Temporary Archive: Suzanne Brockmann's Message Board

a night navigation course in zodiacs. I was winter and about 25 degrees. It was during SEAL Tactical Training which meant we were mostly new guys and were using a lot of second hand gear--back then you didn't get your Tridents until about a year after BUDS and no Trident meant they weren't going to spend a lot on your gear--so anyway, I am wearing a drysuit that has no neck of wrist seals--in other words, it won't be dry for long if I fall in. Well, of course, since this is a manoverboard story, I fell in. We were making a sharp turn under a bridge and the pontoons of the zodiac had iced over--I was looking back at the boat behind us an not holding on when we made the turn--so as I am going in the water my last thought was to orientate myself to shore about 50 yards away--because when the dry suit fills with water my only hope is going to be to walk to shallow water---well, I manage toget my head and hands above the water so as not to flood---the boat behind ours manages to not hit me but to nearly flood me with the wake--my boat manages to get back back to me---A chilly ride home for sure--and now I know why we spent so much time treading water with our hands over our head!