Life Raft Challenge – June 2016
- BVABC Pro Staffer, Ryan Dotson
- Jun 27, 2016
- 9 min read
| BVABC Professional Staff Member, Ryan Dotson |
What was I thinking? Live on a boat for three days… and on Father’s Day weekend? Sometimes I feel like I have to step out of my comfort zone just to feel alive. This was definitely miles outside of my comfort zone. I felt like my last challenge was too easy. The experience had its ups and downs, but my skills easily overcame the tough parts. This was a different story. It is one of the scariest scenarios that a person can imagine. Your plane crashes or your boat sinks in the middle of the ocean and you are the only survivor. You make it onto a life raft, but there is no land in sight. You are surrounded by water that is not safe to drink. You have only a handful of supplies, and there is no escape from the deadly rays of the sun. What now?
For the first time, I decided to sleep in on day one. I didn’t get to bed until 4 AM, and felt the extra rest would be more important than the hours of daylight I would lose. The temperature was already in the 80’s when I headed out. I knew the next three days were going to be a monster. As I boarded my boat and paddled out to the center of the pond, I realized that there was nowhere to go. It was just me, this boat, and the water surrounding me. It was a daunting feeling. My first priority would be to gather as much drift wood as possible for a few projects I had in mind. I needed wood for a fire, for a spear, and for a structure to provide shade. I found several large branches floating near the shore and cut them to a better size. It was time to get to work.
My gear list for this outing was the shortest I have ever had. I brought cordage, my knife, a hatchet, a water filter, iodine tablets, a ferro rod, one wetfire cube, and some fish hooks. As usual, I had a flashlight and thermometer for emergencies. I also brought my mini crossbow and a magnifying lens so I could practice bow-fishing and fire-starting.
I started by wrapping my cordage around two of the seats on the boat to create a hammock type structure. I weaved cordage in between the strands to hold them in place. Hopefully, that would make for a comfortable bed. I took three large poles and lashed them together to create a tripod at the back of the boat. This would serve as a frame for me to construct a shade from the sun. Finally, I fashioned a four point spear. You may have seen this in my recent article on primitive hunting. I took an eight foot pole and split it four ways on the end. I shoved sticks in the gaps to spread the points, and then sharpened each point. Little did I know, this would be my only effective method of securing food in the coming days.
The heat was painful. I wrapped a shemagh around my head to block as much sun as possible. This is an oversized bandana that can be used to completely cover the head and face. I’ve heard many special-forces soldiers say that they never head into combat without one. It shields you from sun, wind, sand, and cold when needed. Despite that, the heat beating down on my body was rough. I decided to dump water on my clothing to cool it down a bit. This is the only time I have voluntarily wet my clothing because of the issues it can cause when it cools down at night. It helped a bit and I was able to get some rest.
Now it was time to try and get some food. I hoped that a trot line would be the easiest way to get protein. In past challenges fish was my primary source of meat. I took about ten yards of paracord and tied loops every yard using an overhand knot. In a coming article, I will cover knot tying for projects such as this. I then split apart some paracord and used the interior strands for fishing leaders. I implemented a fisherman’s knot to attach baited hooks to each loop. This gave me ten lines in the water at once. Finally, I attached the lid of my cooking pot as a weight to hold down one end, and tied the other end to some brush. I would now get varying depths and cover levels, so hopefully the fish will find the bait.
Next, I decided to do some active spear hunting. Bullfrogs are packed with protein and are plentiful in our pond. The problem is that they are fast as hell. When we first moved in, I tried to catch them with a net. I ended up caving and used my .22 rifle to bag them last summer. With a spear, you have to get within a few feet of the animal without spooking it. Then you have to thrust the spear accurately to hit an area that is only a few inches across. Amphibians can continue to jump and swim even after being stabbed in the vital organs, so you have to pin them down until you can dispatch them properly. They also have incredible reflexes, so even if you hit the right spot they may have already jumped out of the way. After a half dozen tries, I finally snagged one for dinner. I cut off the legs, skinned them, skewered them, and used the scraps for fish bait.
Water soon became an issue. My favorite water filter is actually a bottle with a filter built into the lid. After just four hours, the filter clogged and there was no way to fix it. Thankfully, I had my iodine tablets with me to purify water. I always preach to have a ‘plan B’ for every aspect of survival. This was a great example. Without these tablets, there was no way I would have survived for three days.
