Small Boats and Survival: The Andre-Francois Bourbeau Interview

"Doc Survival" answers our questions

There’s a reason Canadian survival expert and professor emeritus, André-François Bourbeau, is known as “Doc Survival.” After receiving his master’s degree in Outdoor Education he immersed himself in a doctoral program that, among other things, included four, 10-day survival trips—one for each of the seasons. Bourbeau spent time with primitive tribes in foreign countries, took classes on subjects like lithic technology and advanced systematic botany, while writing his thesis on survival education.

Since then he’s written books, given presentations, and taught countless courses related to survival. Along the way he’s also ventured off to remote places to test himself and his methods, including once spending 31 days in a boreal forest with only the clothes on his back. The study of survival is not only his profession, but clearly his passion as well.

It so happens Bourbeau loves small boats and adventure, having built his own small craft to explore various bodies of water.  We thought it would be great to ask “Doc Survival” a few questions about small-boat safety, and survival more generally. We also took the opportunity to ask him about all of those reality TV survival shows.—Eds

What led to your interest in outdoor survival?

When I was 15 years old, I read the book Mysterious Island by Jules Verne in which the engineer Cyrus Smith knew how to reconstruct society from scratch. I wanted to be like him, so I figured I would start by removing gear as I went camping. On a first trip, I thought I would learn a lot by going out without rope or string or laces or straps of any kind, and stripped the tent down to its bare shell, removed shoulder straps from my pack, got rid of my belt, etc. Eventually I figured out which bark and roots could be made into rope using braids and the inverted double wrap. I then repeated the experiment by going out camping with raw hamburger without fire and ate raw hamburger until I learned fire by friction. Same with food—went out without it and learned how to prepare cattail roots, rock tripe, fishing gear from nature as well as traps, etc. After having done multiple similar experiments without pots and pans, without shelter, without light, without shoes, without tools, and then combining those problems, I found that the dirt time yielded knowledge which permitted me to prevail and even enjoy these predicaments. When I became professor, my field of research in wilderness survival was a natural follow up to my youth of adventure.  

How do boats and sailing fit into your life and to what extent do they connect to your survival work?

As a long-time canoe instructor, combined with my interest in old ways, I started building rafts and various bark canoes. I noticed a small drawing of a sprit sail on a birchbark canoe in Chapelle’s great reference book and added one to my canoe thinking of the survival principle, “conserve energy.” I sailed my canoes with that simple rig for as long as I remember. Sailboats only really entered my life in my early 50’s; I perceived them as an easier way to travel in nature as I got older. I first purchased a Siren 17, then a Wayfarer, a Paradox, a 1939 Comet, a Walker Bay dinghy and also a beautiful 26 ft Norwalk Island Sharpie cat ketch. I became seriously hooked on sailing and since then sailboat construction, boondocking and exploration have taken over my life.

Is it true you held the Guinness World Record for longest voluntary wilderness survival period? Can you tell us about that?

Back in 1984, after finishing my doctorate and becoming a professor, I conceived of a month-long research project to test technical skills by being dropped off by helicopter at a spot chosen at random by throwing a dart at a map of northern Québec.  A research buddy and I were abandoned on a small marshy lake in the middle of nowhere in boreal forest, among intense black flies and without fire, shelter, food nor tools, just the clothes on our back.  It was an intense experience to say the least, with cold, rain, bugs and a shelter destroyed by fire on day 18 with loss of contents including eyeglasses.  We collected scientific data like physiological changes, calories ingested, time use and chances of rescue. The “Survivathon” trip was widely publicized because we were at the same time promoting a “Nature’s University” concept and without our knowing the trip was entered in the Guinness book of records.

Most of our readers sail trailerable or smaller boats relatively close to shore, but often in fairly remote locations. If the worst happens to one of us, what would be the most likely cause or scenarios?

Most likely causes are extreme weather events, gear failure or health issues.  I once tried to document all potential scenarios and quit after 20 pages or so. Our research shows that you can boil down pessimistic scenarios to the following five. Find solutions to these ahead of time and you will be ok:

1.     Essential gear destruction or failure (usually means of transport)

2.     Missing participant

3.     Running seriously late

4.     Unconscious leader

5.     Non-life threatening evacuation

What are some other important potential concerns for the near-shore cruiser?

For the near-shore cruiser, the five pessimistic scenarios mean this:

1. What do you do if your motor fails and cannot be repaired?  What do you do if your boat capsizes or sinks? Are you ok in these situations?

2. What do you do if the captain falls overboard? Does the second-in-command know how to react? Near the beginning of every trip, I like to toss a bag of chips overboard as motivating practice.

3. What happens if you run late for any reason? Calculate 4 hours per day late. Is the tide going to get you?  Are you prepared for dark? Are you going to run out of wind?

