Survival is so much more than a tin of beans and a campfire. Provided you have food, water and shelter from the elements then physically you will survive. However, if mentally you are not prepared for the isolation and the situation assault on your perspective of the reality you are in you may not survive despite having enough physical support.
If you are alone then your greatest survival enemy is yourself. If you are with others then it is your reality at odds with theirs that may cause you harm.
I was taking a 60 steel ketch into Port Stephens on the eastern coast of Australia in very stormy weather. I had the Coastguard on the radio who was guiding me in through the narrow channel. I was secure in the knowledge that I was in charge of the situation.
It was wild and windy and admittedly on the ‘scary side’. I was with a couple who were crew for me. The husband panicked because he was not in charge of the situation and had allowed the potential danger escalation to become his reality. He had taken himself out of his known world and put himself into a world he has no knowledge of. I had to be short and abrupt with him so that I could maintain my concentration.
What he had done was to let the unknown take over the known.
We were in a very seaworthy ketch. We were not taking on water and we were in communication with the Coastguard. I had inspected the vessel before we left and had sailed her down the coast with no problems. We had a life raft on board and were within sight of land.
All the ‘plus points’ he ignored and instead he was in a world that was out of control and deadly. If I had not told him to ‘shut-up’ I could have been dragged into his world and made a sailing maneuver that would have not got us into Port safely. In addition his lack of emotional control could have become the focal point of the situation rather than the ketch in a storm.
We both had the same physical knowledge of the situation but he tried to let his mental perspective overcome mine. We tied up safely and I did not mention what had happened. That too is important in a survival situation. Do not let a bad situation linger. Let it go.
To survive you must be in control of your mind and not let your fears take you into a World that will harm you with wrong and hasty badly planned decisions.
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