Veni, Vidi, Vici
The Suit – 1970′s era survival suit.
The Man - Cabin dwelling punk come database/GIS geek.
The Plan - Swim from shore to dock on a cold Alaskan winter day, not drown, and make it over to Illybob’s for homemade pelmini in under an hour. Ancillary objectives include testing the sea worthiness of an old survival suit found in garage and gauge survivability of going overboard in the winter sans survival suit.
Gumby Lives – On our quest for knowledge, the first thing we found was that Gumby was indeed alive and well, hiding in my landlord’s garage. Although the characteristic green is no longer the color of our beloved character, probably due to aging of plastic-like skin which alters its reflectance/absorption characteristics, the familiar stance is still evident.
The Swim - How does one test the sea worthiness of an old survival suit? Well, I’ll tell you. You strip down, put it on, jump in, and hope no cold water comes rushing in to take you to the bottom.
If you ever try this, be warned. When you enter the water the air from the suit is forced out of it. Since the only opening is at your face, it feels like your going down. Don’t worry, you’ll likely pop back up.
Success - After a couple minutes of backstroke I made it to the dock. It’s eerie being away from shore trapped in a suit that feels like it should not float. This makes for excellent lap times.
The End – What did I learn from this? Well, I learned that survival suits are fun and that the ocean is pretty cold in February. Most of all I learned that I don’t want to fall off a boat in Alaska…ummmm…ever.