4. What happens if the captain is knocked unconscious? Can you call an air-medic service? Do you have a distress beacon on board? Does the second-in-command know how to communicate with the satellite phone or the radio?

5. What if a crew needs non-life threatening hospital care?  You can’t call the Coast Guard for rescue just because you need a few stitches, so unless you are prepared to suffer like a modern day Joshua Slocum you may want to speed up getting to emergency care by your own means.  For example, have you made arrangements with a “guardian angel” who can come to help in a speedboat?

We’ve often heard most disasters and survival situations are a result of a cascade or snowballing of smaller problems or bad decisions—it this true?

Absolutely true. In risk management we call this phenomenon “accident dynamics.” An accident rarely happens in one fell swoop.  It happens because of a sum of tiredness, personal conflicts, gradually-nearing hypothermia, strained or worn-out gear, slowly deteriorating weather, etc. In our university outdoor leadership program we ask our student leaders to constantly evaluate which category they are currently experiencing:

1 Green, all is well

2 Yellow, minor concerns

3 Orange, very concerning

4 Red, accident about to happen

The survival prevention rule is to react immediately as soon as you enter the orange category, never let it get to red.

We ran a feature article some time ago about small sailboats getting into trouble, in which we polled our readers on the topic. After parsing all of their feedback, our informal conclusion was that if a sailor did just three things—check and respect the forecast, know how to reef effectively, and wear a PFD—they would greatly reduce their chances of any major disaster. What do you think?

Those three preventive actions are great, but it’s more complicated than that.  Cold weather, icy water, injuries or physical limitations, gear failure, choice of boat, rescue possibilities around you, powerful tides or currents, type of shore, sharks, orcas, biting insects, alcohol or drug use, submerged rock beds, these are just some examples of other things that can lead to serious problems. Skill level and/or a boat that can’t deal with the difficulties to be encountered is the main factor that affects survival in a given sailing situation. By far the best way to avoid trouble is to always consult very experienced local sailors with your destination ideas before setting out and listen carefully to their advice. Even if you have a lot of mileage under your belt, someone else’s view of you, your boat and your sailing plans will go a long way to preventing problems.

We have some friends who capsized a small boat in Alaska and eventually struggled to shore on a remote island. The husband was shaking uncontrollably as they huddled together. The wife was barely able to hold the waterproof matches she’d carried in her PFD pocket, but she managed to light their camp stove, pitch a tent, and finally begin a warming-up process. What if no matches were found? What are the strategies for combating or avoiding hypothermia in similar circumstances?

The gear carried in PFD pockets is crucial in a lose-the-boat situation.  The single most important gear to always carry on one’s person is the emergency beacon such as InReach or Spot, because you can then call for rescue. In another pocket, it is good to carry stuff which will help you wait for rescue, the most important of which are a dependable way to make fire which depends on skill level, a mylar blanket to shed rain and retain heat, a pocket knife and a whistle.  I also like to carry a fishing line and fly hooks, which takes no space, this mostly to pass the time.

In case you have no fire (don’t let this happen), the main strategies for avoiding hypothermia are the scarecrow technique, where you stuff your clothing with any insulating material such as leaves or straw or crumpled paper, and the nest technique where you make an insulated bed by building two parallel walls with semi-rotten logs and filling the space in between with insulating material, then put on a roof of sticks and more insulating material on top.

Unless you have practiced very intensely beforehand, it is a waste of time trying to start a fire by friction. And if you do practice skills like starting fire by rubbing sticks, with an empty lighter or by using a magnifying lens made of ice, I guarantee you will never, ever, be stuck without a lighter in your pockets.

In the rare instance where a sailor, or even a hiker, is stranded on land in a remote location—what are the first steps or most important considerations for their survival?

Too late. In that situation, survival depends on the individual’s physical fitness, psychological fortitude, technical outdoor skills and decision-making competency which balance against the difficulty of the ordeal. Either those 4 factors are sufficient to face the situation or not. This means everything depends on prevention. Ahead of time, you can work on improving physical fitness, gain psychological insights by reading real adventure stories, practice technical skills and develop decision-making via simulations. The first steps or most important considerations for their survival will be based on their decision-making competencies based on their other three capacities.

How important is the state of mind of the person trying to survive—their psychology under stress? Are there any rules or suggestions for how to think in these situations?

Like I said above, psychology under stress needs to be improved ahead of time, once in a situation you either have what it takes or you don’t.  It is certain that reading about other people’s mishaps helps. Psychological fortitude also closely correlates with decision-making under stress, which can be practiced by engaging in simulations.  The theory here is to use the SERA model, which means weighing each decision as to its impact on the four SERA factors: (S)ignaling, (E)nergy, (R)isks and (A)ssets.

