The Leap, Part I Cont'd

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Five minutes had gone by in the frigid waters as I watched the bright lights of the ferry began to dim in the distance and the roar of the propellers died down to a whisper. My mind was at first calm at the thought of saying goodbye to this world that had tormented me at times. But there is a funny thing about staring death in the face. Thoughts of a wonderful life begin to wonder through the mind. At least that is what happened in mine. The first thing that flashed in my eyes that starry night were my beautiful children calling out to me. How could I just run away on them? And then family and friends who never knew anything was wrong. Was it fair that I never said anything about something that runs so deep? That is when I realized I was not allowed to take my own life.

Suddenly, calm turned into utter panic. I was going to die! I looked toward land to see a train passing by about a mile away. A mile in water is a hefty distance, and a mile in the Puget Sound is even longer. There was no way I was going to make it. But it was not fair... I had to try.

So I began to shed my clothes. One of the things I understood from my studies in thermodynamics was that wet clothing actually takes heat away from your body much quicker than the water itself. So I started by taking my heavy soaking shoes off, followed by my pants and shirt. I kept my underwear on. Afterall, if I made it to land, I did not want to be arrested for indecent exposure!

So my clothes began falling to the bottom of the sea and I began to take my first strokes to life in freestyle fashion. If I was going to survive, I had to be fast and perhaps the persistent motion of my body would keep me just warm enough. The only thing about the human body is that it was not made for the water and if one is not calm and thinking about form, there is a lot of wasted motion. I realized this when, two minutes later, I was wheezing for air and could no longer go. It was time to think of another strategy in hopes that I would make it out alive.

I chose the most relaxing stroke I could think of - the backstroke. After all, a combination of two arm strokes and a frog kick would get me moving through the water quickly without feeling out of breath. As I was swimming, a seagull began flying around me, as if to taunt me. I was not going to let a damn bird claim me. So I looked up to see how I was doing. The downside to the backstroke is that there is no guidance. I found a bright light at the ferry terminal I wanted to swim toward, but instead found myself heading north further out to sea instead of east back to land. Sure, I was making headway, but in the wrong direction!

When I was in college, I worked out with a Navy diver and future EOD officer. His name was Dan. Dan was the epitomy of "hooyah" military man. He threw me in the water and watched me suffer. But instead of taking humor in my struggles, he taught me how to swim effectively. One of my favorite strokes that he taught me was the side stroke. It was the most efficient because one arm was used to propel me through the water while the other kept me stable in the water. All the while, the frog kick between strokes kept the motion though the water going continuously. Because of its efficiency, it is sometimes referred to as the survivor stroke.

Sometimes you wonder why things happen in life. At first, I thought Dan came into my life to make me a special operations officer. The nuclear community would not let me go into that world no matter how he faught, so part of me felt like my training had always been in vain. The moment I realized the side stroke was the answer to my struggles in the Puget Sound was the moment my thankfulness for Dan intensified.

I chose the "survivor stroke" as the most likely method to survive. It would keep me continuously moving through the water, and at the same time, would allow me to easily look up and make sure I was heading in the right direction. As I was swimming through the freezing medium between me and the land, I looked up to see the ferry returning to the original terminal with a searchlight through the water. Unfortunately, it was now about a mile away as the currents had moved me a significant distance almost the last hour. Soon, I hear helicopters in the air. Their flight path, however, was still over the ferry's original path. The Coast Guard did not compensate for current and therefore, I could not count on them. Perhaps they had truly given up on finding me. I was not going to give up on myself, though.

I continually cursed at the bird, begged in prayer and swam. I did this for about an hour without even allowing me to hesitate because I would fall asleep due to hypothermia at any moment. But soon, I felt a vibration and hear a loud roar very close by. I looked up to see a freight train right in front of me! I had to be close to land. In fact, I put my feet down and felt it!!

As hard as the the sharp rocks felt against my hypothermic feet, I could have been walking on clouds. I worked my way up a steep rock hill until I reached the train tracks the freight train had just passed on. Because I was on my bare feet, I had to stay on the tracks and hop from plank to plank for almost a mile. I saw a bright light at my back while working my way back to the ferry terminal on land and stepped off to wave the train down as much as possible. It would take quite a bit to stop a train that long, but to not call the cops on an insane man in his underwear walking the tracks at midnight would not be civil.

Soon, I saw a house with a bright porch light one hundred feet from the tracks. After wrestling through mud and spiny vegetation, my desperation found me beating on the door of this house asking for help. A light turned on, but no help came. I turned around, though, and looking toward the water was the police. I waved profusely and shouted as loud as my lungs would allow. I slowly made my way toward them until they noticed my almost bare-naked body. I hit the ground and allowed them to cuff me. The cops asked me a few questions and then threw me in the back of their car. I was lying on my stomach with my arms behind me in the back of a police car, but I was the happiest I had ever been in my life. I was going to live to make a more meaningful leap. I HAD SURVIVED!

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