Now I needed a fire. Like most fresh water fish and amphibians, frogs carry parasites and have to be cooked. One of my fans on Facebook commented that they thought I would melt the aluminum boat if I built a fire in it. However, I had plans to prevent that. I put a layer of mud on the bottom of the boat, and also found some bricks to create a platform. Some mice had built a nest under one of the seats on the boat, so I had some dry tinder to get started. I put a piece of char cloth in the center of a tinder bundle and focused the light from a magnifying lens on the cloth. It quickly created a coal, and I was able to nurture it into a flame. After stacking some twigs on top of it, the fire was large enough to cook my dinner.
I cooked my frog legs well done as one should always do. It was much needed protein at the end of a hot day. Now it was time to settle in and try to sleep. I really didn’t expect sitting on the boat to be so painful. My boney behind did not adapt well to sitting on a flat aluminum seat for three days. I did enjoy the full moon and listened to the enchanting sounds of the frogs and crickets as I gazed at the fireflies flashing like Christmas lights. I laid back on my bed and let the warm water of the pond tickle the tips of my fingers. The stars were shining brightly and the glow from the moon bounced off the surface of the water. It was a wonderful night, but I wouldn’t get much sleep. I was still wet from dumping water on my clothes, so the night temps made it very uncomfortable. I learned from my mistake and would not repeat it.
I finally got some sleep in the morning as exhaustion set in. I checked the trot line and was disappointed to find no fish. This was frustrating, but not unexpected. The water levels were low, the barometric pressure was high, and the temps were intense. Fish do not like these conditions. High barometric pressure condenses the stomach and makes the fish feel less hunger. Warm temperatures move the fish into deeper water. The cool of the morning was wonderful, but by 10 AM the heat was beating down. I originally was hoping to build a sun shade overhead, but the structure would not hold up. I kept re-positioning from sitting upright to laying back with my hat over my face. From time to time I had to put on a mesh face mask to keep away the mosquitoes. Every few hours I paddled around the edges of the pond and tried to spear another frog. They always either jumped out of the way or my aim was off. As I got more exhausted, my coordination faded. Spear hunting for small game is a challenge like no other.
I continued to check the trot line with no luck. At this point I was starting to go a bit nuts. The solitude, heat, frustration, and boredom took their toll. I found myself spinning around my spear like a bow staff to pass the time. I also made a ring toss game like you would find at a carnival, and I pretended that my prize would be a huge block of ice. I even sang karaoke with no music just to keep my mind occupied. Over and over I checked the edges of the pond looking for more frogs and broke my spear twice trying to hunt them. I found myself thrusting harder and harder on each attempt, and the spear couldn’t take the abuse. Each time I lashed it back together with some of the inner cordage from the paracord using a clove hitch knot. This made more sense to me that starting a new spear from scratch. It held up fine for the rest of my journey. I was ready to hunt again.
Hour after hour passed. Time after time I missed my target by inches. The frogs seemed to have me figured out and were conspiring to keep me hungry. My trout line was still not producing anything. Out of some desire for self torture, I decided to look up how many calories it is suggested that I eat in a day. The number I found was 4000 calories per day. I was averaging less than 50. This was the hungriest I have ever been. It was intense. I remembered being a teenager and participating in a 30 hour famine for our church youth group. At the time I thought that it was the worst stomach pain I had ever felt despite still getting calories from drinking juice every hour. By the time I was done, this would nearly be a 72 hour fast.
As the evening approached, I was sure to keep my clothes dry. This made all the difference in the world for staying warm that night. I did snag a frog as the last flicker of daylight disappeared behind the horizon. I just had to tough out one more day and get back to civilization. All night I sang and played ring toss as I relaxed under the stars. On my final morning I found no breakfast on my trot line, and opted to just hydrate instead. I wrapped my head again and was ready to tough out the heat once more. As I let it beat down on me the sweat poured down my face. You would think I would be used to the heat by this point, but I was still miserable. I am just not built for these temperatures. In the late afternoon I headed in, happy to be on solid land once more
While I never suggest that anybody put themselves in a situation to be afloat for three days, I do think everybody needs to push themselves like this at some point.
It was such a miserable three days, but I learned so much. A challenge like this gives you a great deal time to think and reflect on the good and bad things you have done in your life. The solitude and boredom is torturous. The experience made me think about Poon Lim. This man survived for 133 days on a life raft during WW2. I can only imagine how crazy he went during that time. I am happy to have come out successful on the other side and to have learned from this process. Up to this point, all of my challenges have been stationary. In many cases staying put is your best chance of rescue; however, I am now moving onto mobile challenges where I am required to traverse a distance to facilitate rescue. I am looking forward my next experience, and taking it to the next level.
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