38 An y decision t o swim t o shore must be t em pered b y the f act that the e x er tion of swimming causes the body t o lose heat 35 f ast er Experience indicat es that in cold w at er 4C t o 1 0C 40F t o 50F one can swim only a fraction 11 0 t o 14 the maximum distance that one w ould be capable of swimming in t em perat e w at er Body heat can be be tt er preser v ed b y assuming the Heat Escape Lessening P osture HELP with arms cr ossed tightly acr oss the chest and legs cr ossed and pulled up t o the chest or b y huddling t oge ther with o ther s pr o vided that lif e jack e ts are being w orn T reading w at er is lik e wise pref erable t o the dr o wnpr oofng t echniq ue if no lif e jack e t is w orn If the boat is still afoat tr y t o ge t ont o the boat as f ar as possible and hang on until the boat drif ts ashore or until rescued In addition Alw a ys w ear a lif e jack e t or per sonal fo tation de vice PFD pref erably one that k eeps y our head out of w at er is insulat ed has a hood and k eeps the t or so fully pr o t ect ed b y a f oam lining and cr o tch fap Such a jack e t e xt ends sur viv al time in cold w at er b y about tw o t o three times W ear w ar m heat re t entiv e clo thing eg w ool or feece K eep y o ur shoes or boo ts on f or e xtra w armth R emain as still as possible t o a v oid dissipation of body heat Alw a ys car r y w at er pr oof matches fares some cor d and a knif e f or use when y ou reach shore Once on shore build a fre immediat ely Concentrat e on w arming y our head and trunk area Put on dr y clo thing If none is a v ailable remo v e y our ar ticles of clo thing one at a time W ring them out and put them back on Pr edic ted sur v i v al t ime f or t he a v er a g e li g htl y c lo t hed per son in 10C 50F w a ter w it h a s t and ar d lif e jac k e t on is t w o and a half to t hr ee hour s