The best you can do in a survival situation, after removing yourself from immediate danger, is to STOP, sit down and think SERA. How can you (S)ignal your presence? Put yourself in low-battery mode to conserve (E)nergy.  Avoid all (R)isks which can make matters worse. Cherish your (A)ssets, make sure you don’t lose or destroy existing gear.

Adventurer Colin Angus told us that he views the cold water he’s often rowing or sailing on as “icy death.” That idea stuck with us because we fear too few people anticipate capsizing their small boat, and they may not be prepared for the realities of sudden cold-water immersion. Similarly, most boaters and sailors have never intentionally capsized their boat to practice self-rescue. Your thoughts?

Colin is right, sudden cold-water immersion is a very real threat to survival, doubly so when the air temperature is also freezing. Depending on age and fitness, just surviving the first minute is tough, it will be spent just attempting to catch your breath. Then, again depending on age and fitness, you only have a few minutes before hands and arms no longer function. That is not much time to reach shore or to climb back aboard.

In a small boat, practicing capsizing is absolutely crucial. That is where you become painfully aware that your thick life vest prevents you from climbing aboard, that you are not heavy enough to right the boat, that the centerboard gets stuck, that you can’t reach the emergency ladder, that the boat turtles because the mast float is insufficient and so on. I concur with Howard Rice and others that the importance of practicing self-rescue under controlled conditions cannot be overstated.

Are there any particular small-boat designs, production or otherwise, that you especially admire as potential minimalist exploration boats? Or any features you especially look for?

I own and am a great fan of Matt Layden’s Paradox design. In my mind it is the perfect small cruising exploration boat, mostly because I live in a cold country and greatly appreciate the sail-from-inside feature, but also because of its nine inch draft and the fact that efficient yulohing lets me go engineless. It is also a safe boat, since it instantly recovers from a knockdown like a keel boat.

What kinds of boats have you designed or built for your own purposes?

I designed the Gorfnik sailboat based on a simple puddle duck racer base to explore places where there are no boat ramps and where no other boats can go.  I’ve drawn plans which are available for free.  Like the Paradox, it offers sail-from-inside and sleep-aboard features, can be paddled standing up and the sprit sail uses a standard canoe pole which permits poling up small rivers.  For safety I treat this boat exactly like a canoe and always stay near shore where I can pull it onto land to camp in if weather becomes nasty.  It can be self-rescued, albeit slowly, but it is so stable that I have never capsized it except voluntarily during capsize tests.  I have built a work-finish version of this boat in 5 days, it is the most fun for the buck. I carry two on a standard snowmobile trailer and with many friends have boondocked hundreds of days in locations from northern Québec to the Everglades, up to two weeks at a time. Surprisingly comfortable for an 8 foot boat!

I have also built a modified Cat Ketch version of Matt Layden’s 12 ft Enigma. This is like a small Paradox, again with the sail-from-inside feature, with wheels to move the boat on road portages. I have found it to be a wonderful and high performance sailboat, but it is not quite as much fun to camp in as the Paradox and the Gorfnik, because of its slightly tender initial stability.

Are there any common boating or water-related survival tactics (or just survival tactics generally) that you think represent bad advice, or where the potential effectiveness is exaggerated?

If you don’t carry a dependable means to start a fire, you will have to do without. Because camping people usually only light fires when it is nice out, they underestimate the difficulty of lighting a fire in a wet and cold environment, which is when it is really needed. Even with a Bic lighter, and still more so with a ferrocerium rod, lighting a fire in extreme conditions is painfully difficult. This skill must be practiced and practiced ahead of time. Anyone that even vaguely suggests that starting a fire by primitive means is feasible is giving very bad advice. 

In fact, all survival skills such as building rafts, motor repairs with limited tools or using pants as emergency flotation will only be achievable after long and tedious training.  Think of a virtuoso playing the piano, looks easy until you try it!

Speaking of popular advice, how do you feel about the myriad survival TV shows that prevail? Are people learning good, practical things watching Bear Grylls or shows like Naked and Afraid?

Bear Grylls is very good at what he does: entertainment. It would be dangerous to follow his lead of jumping into water, running through the bush or eating gross stuff at random. On the contrary, one must avoid all risks and move in a slow and safe manner, too boring for TV shows. Same with Naked and Afraid, there is very little useful content—the show should be called “let’s watch regular people get tortured”, plus they always insert dangerous animals out-or-context, promoting the untruth that the wilderness is an unsafe place to be.

What things can the average person do to improve their overall chances or prepare before they find themselves in a survival situation?

At the outdoor research laboratory, we have shown that the best way to prepare is to face simulated survival situations in a controlled setting which instantly provides a way out.  It is this repeated problem-solving in an outdoor setting which best develops physical fitness, psychological fortitude, technical skills and good decision-making. Even group analysis of simulated situations on paper is useful, as was demonstrated by the recent SCA island-escape challenge.

