Golden Gardens? Love that place. Close to the Old Alma mater. Go Dawgs! Great video also, it totally shows what can happen when you have not prepared or practiced enough with the basics of fire starting, not to mention trying it in wet weather with hypothermia! Brave thing to do, but it is obvious neither of you knew what you were doing, that sounds a bit harsh, but is accurate. I hope you guys spent a very long time after this experience honing your fire making and other survival skills. Oh, and I am not saying I could EASILY get a fire going, especially with the poor tools you chose (It is INCREDIBLY difficult to accomplish fire making in those conditions WITHOUT shaky hands half naked). I am saying however that with what I know and have practiced many times over the years, that with the better tools which I would have with me, I could get a fire going eventually. Not arrogance, just experience. Step one would be to do about five minutes of calisthenics to get warmed up BEFORE trying to start the fire. Step two, if you had that axe, it would have come out immediately, you wasted so much time with those useless little folding knives, Your tinder was too big, thick and wet to be of any use and there was not enough of it. Also, there was not any kindling to light after the tinder was going. MORE prep was needed. By this time I am sure you know all of this, but someone watching for the first time might benefit from a response from you two regarding your thoughts and findings after the fact. Again I know all of this is Monday morning quarterbacking, but somebody has to do it, LOL. So, as an addendum after watching the rest of the video, IF you have the bailout bag, and would always have the bailout bag, why would you not immediately use it? For that matter, if you can have/use a ferro rod, why would you not simply carry a lighter? Are there specific rules against modern fire lighting gear? If so, how is a ferro rod allowed? I assume you are trying to prove to yourself that you could get a fire going in the worst case scenario?
+Steven “Shooter11b” Szabo Excellent comments and considerations. Yes, we were trying to assess how we would do if we had somehow lost the ditch bag in the surf on the way to the beach. I was trying to make it happen with just the knife and flint. Thomas made some use of layers and space blanket that he planned to carry in his life jacket. Our monitor made the call on when we had to go into the bag for additional survival gear. So maybe the scenario is you're both exhausted in the Race to Alaska, one guy is asleep out of dry suit down below, the other was pedaling with dry suit open, but fell asleep. Then the fog really sets in and the cruise ship runs you down. So you're swimming to the beach with just your survival knife on a lanyard around your neck. After trying to light the fire for a while, your ditch bag washes up on shore and gives you more options. We had practiced a couple of times in the backyard (successful spark catches in wet and dry cedar feather sticks, lots of well-prepared kindling), and watched a lot of videos. But yes, calisthenics could be a good option (Roger Mann likes to start with a candle under a poncho to pre-warm) and we definitely recommend a lot more practice and techniques in your toolbox before taking the plunge! I agree more prep was needed. Perhaps another key improvement could be even more teamwork. While I ran to get drier tinder material, Thomas was splitting that log into potential kindling. But then we both got busy making feather sticks, everything got wet, the wind sucked more heat away, etc...
Scott, your observations are excellent, and that extreme scenario is not all that improbable. I know with a long distance race, weight must be an important factor, but having the proper tool no mater the weight is CRITICAL so I hope you guys have decided to upgrade your knives. There are MANY superior options out there which weigh the same or only slightly more than the knives you guys had and are 1000% times for effective for those tasks. I thoroughly enjoyed the video because of the realism of the task and the fact that you guys had the guts to do it for real. I know that you really found out some things that needed improvement. Bravo. Oh, did you guys ever participate in the race?
Guy in the blue shorts - save time by just placing your hands directly into the flames next time. He must've burned the shit out of his fingers - when he could feel them again.
lmao she is not a driver she cant handle being down under the water for long so she is a owner of a gold dredge lol and has other people dive and do the dredging lol
I would say you guys failed at this with out your go to bag ,,, I would have went straight to me go to bag my self and good luck on Alaska up there dont screw up go to the go to bag it will save your live :)
I want to go to Puget Sound so badly.
