Ray Clamback ditched a Piper Archer some 300 miles northeast of Hilo, Hawaii, in 1999. He spent 9 hours treading water and probably wishes he’d brought a tub of love juice to ease the chafing. See Lessons Learned: Ditching 300 miles from Hawaii (link). He had another go a few years later (Pilot Ray Clamback takes another dip in his stide. Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Oct 2004: link)
At the time of Caravan ditching the waters around Hawaii had a skin temperature (top ten microns *) of 25 centigrade which is unlikely, over a few hours at least, to result in hypothermia. The NTSB final report (link) states of the deceased that the “autopsy of the passenger did not reveal any significant traumatic injuries, and the autopsy report noted that her cause of death was ‘acute cardiac arrhythmia due to hyperventilation.’” The report states a second passenger donned an infant life vest.
The annual night sea surface temperature in the Mediterranean is 19 to 20 centigrade with the slightly colder temperatures being in the Adriatic and generally west of the Strait of Sicily, with the exception of the Gulf of Lion averaging 17 centigrade. See MODIS Aqua L3 SST thermal annual model (link) rendered in NASA Worldview (link). The monthly figures, under the same family of models, show skin SSTs in the mid to high 20s from late summer through to early autumn and typically in the mid teens throughout the remainder of the year. The Levantine Sea and Gulf of Sirte are the warmest regions while the Thracian Sea and Gulfs of Lion and Venice tend to be the coldest. See NASA Worldview layers.
Another one near Hawaii here.
There was a well known Brit instructor, working for a Spanish FTO which was well known on doing FAA to JAA IR conversions in 5 days, who ditched a twin very close to Hawaii a few years ago. There is a video of that too – I think it is this one
I think most seawater is way too damn cold, so a life raft is essential. However the ditching in the OP seems to have been a rather dodgy operation anyway…
a life raft is essential
Absolutely. Unless, of course, you have proper tyres and some faith in Archimedes’ principle. 
We swam in the sea (Irish Sea) last summer – when you get in it’s actually painful for the first 5 minutes (it’s about 12 to 15 degrees C). The odd thing is children don’t seem to notice and go charging in and spend hours in there. I think we were the only adults to actually go in!
I’m taking a raft for my round the world flight, and dry suit for the Atlantic crossing. Was planning on doing the Pacific without dry suit. Hopefully I won’t come to regret that!
Another ditching caught on video, this time a Cessna 172:
Thanks! The video is short, but it looks like he did very well. Very good flare and soft touchdown. He also had the right distance from the waterline:
not too near, so you likely
-do not hit any swimmers
-do not dig into the sand in the shallow water and flip (as happened to the fellow from Italy with his RV)
but not too far away either, so people can swim over and free the occupants in case they are stuck
Airbags would not even have deployed (6g for 50ms is the trigger)
The pilot did a good job, no slighting that, but it was easier to be neat about it, as that 172 was an RG, wisely ditched with the gear up. 172RG’s were never equipped with airbags.
It does not reassure me about overflying water in a (FG) Cessna.
He slid nicely at the beginning and then the nose went down. Any idea why ?