Just like capsize practice is crucial to become aware of what to expect, so too is practicing for survival ordeals.  It is eye-opening to swim out and back to shore near your chalet with the waterproof sack you usually carry as a bug-out bag, and attempt to spend the night on the beach “waiting for rescue”.

What are your thoughts on survival kits and “bug-out” bags—packs with specialized emergency gear?

I no longer believe in dedicated survival kits and bug-out bags. I’ve prepared countless of them after putting great thought into their contents and had them laying around for years and years. They were packed so tight that I would never go into them for fear of having to repack. Eventually they take too much room in the handy spots and they end up being put in a corner, then put aside completely in an out-of-the way locker or even brought back home.

A better option is to develop a habit of carrying everyday pocket gear and a bag of useful items which get frequent daily use. A daypack which contains items like a water bottle, some munchies such as chocolate and peanuts, a small umbrella and/or raincoat, toilet paper, toothbrush, sunglasses, lip balm, an extra warm hat, some cord, a headlamp, an electronic reader, mini first aid kit, pills, an InReach or Spot beacon, a thin windbreaker and sweater will definitely be carried everywhere, since you need the stuff in it all the time. As a bonus, it will be right there during an emergency, contrary to the dedicated bug-out bag which stayed home.

Is there anything the typical person might wear or be carrying daily that could be surprisingly useful in a survival situation? Any potentially life-saving tools or supplies you recommend people keep on hand? 

Carrying pocket gear at all times is a highly recommended survival strategy.  The three must-haves in pants pockets are a means to make fire, a pocket knife and a whistle. Like previously mentioned, in Life Vest or Jacket pockets, the emergency beacon and a mylar blanket are the most important items. In my wallet I like to carry a mini-kit of useful items such as thread and needle, snare wire, hooks and line.

In a boat, emergency tools should always be near at hand, such as pliers, hatchet and wire cutters. Wooden hole plugs, pieces of plywood and toilet bowl wax should also be close by.

What’s interesting and sort of paradoxical about being a survival expert is that you’ve taken far more risks than the average Joe. But we love what Steven Callahan says in his book Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea: “Avoiding risk is not much of a goal...whether you crawl into a hole or walk a high wire, nobody gets out of here alive. We cannot grow without challenge.” 

One of my mottos in life has always been: “The worst risk of all is to not risk at all.” So I agree with Steven on this matter, even if this seems contradictory to the R of the SERA model which insists on avoiding (R)isks. Here’s the nuance: In a survival situation, you are already feeling the effects of the risks you have taken, therefore you need to avoid further risks which will compound your problem. Another nuance is the type of risk and its consequence. Personally, and also my recommendation to those who want to hear it, is to agree to take all kinds of calculated risks, as long as the consequences are mere suffering, not the loss of life! For example, during a trip in a bark canoe I accept the risks of walking home 20 miles if I wrap the canoe around a rock in a R3 rapid, but I will not accept the risk of drowning by attempting an R5 in an unbreakable plastic canoe.

Risk taking in extreme adventure has been the object of concern for as long as I remember. Solo round-the-world sailors exemplify this type of trip. Each person will need to decide what they think of the likes of a Bernard Moitessier or Alain Bombard and if they wish to imitate them.

Any other adventures planned? Where can our readers learn more about you, your books, classes, and other projects?

Other adventures? There are more than can be accomplished in one lifetime! On the bucket list are plans like sailing around the great Manitoulin Island on northern Lake Huron or poking around the canals of Europe in a built-on-the-spot Gorfnik. I am also currently designing and building a shorter and trailerable version of Dave and Anke’s Mustelid, another fun project.

As far as finding out more about me, my Facebook page is public and is where I post many of my adventures and boat builds. Searching through my history will get you there. I always accept invitations from sailing friends.

For a fun read, check out my book “Wilderness Secrets Revealed—Adventures of a Survivor”. There are no boat-related stories but lots of crazy predicaments I got myself into in my younger years.

For decision-making in survival situations, my conference at the Global Bushcraft Symposium on this subject is available on Youtube (below):

If you read French, my book Surviethon- 25 ans plus tard presents dozens of specific survival techniques I developed over the years.

This scientific article I wrote with my collegue Dr Manu Tranquard discusses the essence of wilderness survival training:

http://simonpriest.altervista.org/OLIC/CHAPTERS/12.pdf

Related to boating, you may wish to learn how to build a functional emergency raft.  This is much more difficult than it seems because a raft which can float a person and his gear is too heavy to move into the water. To get a feel for what is realistically involved in the construction of a survival raft, check out this video where I show one way to solve the problem:

Happy sailing to all.  Hope to see you on the water.  •SCA•