"Dead man's float" (and not in OED)

[Christopher Philippo]

On Jun 1, 2014, at 7:38 PM, Spanbock/Svoboda-Spanbock <spanbocks at VERIZON.NET> wrote:
> I have a hard time understanding how being vertical could provide more buoyancy, since you are distributing the same amount of mass over a greater area if you lie horizontally, thereby becoming relatively less dense and therefore more buoyant?

“Vertical” is not the best descriptor for the “dead man’s float”/“jellyfish float”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFHClnhrKE8  Arms and legs dangle down, not perfectly vertically, and the torso isn’t vertical.  I don’t know if it’s the most buoyant position possible - the idea is that it’s supposed to be an energy-efficient one if you’re stranded in the water for a long time.

In keeping with the OP’s observation that a WSI was teaching it wrong, here’s another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEcFywG_yuc  He’s horizontal and kicking his feet to keep horizontal when he should be motionless.  He has to move more, quick sculling, to get his head above water when taking a breath whereas the man in the first video does it with one long, slow motion of his arms.

Christopher K. Philippo

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