Cold water paddling

Most paddlers are familiar with hypothermia, but have you ever heard of Cold Water Shock? It's one way of referring to what happens when your chest and head hit the cold water. Cold shock is arguably the most likely killer of kayakers. It is also the least known. Even those who know a lot about hypothermia often know little about cold shock.

When your body is quickly immersed in cold water, it reacts with a sudden constriction of the capillaries under the fat just under your skin. This causes a sudden increase in blood pressure. Your heart rate rises dramatically, perhaps to its maximum. These are automatic physical reactions and can not be consciously controlled. The following can happen: The first hazard is panic and/or shock. The initial shock can severely strain the body and can produce an instant heart attack.

Sudden cold water immersion can result in immediate loss of consciousness and drowning. Then there is the 'gasp reflex'. Many people suddenly take a deep breath when they hit the cold water. Go in head first and you may inhale a lung full of cold water and drown. With a lung full of cold water, your heart temperature can plunge, the muscles stop contracting and you die. Even if you manage to gain the surface or even land, you may still die if you can not empty your lungs quickly enough.

Kayakers have been found still in their boats upside down appearing as if they have never tried to exit their boats. This is why it is so important not to go out on the water without proper clothing to protect you from the the water temperature!

Assuming you make it through the cold water shock, then you get to deal with the chance of Hypothermia. This happens much slower than the immediate reaction of cold water shock. Survival curves show that an adult dressed in average clothing may remain conscious for 1 hour at 40 degrees F and perhaps 2-3 hours at 50 degrees F water temps. This gives many people a false sense of security and they believe they can just swim to shore if something happens. However, it is more serious than these numbers suggest. Water removes body heat 25 times faster than air. Any movement in the water accelerates heat loss and survival time can be reduced to minutes.

Uncontrolled rapid breathing can follow the initial gasping response. Muscle rigidity and loss of manual dexterity, and physical helplessness occurs at a body temp. of about 93 degrees F. Mental capacity also deteriorates at this point.

Shivering occurs as body temperature drops to about 90 degrees F. Unconsciousness occurs when the body's core temperature reaches about 86 degrees F. If drowning doesn't occur first, death occurs at a core temperature of about 80 degrees F.

How fast can this happen? On Memorial Day, 1996, an 18-year old canoeist capsized into 50 degrees F lake water. He sank to the bottom before a rescuer in a boat towing the canoe could reach him. He was wearing blue jeans, a light shirt and no life jacket.

On March 6th, 1968, nine elite marines, trained as water survival instructors at the Marine Corps Physical Fitness Academy, capsized while paddling a war canoe across the Potomac River. They wore sweat suits. They had seat cushions but no life jackets. The water temperature was 36 degrees F. None of these men were able to swim the 100 yards to shore.

The importance of proper clothing can not be stressed enough. The common advice to wear layers of wool, nylon or polypropylene is misleading. These fabrics do not effectively retard heat loss in cold water. They are warm when damp, after being wrung out due to air trapped in the fibers. Without something to to keep them dry they offer minimal protection.

Warm weather does not cancel out the danger of cold water either! You must dress for the water temp, not the air temp! The cold water will lower the body temperature just as fast regardless of the air temperature. Warm weather can make the shock of hitting the cold water even worse. According to Sea Kayaker magazine “Spring is the most likely season for Cold Shock accidents as the warm air temperatures encourage kayakers to dress for the air temperature and not the water temperature.”

Even though this is the South we still have to deal with cold water. This time of the year the temperatures on Guntersville and Wheeler have dropped well below 50 degrees and with all the single digit temps we had last month I am betting the water dropped to at least the mid 40's. If you are going to get out on the water this time of year you need the proper clothing! It's not worth risking your life.