This is a very interesting piece on the effects of being in cold water.
http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/cold_water/
The bottom line is "It is impossible to die from
hypothermia in cold water unless you are wearing
flotation, because without flotation you wont
live long enough to become hypothermic"
The three rules of survival: Life jacket. Life jacket. Life jacket.
This is an excellent article. It's quite incredible to see what some people
are capable of in cold water. I once watched a friend of mine named Charlie
Issaluk (who happens to be Eskimo) teach himself to water ski. In Hudson Bay.
Without a life jacket. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to keep
warm.
It took about 45 minutes before he could stay up. I was on shore, wearing a
down parka, and I was damn cold. The air temperature was just under 50
degrees and the water temperature about 38 degrees. He seemed to suffer no
ill effects, in fact he got out of the water and rode home (in his wet
clothes) on a motorcycle.
By the way, the "can't breathe" part is absolutely true, my father did about
1000 under-ice dives and every single time he went in he had to wait in the
hole until he could breathe. I have fallen into very cold (35 degree) water
twice, once from a boat and once from a skidoo, and you have to be prepared
for the sensation of drowning, it's scary but it does pass.
Scott Welch
Chief Evangelist, Open Text Social Media Group
www.opentext.com
905 762 6101
"Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn
out." - John Wooden
Steven Dubnoff <sdubnoff@circlesys.com> writes:
>This is a very interesting piece on the effects of being in cold water.
>
>http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/cold_water/
>
>The bottom line is "It is impossible to die from
>hypothermia in cold water unless you are wearing
>flotation, because without flotation you wont
>live long enough to become hypothermic"
>
>The three rules of survival: Life jacket. Life jacket. Life jacket.
This is an excellent article. It's quite incredible to see what some people
are capable of in cold water. I once watched a friend of mine named Charlie
Issaluk (who happens to be Eskimo) teach himself to water ski. In Hudson Bay.
Without a life jacket. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to keep
warm.
It took about 45 minutes before he could stay up. I was on shore, wearing a
down parka, and I was damn cold. The air temperature was just under 50
degrees and the water temperature about 38 degrees. He seemed to suffer no
ill effects, in fact he got out of the water and rode home (in his wet
clothes) on a motorcycle.
By the way, the "can't breathe" part is absolutely true, my father did about
1000 under-ice dives and every single time he went in he had to wait in the
hole until he could breathe. I have fallen into very cold (35 degree) water
twice, once from a boat and once from a skidoo, and you have to be prepared
for the sensation of drowning, it's scary but it does pass.
Scott Welch
Chief Evangelist, Open Text Social Media Group
www.opentext.com
905 762 6101
"Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn
out." - John Wooden
