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Cold Water Immersion
kathleen petereit (Vancouver Island paddler)
09/24/13 #14913
Read the part about cold shock and incapacitation. I had an interesting experience this summer. I do a lot of swimming laps at the pool in the winter and the lake in the summer. A few weeks ago I was doing a 2000 meter swim at the lake in my speedo. The water seemed warm enough. I was doing one armed breaststroke with my injured shoulder at my side.
At 1000 meters the wind picked up and there were small whitecaps. I began to notice my timing was becoming off with breathing and I was getting gulps of water. My legs and chest started to feel heavy and I barely made it back. It was a hot sunny day. I got out of the water and felt disorientated like a drunk person and was shivering. Sat down on the grass with my towel and felt that sick feeling like something bad is wrong. Chest was heavy and I couldn't think clearly and movements were slow. I was hypothermic. It scared the crap out of me. I stayed there for a long time till I warmed up. This really made me think about how long I would survive in the ocean during the summer when we wear shorts.
We do a lot of practise remounts in 4 foot waves. Gareth and I made a competition of it seeing who can get back on the fastest in our singles. We are both down to 10 seconds.I also practise talking on my vhf when I am bobbing around.
One winter I made the boys dump their ski's to see how their paddling clothes held out. They were in neoprene with jackets on. I had my drysuit. They were not very comfortable at all after a couple of minutes. I was happily swimming around in my gortex drysuit.
So give your gear a try and see how long you last until you lose your grip strength. Once you lose your grip strength your other muscles start shutting down. As surfskiers we rely on our fast twitch muscle fibres to keep us balanced. That's why the paddler in the previous post kept on capsizing…they weren't working. The proprioception was diminishing. Your brain is telling your body what to do but your body isn't responding because your blood thickens when you are hypothermic.
Throw a 100% wool sweater in your hatch bag in the winter so when you get to shore you can put it on. I have finally managed to fully convert Gareth and he has all the safety gear now and dresses properly. That took awhile because he is such a good paddler and doesn't think it could ever happen to him. :)
Heading out for a 20 knot downwinder after work with Ron tomorrow.
Kathleen
