Useful video from the RNLI on the immediate actions to take if you fall in cold water (especially in the seas around Britain) without a lifejacket, by forcing yourself to be calm and to float for the first few crucial seconds.
The five steps are:
1. Fight your instinct to thrash around
2. Lean back, extend your arms and legs
3. If you need to, gently move them around to help you float
4. Float until you can control your breathing
5. Only then, call for help or swim to safety
Share them with your crew, and practise before you need to do it for real!
Here is a secondary video from Portsmouth University’s Professor Mike Tipton (Institute of Naval Medicine 1983 to 2004) explaining a bit more on cold water shock where the body can inhale water in the first few seconds of being in the water – a big cause of drowning.
With thanks to the RNLI