Golden Gardens? Love that place. Close to the Old Alma mater. Go Dawgs! Great video also, it totally shows what can happen when you have not prepared or practiced enough with the basics of fire starting, not to mention trying it in wet weather with hypothermia! Brave thing to do, but it is obvious neither of you knew what you were doing, that sounds a bit harsh, but is accurate. I hope you guys spent a very long time after this experience honing your fire making and other survival skills. Oh, and I am not saying I could EASILY get a fire going, especially with the poor tools you chose (It is INCREDIBLY difficult to accomplish fire making in those conditions WITHOUT shaky hands half naked). I am saying however that with what I know and have practiced many times over the years, that with the better tools which I would have with me, I could get a fire going eventually. Not arrogance, just experience. Step one would be to do about five minutes of calisthenics to get warmed up BEFORE trying to start the fire. Step two, if you had that axe, it would have come out immediately, you wasted so much time with those useless little folding knives, Your tinder was too big, thick and wet to be of any use and there was not enough of it. Also, there was not any kindling to light after the tinder was going. MORE prep was needed. By this time I am sure you know all of this, but someone watching for the first time might benefit from a response from you two regarding your thoughts and findings after the fact. Again I know all of this is Monday morning quarterbacking, but somebody has to do it, LOL.
So, as an addendum after watching the rest of the video, IF you have the bailout bag, and would always have the bailout bag, why would you not immediately use it? For that matter, if you can have/use a ferro rod, why would you not simply carry a lighter? Are there specific rules against modern fire lighting gear? If so, how is a ferro rod allowed? I assume you are trying to prove to yourself that you could get a fire going in the worst case scenario?
+Steven “Shooter11b” Szabo Excellent comments and considerations. Yes, we were trying to assess how we would do if we had somehow lost the ditch bag in the surf on the way to the beach. I was trying to make it happen with just the knife and flint. Thomas made some use of layers and space blanket that he planned to carry in his life jacket. Our monitor made the call on when we had to go into the bag for additional survival gear.
So maybe the scenario is you're both exhausted in the Race to Alaska, one guy is asleep out of dry suit down below, the other was pedaling with dry suit open, but fell asleep. Then the fog really sets in and the cruise ship runs you down. So you're swimming to the beach with just your survival knife on a lanyard around your neck. After trying to light the fire for a while, your ditch bag washes up on shore and gives you more options.
We had practiced a couple of times in the backyard (successful spark catches in wet and dry cedar feather sticks, lots of well-prepared kindling), and watched a lot of videos. But yes, calisthenics could be a good option (Roger Mann likes to start with a candle under a poncho to pre-warm) and we definitely recommend a lot more practice and techniques in your toolbox before taking the plunge! I agree more prep was needed.
Perhaps another key improvement could be even more teamwork. While I ran to get drier tinder material, Thomas was splitting that log into potential kindling. But then we both got busy making feather sticks, everything got wet, the wind sucked more heat away, etc...
Scott, your observations are excellent, and that extreme scenario is not all that improbable. I know with a long distance race, weight must be an important factor, but having the proper tool no mater the weight is CRITICAL so I hope you guys have decided to upgrade your knives. There are MANY superior options out there which weigh the same or only slightly more than the knives you guys had and are 1000% times for effective for those tasks. I thoroughly enjoyed the video because of the realism of the task and the fact that you guys had the guts to do it for real. I know that you really found out some things that needed improvement. Bravo. Oh, did you guys ever participate in the race?
+Steven “Shooter11b” Szabo yeah we made it 2/5 of the way to Telegraph Cove. way too much upwind gale for our boat last year.
Well, if you decide to go again, I wish you much success!
Guy in the blue shorts - save time by just placing your hands directly into the flames next time. He must've burned the shit out of his fingers - when he could feel them again.
Lesson learned. always have your tinder ready and have more than you will need.
John Wick killed how
many men in John Wick movie???
wow nice you had em From bearing sea gold jump in with you pretty cool guy's she is a great lady :)
lmao she is not a driver she cant handle being down under the water for long so she is a owner of a gold dredge lol and has other people dive and do the dredging lol
I would say you guys failed at this with out your go to bag ,,, I would have went straight to me go to bag my self and good luck on Alaska up there dont screw up go to the go to bag it will save your live :)
This time I will do it manually with the help of Woodglut designs.