As the darkness lifts from your vision, you become cognisant of a strange weight in your chest. Drawing in a breath doesn’t immediately relieve the sensation; instead it triggers a half-coughing, half-vomiting reaction that releases several mouthfuls of briny seawater from your stomach. The fog in your mind clears just a little more, enough to realise you’re lying on the shoreline, the ocean lapping at your feet. You realise you’re starring in your very own version of Cast Away. Your next steps will be crucial to your survival.
The term marooned used to refer to being intentionally left on an uninhabited island, usually as punishment for extreme insubordination or mutiny, but nowadays we apply it to people who accidentally or voluntarily find themselves in this situation. And it happens more regularly than you might think. Kevin Casey, author of Australian Bush Survival Skills (2000), has heard of many ill-prepared yachties and fisherman in small boats having to swim to the nearest island when their vessel sank. Andrew Peacock of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine Australia agrees: “[Strandings] happen all too commonly— they didn’t check the weather, forgot to bring a radio, and with no phone or EPIRB all it takes is a sudden storm to blow in, capsizing the craft and leaving them in a situation where they must strike out for the nearest land, even if it turns out to be completely inhospitable.” Melbourne-based expeditioner Cyril Delafosse-Guiramand, who runs island survival camps in Polynesia for travellers wanting to test their own mental and physical limits, knows even the most experienced adventurer can lose control. “It doesn’t take much to cross the line into disaster; having a streak of bad luck that triggers a domino effect,” he says. Desert survival specialist Bob Cooper adds: “When technology fails, the vast majority of people don’t have any available backup skills. This lack of knowledge and experience often results in them making decisions based on their emotions, and that’s incredibly dangerous.”
Step by step
1. First things first: take stock of your surroundings and remove yourself from any obvious dangers. Are you exposed to the weather? Is there potentially lethal wildlife around? What manmade and natural resources exist?
Ky Furneaux, author of Girl’s Own Survival Guide (2014) and a recent contestant on Discovery Channel’s Naked & Afraid, warns against allowing yourself to be overcome with paranoia or panic at this point. “Success usually depends more on your mental attitude than the skills or tools you have available,” she says. “People have ended up surviving extreme scenarios with no prior training simply because of their strong mental attitude.”
Former special ops trainer Richard Hungerford, now senior instructor at Bush Lore Australia on the Sunshine Coast, adds: “In my experience, people who make decisions in the first 30 minutes of a survival scenario when the adrenaline is running through their veins often make mistakes. Mechanically passing some time —ideally by doing something like making a cup of tea—will restore your calm so you start thinking analytically.”
2. Now you have to think about shelter. Whether it’s to avoid the effects of heat, UV exposure or storms, shelter in the form of a small hut or lean-to is essential. The ideal location will be out of the worst of the wind (you’ll want to lash down the shelter), but also away from any trees that may be in danger of dropping branches or falling over…
…read the full article in Wild issue 144.