Cold water carries heat away from the body 25 times faster than air of the same temperature and as a result, the body core immediately begins to lose heat to the outside environment. At first, the body tries to generate more heat by shivering, but this is not enough to offset the loss of heat to the water. Within 20 to 30 minutes, depending on water temperature, body core temperature drops to below 35° C (95° F) cognitive functioning and judgement become affected. This cooling, if not checked, leads to disorientation, unconsciousness and eventually death.
You will die within minutes. In WW2, pilots who ditched into the North Sea in winter died in 4 minutes. And the Atlantic in April is colder than that.
Stranded means that you're ashore, not in the ocean.
Yes. In minutes up north, but in hours in the Caribbean. See wikipedia.
yes. It wouldn't take long. Look at the people who died when Titanic sank.
Depends on who is with me.
depends where. off miami probably not. off newfoundland, for sure.
I'm only asking this for a book purpose.
