More than any other thing that's what kept him alive.

A many years ago I attended a day-long seminar at Travis Air Force Base sponsored by the Soaring Society of America. SSA is a group of sailplane enthusiasts that got together to promote the sport and it's safety aspects. An Air Force Survival expert gave a talk about their training programs which included a few major tips we might find helpful. Most of what I took away from the day was contained in the brief story he told a the beginning of his presentation where he cited 2 cases of survival. One was of a Japanese sailor whose ship went down (I think in WWII) and survived a number of weeks holding on to a floating piece of debris. The other was of an Air Force pilot whose plane lost power and landed on a frozen lake somewhere in the artic. The Air Force rescue crew did not arrive until the next morning but found the pilot dead in the cockpit from a self-inflicted gun shot wound. There were tracks in the snow that indicated he climbed out of the plane, walked around it once, then climbed back in and took his own life.

The point the trainer was making was that attitude was the single most important factor in a survival situation. The sailor had really no chance of survival but managed to take it minute-hour-day at a time. The pilot (presumably) couldn't adjust to the fact that he was no longer in control of his situation.

Steve Callahan is another person who comes to mind. If you haven't read his book, "Adrift: 76 Days Lost At Sea", do it soon.

Of course, the big question I am always asking myself is if I were to find myself in the water with the boat sailing away would I be able to keep my wits and make the right decisions or succumb to Major Brain Cramps. My goal is to never find out.