Cold Water Conditioning.

There are two immutable facts about kayaking in cold water.

1. Cold water kills more kayakers globally than any other factor.
2. Always dressing for immersion is the only safe option.

There, that gets the formalities out of the way. There have been a few incidents and accidents recently that have had me thinking about cold water. I don't want to talk physiology, no cold shock or hypothermia treatises here. There's good information out there on this topic from folks far more knowledgable than me. You could start off with these if you wish.

http://www.seakayakermag.com/2008/Feb08/cold-shock.htm

http://www.coldwaterbootcamp.com/pages/home.html a site where you can see the immediate impacts of cold water.

http://beyondcoldwaterbootcamp.com/  a site for trainers and educators with resources for getting the message across to students.

Jim Kakuk and Eric Soares, the founder members of the Tsunami Rangers, have been saying for years that if you want to be a sea paddler, you should first of all be a sea swimmer. If you don't believe you could swim there, you probably shouldn't paddle there. I think this is pretty good advice and it highlights the need to be dressed for the conditions in the water. If you would need thermal protection to swim there then put it on to paddle there too.

Even when you're wearing you're cold water gear, the shock when you hit the water can be disorientating, even painful. It triggers shortness of breath, gasping, hyperventillation and can trigger panic attacks and vertigo.
And yet we see people in their togs (no synthetic rubber blubber suit) swimming in very cold water for fun. The Bondi Icebergs, the San Francisco Dolphins and plenty of others, get in and swim regularly without thermal protection. So are they immune from the cold ? Superhuman athletes with antifreeze for blood ?

So what do these guys do and could it be useful for us ?

The primary thing that they do is to acclimatize. They don't usually start off in mid-winter, they start in summer and then just keep going. They don't always swim very far either, (they wear a wetsuit if they do) and they're not immune to hypothermia far from it, but they do have a very good handle on what they can cope with and when to get out of the water. They're also very good at preparing their body for the shock of immersion. They will always splash some cold water on their face and neck three to five minutes before they go in. This works because our bodies are actually very bad at judging temperature. They're very good however at judging difference in temperature. Your body can't regulate blood flow to your face and neck like it can to your arms and legs so they don't go numb and the volume of blood flow is quite large. By cooling them and reducing the temperature difference you greatly reduce the level of shock. It's easier to control your breathing and there's less chance of your gasping down a lungful of the beautiful, briny stuff we like to paddle on.

A second and rather counter-intuitive thing that the swimmers do is to exhale as they go in. A long slow exhalation as they (and I'm quoting a swimmer here) "embrace the cold", accepting it, acknowledging it and not being paniced by it. Having done some fairly chilly swims myself I can vouch for this approach. It's hard to gasp in when you're deliberately blowing out. (You may also trigger the mammalian diving reflex, but that's another story).

So is acclimatisation going to keep you alive for hours in cold water?  Absolutely not, there is still no substitute for dressing up in rubber.

Acclimatization is really just giving your brain and body a chance to get used to cold water immersion. This seems to be helpful in assisting your body to adapt faster and your brain to keep charge. It may not eliminate the gasp reflex but it reduces it's intensity and makes you better prepared for it and more used to managing your breathing. That may give you a better chance at a reflexive roll, a quicker self rescue and if you do end up in the water maybe a couple of extra minutes of functional time to call for assistance before you lose the capacity to help yourself at all. If nothing else, do what the open water swimmers do, splash a bit of cold water on your face every few minutes as you paddle along, just in case. Neoprene hoods help too, but you can still benefit from splashing your face.

So do what I do, spend a few minutes thinking about dressing up in rubber clothes and then go and have a cold shower. What could be easier ?



PS: Just kidding about the rubber clothes, honest.