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Several Factors Helped Schuyler Survive

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By RAY REYES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 2, 2009

Updated: 03/02/2009 09:38 pm

Nick Schuyler's nightmare began Saturday afternoon when his boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico. For two days, he endured 14-foot seas, 30 mph wind gusts, water temperatures in the 60s and air temperatures that dropped into the lows 40s.

How did he survive?

Many factors, including body fat and clothing, determine someone's chance of survival in cold water, medical doctors and rescuers say. One factor, though, is the most vital.

"If you stay with the boat you have a better chance," said Scotty Hendricks, operations specialist for the U.S. Coast Guard in Jacksonville. "If you don't, chances go down by the hour."

Photographs of Monday's rescue show Schuyler sitting atop the capsized 21-foot boat. The former University of South Florida football player upped the odds of living through the ordeal by simply getting mostly out of the water, Tampa Fire Rescue Capt. Mark Bogush said.

"Once you take that 98.6-degree body and put it in 60-degree water, it starts sucking the warmth out of you," Bogush said.

Coast Guard officials say the water was 68 degrees when Schuyler was rescued.

At that temperature, a typical person submerged in water can expect to float two to seven hours before exhaustion or unconsciousness sets in, said Randy Boone, a former senior chief aviations survivalman with the Coast Guard.

Anything that insulates you from the cold — clothing, debris from the boat, body warmth from other boaters — also helps, Bogush said. In the Coast Guard photographs, Schuyler was seen wearing an orange raincoat or windbreaker and a lifejacket.

Shivers start when body temperatures dip about 3 degrees below normal, said Vernard Adams, chief medical examiner for the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office. Reflexes no longer work under 81 degrees and respiration becomes labored. The heart can stop if body temperature falls below 80 degrees, Adams said.

A person's percentage of body fat also plays a role. Having less body fat actually works against you in cold water, Bogush said.

Boone said the odds of survival for the three other men who had been in the boat depend on whether they found a way to get out of the water. A hypothermia chart used by rescuers says the longest someone can last floating in 68-degree water is 40 hours.

Bogush said he is curious to hear Schuyler's account of how he survived.

"Hopefully we can hear three more stories," he said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson and researcher Stephanie Pincus contributed to this report. Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920.

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