German yachtsman inflates trousers to survive 3 hours in sea

 

A man who used his jeans as a makeshift flotation device, after being knocked off a yacht and stranded at sea, is rescued by a helicopter, off Tolaga Bay in Gisborne, New Zealand, in this still from a handout video taken March 6, 2019. Handout video taken March 6, 2019. Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter Service/Handout via REUTERS

 

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Knocked overboard in rough seas off New Zealand, a German yachtsman credited his jeans with saving his life after fashioning them into a make-shift life jacket that kept him afloat for over three hours before his rescue by coastguards.

 

Arne Murke, 30, was sailing with his brother in Tolaga Bay, on the east coast of New Zealand's north island, on March 6, when the yacht's boom swung unexpectedly, whacking him into the water.

 

Unable to reach the life jacket thrown by his brother, Murke was soon carried far off by the swell.

 

"Luckily, I knew the trick with the jeans," Murke told the New Zealand Herald newspaper. "Without the jeans I wouldn't be here today. They were really the thing that saved me."

 

He made knots at the end of the legs and pulled them over water to get air inside and then forced them under to trap the air and create an improvised life vest.

 

A rescue helicopter managed to locate the German about 3 1/2 hours after he was knocked overboard. Images of Murke floating in the water while being rescued have been circulating on the internet.

 

"It was fortunate the yacht had both a VHF radio and emergency beacons (two) to raise the alert," Rescue Coordination Center NZ Senior Search and Rescue Coordinator Chris Henshaw said in a statement on the agency's website after the incident.

 

"Without appropriate communications devices and beacons it may have turned out differently.” Henshaw said.

 

The newspaper said the brothers, who had been tourists in New Zealand, had taken a commission to deliver the yacht, Wahoo, to Brazil.

 

(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-12

brilliant

Good for him. I saw an article today that said this was a Navy Seal training thing. Could be, but I remember it from the Boy Scouts 50 years ago.

More brilliant would be wearing a life jacket when he boarded the boat.

As a boy I, and children in my class, were taught to inflate our trousers as a buoyancy aid during swimming classes.

My trousers always seam over inflated these days????

3 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

My trousers always seam over inflated these days????

 

Try to think of it as extra buoyancy.

16 minutes ago, webfact said:

"Without the jeans I wouldn't be here today. They were really the thing that saved me."

Wearing the life jacket, wouldn't have been a bad idea either...

Good thing it wasn't Summer with him wearing shorts.

30 minutes ago, webfact said:

German yachtsman inflates trousers to survive 3 hours in sea

Must have been all the bratwurst and sauerkraut he had been eating ????

26 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

Good thing it wasn't Summer with him wearing shorts.

Yes it is Summer in NZ

6 minutes ago, RJRS1301 said:

Yes it is Summer in NZ

Technically, yes, but I've been offshore there and it's mighty chilly most of the time.

I's be shitting myself looking for that big dorsal fin to come cutting through the water.

57 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

Good for him. I saw an article today that said this was a Navy Seal training thing. Could be, but I remember it from the Boy Scouts 50 years ago.

I had to do it with a pair off pajama bottoms for swimming proficiency exam when I was 8 years old.

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

As a boy I, and children in my class, were taught to inflate our trousers as a buoyancy aid during swimming classes.

we are showing our age...

 

Yes it is hardly a new thing to many of us but there again running story it may be news to some of the young un's so maybe even save a life or two.

This technique dates back to the age of sail it is also the origin of bell bottom pants to facilitate removing ones trousers over ones shoes in an emergency 

Still taught in most sea survival schools today. Long sleeved shirts. pajamas and jackets can work too but a good pair of baggy trews is best. You can lie between the legs when they are in the air! ????

Edited March 12, 20197 yr by nauseus

8 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

As a boy I, and children in my class, were taught to inflate our trousers as a buoyancy aid during swimming classes.

Reflecting on the matter I recall two details:

 

1. The ‘trousers’ we used in these drills were pyjamas bottoms.

 

2. I wondered at the time under what circumstances I might find myself in need of a buoyancy aid while wearing my pyjamas.

I just surprised he was wearing jeans as opposed to shorts, that he was not able to swim to the life vest his brother threw him, and that his brother was not able to get the boat turned around and mark the MOB on the GPS. To spot the head bobbing up and down in the swell is extremely difficult for the boat, but the man in the water can spot the boat quite easily.

Troll posts and replies removed.  

I very much doubt a pair of Jeans could be removed in the situation described.

There is no nation that comes close to the Germans for improvising and taking the initiative.

 

11 hours ago, nauseus said:

You can lie between the legs when they are in the air! ????

I'm sure that most TV members can relate to this concept.

I can !

9 hours ago, Ulic said:

I just surprised he was wearing jeans as opposed to shorts, that he was not able to swim to the life vest his brother threw him, and that his brother was not able to get the boat turned around and mark the MOB on the GPS. To spot the head bobbing up and down in the swell is extremely difficult for the boat, but the man in the water can spot the boat quite easily.

It would have been smart to paint an X on the boat to mark the point where he fell over.

 

(an old fisherman's trick)

20 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

Good for him. I saw an article today that said this was a Navy Seal training thing. Could be, but I remember it from the Boy Scouts 50 years ago.

 

This is what the Marine Corp have to say about it.

 

 

We were taught that "trick" in U.S. Navy boot camp when I went through it in 1982. Something that every sailor should know how to do (unless you are sailing in cold water where survival for longer than tens of minutes is unlikely. Not an issue in the waters around Thailand.

 

21 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

Must have been all the bratwurst and sauerkraut he had been eating ????

Or several tins of baked beans!!

Not sure why they say these trousers saved his life.

 

Salty water and 3 hours - I think most people of average fitness would survive that.

12 minutes ago, pedro01 said:

Not sure why they say these trousers saved his life.

 

Salty water and 3 hours - I think most people of average fitness would survive that.

Depends a lot if they can swim or not. The extra flotation would lessen panic, save his energy and could even lessen core body temperature loss (if the water was colder than the air, as it probably was there in northern NZ at this time of year).  

Edited March 13, 20197 yr by nauseus

Lucky that he didn't choose to wear his traditional Lederhosen on this day!