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You're Stuck 14.5km's out to sea: What now?

While the swim may seem insurmountable, it's dehydration you have to be worried about. Image by Shutterstock.

Imagine being launched from a boat and watching it motor away on autopilot, knowing that land is 14.5 kilometres away.

No life vest, and no other vessels in sight. That's what former Miami Dolphins NFL fullback Rob Konrad says happened to him during a solo fishing trip off the South Florida coast last week. A wave knocked him off his boat and into the Atlantic Ocean - and he knew his odds of surviving were not good.

The idea that he made it to shore is so unbelievable that Elaine Howley, a marathon swimmer who takes on similar treks for fun - albeit with extensive training and a boat nearby full of friends who chuck her water and food every hour - thought it was a hoax at first.

So how do you swim for 14.5km’s, 16 hours straight, without, you know… dying? Is it even possible? Rob Konrad declined to be interviewed, so we talked to experts - swim coaches, shark whisperers, and navigation gurus - to find out.

If you ever find yourself alone at sea, here are the challenges you can expect to face - and how to survive them.

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Navigation
Konrad knew that land was west, since he had driven the boat there. But which way is west when all you see is water?

"In these conditions, there are only a few sources of help," says Tristan Gooley, author of a guide on finding your way with nature, The Natural Navigator. First: the sun. It does indeed rise in the east and set in the west, so you could swim toward the setting sun to head to shore.
You can also keep an eye out for birds: "Many coastal birds fly from land to sea early in the day and from sea to land at dusk," Gooley says.

While the Northern Hemisphere has the North Star to navigate by, in the Southern Hemisphere finding your way is slightly more complicated. According to the CSIRO, the most reliable way of navigating by the stars involves finding a point on the sky called the "South Celestial Pole". One method relies on finding the point directly below the SCP. While this method isn’t 100 per cent accurate, it’s useful enough for everyday use.

Find due south by the length of the Southern Cross.
1. Imagine a line that goes from the top star in the cross and out through the bottom.
2. Measure along this line 4.5 times the length of the Southern Cross. The point on the sky where you end up is the South Celestial Pole. (using an available scale to measure the length of the cross – such as the distance between your thumb and forefinger – makes this easier.)
3. Point at the South Celestial Pole with one finger.
4. Drop your arm straight down until you are pointing at the horizon.
5. You are now pointing due south

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Even if it's cloudy, you're not totally screwed. Clouds actually form more quickly over land than they do over sea, Gooley says, so there may be more clouds or taller clouds over shore. "They can form effective signposts from quite far away," Gooley says. "Pacific Islanders have used this method to find islands for centuries."

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Fatigue
Surprisingly, you don't have to be as fit as a professional athlete to survive a 16-hour swim, says Steven Munatones, a swim coach and the author of Open Water Swimming. You could stick to easy strokes that don't bring your heart rate up much. But you do need to be able to swim - and three out of five Australian kids leaving primary school can’t.

If you plan to make the distance, you're going to need to keep your cool and conserve your energy. Alternate between the breast stroke, back stroke, and side stroke—those are the most efficient moves for most untrained swimmers, says Munatones. Switch up your stroke when your muscles get tired. Beware of taking breaks: you need to stay in motion to keep hypothermia at bay, Howley says.

When absolutely necessary, float on your back.

Cramps are inevitable, especially since you'll be dehydrated. When they strike, massage them out while floating, Munatones says.

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Sharks
According to reports, a shark circled Konrad at some point in his 14.5km journey. How was that not the end?

When a shark circles, it just means it's thinking about eating you, says George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research. To sharks, a swimming human can look dangerously similar to a wounded sea creature thrashing about: easy prey. So they circle to check you out.

Your move:be still, so you don't look like a free lunch, Burgess says. The shark may realise you're not his normal food, or he may decide you're too big for him.

If he's still interested, his circles will get tighter, Burgess says. As he gains confidence that you are, in fact, delicious food, he may bump into you to see whether you'll fight back. Now’s the time to get aggressive.

"Fight like hell," Burgess says. "Sharks respect power and strength. Pop 'em on the nose, which is the most sensitive place on a shark. If you smack 'em in the snout first, he'll be surprised and think you're tough, so he might back off."

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Jellyfish
Sharks may be terrifying, but Howley would take them over jellyfish any day. "Jellyfish suck," she says. "They really, really, really suck."

Howley has been stung numerous times - it's inevitable on a long ocean swim. "It feels like fire on your skin," she says. "It's like putting your hand in a flame, and you want to rip it away, but you can't."

And it's not just the jellyfish: bits and pieces of the creatures break off and float around the ocean like little barbs, stinging you repeatedly and getting stuck in your suit.

Burgess agrees that you should worry more about jellyfish than sharks. The Portuguese man o' war, which isn't technically a jellyfish but might as well be, is plentiful off the coast of South Florida where Konrad swam, he says. It has six-metre-long tentacles that can be fatal. How can you avoid them?

"You can't," Burgess says. "That's the problem. They're just drifting around, passive at the whim of the currents." Just cross your fingers that you don't run into one, we guess?

Dehydration
The one thing Howley found most unbelievable about Konrad's story: how did he survive without water?
"A 9-mile (14.5km) swim without access to fresh water sounds awful," she says. "Saltwater sucks it right out of you. Everything swells: your mouth, your tongue. Marathon swimmers always have a kayaker or motorboat following us so we have access to water, because dehydration is miserable."
There's nothing you can do about this one, either - but you could survive it, Munatones says. "It would have been extremely difficult, but not insurmountable."