5 ms·
Salt water is buoyant. If you know how to float, it doesn’t take much energy.
by joevandyk 9y ago
Salt water is buoyant. If you know how to float, it doesn’t take much energy.
- Mandatum 9y agoIt does depend on your body composition. The largest energy drain on a person stagnant in water is their body working to keep them warm, and then breathing (lungs have to expand, muscles have to contract, water has to be displaced). Lying flat, arms out reduces the work needed to stay afloat - but will drain your core temperature faster (although after 27 hours it doesn't really matter, you'll shiver your way to stay warm "enough" or hypothermia will set in). I can't find the study I read after that movie came out a few years ago on this exact scenario. Will reply or edit my post if I can find it.
- datpuz 9y agoMaybe even more amazing is that Courtney Dauwalter ran the Moab 240 ultra marathon (240 miles) non-stop in 2.5 days.
- michaelmior 9y agoNon-stop in the sense that there aren't any staged pauses, but she undoubtedly stopped to sleep at some point. What really blew my mind is that she finished 10 hours ahead of the next competitor.
- Kiro 9y agoShe only slept 1 minute actually.
- zaroth 9y agoSo not nonstop then.
- rplnt 9y agoRest sure, but sleep isn't usually employed much in endurance events. In RAAM (bike from west coast US to east coast) winners sleep maybe 10 to 20 hours over the whole race which lasts 10 days.
- latch 9y agoThe story of Cliff Young will undoubtedly blow your mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Young_(athlete)#Sydney_to_Melbourne_Ultramarathon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Young_(athlete)#Sydney_t...
- soperj 9y agoAl Howie ran across Canada(7295.5 km) in 72 days, 10 hours and 23 minutes. Which is about 2/3 of Courtney's speed but for 72 days straight.
- wellboy 9y ago72 days straight means without sleep?
- jlgaddis 9y agoAccording to Wikipedia [0]: > ... the holder of the scientifically documented record for the longest a human has intentionally gone without sleep ... stayed awake for 264.4 hours (11 days 25 minutes). So I'm gonna guess "no", it doesn't mean "without sleep". [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Gardner_(record_holder) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Gardner_(record_holder)
- jandrese 9y agoThat sounds insanely dangerous. People often get brain damage from staying awake that long.
- medion 9y agoHave you ever tried that in the open ocean? It's quite different from a pool, or a river. -Spent over 120 days in the open ocean aboard a 25ft boat.
- dsacco 9y ago> Have you ever tried that in the open ocean? It's quite different from a pool, or a river. -Spent over 120 days in the open ocean aboard a 25ft boat. I have. I find it distinctively easier than pools, lakes and rivers. The commenter is right, it doesn’t take much energy, comparatively speaking. - Just a guy who has floated on water.
- jamiegreen 9y agoI find it near impossible, mostly due to waves that push water into your eyes and mouth!
- tomc1985 9y agoYou can also float in seawater in the fetal position. Your head will be below water but it is easy to come up for air periodically.
- mehrdadn 9y ago> You can also float in seawater in the fetal position. Your head will be below water but it is easy to come up for air periodically. Easy to periodically come up, like, every 30 seconds? 3240 times in a row?
- tomc1985 9y agoWell if you stay calm its more like once a minute or two. When I learned the technique they forced us to stay in the water like this for half an hour, it does kind of suck after a while.
- honest_george 9y ago
- jeffhuys 9y agoSome people simply cannot float. Me included. I've had 3 different instructors try to tell and show me that everyone can float. I can't. I have 5 swimming certificates, I'm fit, but I think I just don't have enough body fat? Even in the Red Sea (if it's called that in English) I can't float. Not for more than 5 seconds.
- ralphie02 9y agoMaybe your bones are too dense, though to be honest, I've never heard of anyone with your issue in floating/treading water. I've always assumed that everyone has enough buoyancy to float most of their body.
- darkmarmot 9y agoI'm super skinny and sink straight to the bottom of a pool. Same issues :(
- saiya-jin 9y agoI have a counter-story - sister of my best friend can float easily in fresh water, she just doesn't sink at all. I've never ever saw anybody else do it, I go down even with full lungs. She has a bit of body fat, but not too much. So I presume there is quite a bit of variation in our body densities, more than meets the eye certainly
- Lukas_Skywalker 9y agoNeither do I. My legs always sink. The long muscular legs and low body fat might kill me one day.
- daurnimator 9y agoI have the same problem! Sinkers unite! My theory is that I keep less air in my lungs on a normal out breath than others.
- cafard 9y agoI float, but not much more of me is out of the water than I could cover with my hand. Even with more fat than I like to carry, I can stand on the bottom of a swimming pool. This greatly amuses my wife, who can lift her toes out of the water, while mine are pointing straight down.