Can I get to shore without taking damage?

When Ubisoft said that Shay would get damaged by prolongued periods of swimming I immediately thought of these situations.

But when I actually got the game when I play in the North Atlantic I used the same technique as Black Flag and I almost never get damaged. When I do is because I'm not paying attention or I performed a bad jump. I'm go over what I do:

• I usually go really fast towards the island or chunk of land where the collectible is.

• When I'm close I slow down to the minimum speed and I do a sweep. trying to position the Morrigan as much close to the chunk of land and Horizontal. I don't mind if sometimes I tip the ship a little bit and the ship takes a bit of damage. That is okay, it just shows you that you are the closest you can be.

• Afterwards you anchor the ship go off to the closest side and just jump and swim to shore. Works like a charm for me and the sweep looks really crisp and cool :D

For completion sake I thought that @Memor-Xs comment is worth mentioning. He suggests pointing the front of the ship to the island or chunk of land and going towards it, stopping really close and then jumping from that side as well.

Practice these techniques and you won't be getting damaged on your adventures. Hope this Helps!

There are techniques to landing: the prow first and run off the prow and come in close alongside using a rope to swing for a bit of extra distance. You don't need to get these right though really since even with the initial health levels I always found myself with plenty of health by the time I got to shore if I fell short (as so often happens when you let go of the wheel and your ship starts drifting annoyingly away from the shoreline you were wanting to get to).

The amount of health lost is worrying but slow (compared to some things - its all relative of course) and because your health regenerates on its own when you are not in combat for a while its not actually a problem. On the uncharted sections that just have a fragment or chest you just go on as normal, by the time you're heading back to the ship you're on full health. If you've made a shore/swimming landing somewhere that there are hostile units just stay away from them until your health comes back.