Captain Crunch Time.

Having an accident at sea is one of the more horrific things to happen to a person. Many people would not be able to overcome that feeling of cold loneliness, aside from the potentially deadly creatures lurking beneath the surface of the water, and with absolutely no sign of hope in sight.

And despite all that, some people manage to rise to the occasion, such as one 61-year-old fishing boat captain who stumbled while climbing down from the wheelhouse of his boat and fell into the sea below. He wasn’t wearing a life vest, and according to the Japan Coast Guard statistics, anyone’s chances of surviving a fall overboard drop from 87 percent to 47 percent without one.

The water temperature at the time was about 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit), which admittedly doesn’t sound so cold but could have ended his life right then and there. The first danger is the shocking sensation of his warm body suddenly and unexpectedly hitting the relatively cold water. This instantly makes you take a considerably large gasp inward, and if your head isn’t above water for that, then you can drown instantly. This sensation also causes your heart rate to spike, and at 61 years of age, that could very easily trigger cardiac arrest.

This man succumbed to neither of these things, however, and he was probably well aware that time was of the essence and there was no way he could catch up with his boat that he had set to auto-navigation moments earlier. So, he got his bearings and swam for the nearest island he could see.

That happened to be Tojima Island off the coast of Ehime Prefecture, about one kilometer (0.6 miles) away. The captain’s situation then became a race against time, as swim failure could set in as fast as 10 minutes, wherein the blood flow to his limbs would drop and he would lose effective control of them. Hypothermia also becomes a danger in as quickly as 30 minutes, depending on the person’s physical condition.

▼ The boat was passing through Tojima and the Miura Peninsula.

This particular captain, however, must have been made of wrought iron and duct tape, because he managed to make it all the way to Tojima in about 50 minutes. It must have been a swim taken on pure adrenaline to allow him to overcome the multiple ways he could have died at any moment.

Meanwhile, back on the boat, the other two crew members were unaware their captain had gone overboard. It wasn’t until they collided with an aquaculture raft that they realized and got word out to the Coast Guard, who later found him alive.

Readers of the news online could only be in awe at what an insanely strong person this must have been.

“He’s superhuman.”
“A total monster of physical strength. The exercise from swimming probably helped with the hypothermia, but the stamina to go for 50 minutes like that.”
“Most fishermen know that one kilometer is doable if you pace yourself and don’t panic.”
“I just hope he wears a life vest from now on.”
“Let’s not forget the wet clothes weighing him down that whole time.”
“Those other guys are lucky too that they only crashed into an aquaculture raft.”
“That’s some John McClane endurance.”
“I’m about his age, and I would have died in a minute.”

I’m quite a bit younger than him, and I have trouble standing up suddenly if I’ve been sitting for 50 minutes, let alone swimming in the sea for that long. Hopefully, that man was able to recover from that ordeal and get back in the captain’s chair again. He’s the kind of guy you want to have around if a giant shark terrorizes your beach or terrorists take over a luxury high-rise.

Source: ITV6, Hachima Kiko, Canadian Safe Boating Council
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