Very nicely done, technically. And the marketing message is both true and useful: Swimming at sea is surprisingly hard, and life jackets make a huge difference. I was once a very strong swimmer, and back then, I tried swimming 60 feet to shore in water with choppy, 6-inch waves. I wound up repeatedly inhaling water and choking. To combat this, I tried to keep my head high above the water, which was exhausting. After…
I'm very surprised to hear how hard it was for you to swim in light chop. I grew up surfing and you paddle with your head up so you are used to craning your neck and stroke at an angle down. When I finally starting doing some swimming in a pool I was amazed at how much easier it was to swim. Especially maintaining momentum. I also swim quite frequently without a board in open water when the waves are small, but there…
My wetsuit is good but relatively light, and I was testing it under controlled circumstances. I'm a river kayaker, a sport which involves working hard in warm air before suddenly getting plunged into a cold river. It's the sudden transition that can cause cold shock:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_shock_response
http://www.seakayak.ws/kayak/kayak.nsf/0/9ABAF7D7992B8205852...
The second link mentions cases of sea kayakers who were dead within seconds of overturning. Cold shock happens much faster than hypothermia.
Fortunately, both of my misadventures happened under controlled circumstances with a backup plan. But in both cases, I was surprised and scared at how quickly I lost my ability to swim. The interactive video we're discussing actually captures the feeling pretty well.
Also, there's a nice double-meaning in the French version of the title. "Sortie en mer" means "sea trip", but taken word-for-word, it could also mean "trip in the sea".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Better visibility is helpful but even that doesn't do much in rough conditions or at night. Many of us scuba divers now carry Nautilus radios which include a GPS receiver and 2-way VHF marine radio with distress beacon. I bring mine whenever I go out on the ocean, even when I'm not diving. http://www.nautiluslifeline.com/nautilus_lifeline
DSC (digital selective calling), which that radio uses to transmit distress signals with coordinates, is an excellent but sadly under-used technology. Everyone should be equipped with it and be familiar with all the menus and options on their transceivers, and regularly test that the equipment is working by making routine calls. The problem with DSC is that the transceivers are really badly designed and downright use…
Also, an AIS PLB, if the boat is equipped with AIS, is great, it's no bigger than a radio, and theoretically also triggers an alarm on any AIS capable vessel nearby. Without a life jacket, getting found again on the open sea in anything but calm conditions is difficult to imagine, considering how terribly hard it is to locate a head barely above water in the waves.
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If you've got a mouse with a scroll wheel, scroll "down" constantly to stay afloat
I'll bet I could cheat it with WebDriver or something, but I'm not that industrious.
sleep 5; while true; do xdotool click 4; sleep 0.01; done
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm very surprised to hear how hard it was for you to swim in light chop. I grew up surfing and you paddle with your head up so you are used to craning your neck and stroke at an angle down. When I finally starting doing some swimming in a pool I was amazed at how much easier it was to swim. Especially maintaining momentum. I also swim quite frequently without a board in open water when the waves are small, but there…
The chop thing was really surprising to me at the time, which is part of my point. I'd been swimming in the Gulf of Maine for years without any problem, and I didn't anticipate trouble. But the wind was really screwy and I kept aspirating salt water, and things turned bad much faster than I expected. I do agree, however, that better rough water swimming technique would have helped. My wetsuit is good but relatively l…
Two reasons come to mind:
1) Since I was a kid, sea-side vacations in the summer were common-place to the point that I actually learned how to swim in the sea. I still remember how surprised I was at the difficulty of swimming in a pool where you are much less buoyant. No salt in the water and all that.
And 2) Maybe I just haven't swam in choppy enough water. But I do remember that when waves are a certain height above your head, having a surfboard at hand suddenly makes life so much easier. Although even then I didn't feel a particular propensity to inhaling water.
edit:
3) I learned several techniques for swimming in place and resting when you're tired. If push comes to shove, you can also just lay on the water pretty much indefinitely. This one doesn't work if the water is too choppy though.
4) I probably haven't swam in a super cold sea yet. Think the coldest I've done without a wetsuit was Monterey Bay last summer where I managed to skinny dip for some half an hour or so.
When I was a boy scout we were taught to take off our pants, tie knots in them and fill them with air either by blowing or by throwing them over and down on the water. You can create a makshift life jacket this way. Wet fabric can hold air. It isn't perfect, you have to keep refilling air as it leaks but it does work. I was in a swimming pool and not high seas so not sure how effective it would be in that situation.…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Better visibility is helpful but even that doesn't do much in rough conditions or at night. Many of us scuba divers now carry Nautilus radios which include a GPS receiver and 2-way VHF marine radio with distress beacon. I bring mine whenever I go out on the ocean, even when I'm not diving. http://www.nautiluslifeline.com/nautilus_lifeline
DSC (digital selective calling), which that radio uses to transmit distress signals with coordinates, is an excellent but sadly under-used technology. Everyone should be equipped with it and be familiar with all the menus and options on their transceivers, and regularly test that the equipment is working by making routine calls. The problem with DSC is that the transceivers are really badly designed and downright use…
> If a vessel wishes to conduct a radiotelephony communication with the network, it is necessary to make initial contact via a DSC call. For safety or routine messages a shift to a working frequency is normally required.
When I did my training, they pushed DSC very hard.
Nit: You mention ch16 as being for distress traffic only, but my radio handbook also lists it for carrying urgency and safety messages, and as a routine calling channel (and then you move to a working channel and get out of the way).
Also: What crazy part of the world plays clutters ch16 with music?