Are You Ready?????

[jssailem]

It is nearly the 1st of May. Who could have imagined last October 2020, when boats were being hauled , the pandemic and elections consumed the news, that we would survive til the start of a new boating season.

Now that we have survived the dark winter...
The question is are we ready for that Cold Water Shock!

What is Cold Water Shock you ask... It is what happens to you when you fall off your boat into the still winter chilled water of spring. It is the cold water that brings the fog, we all dislike, as it spoils what starts out as a pretty sunrise.
It is what happens to your body, involuntarily, when you go into the Spring time water.

It is what kills boater not ready for it.

The Royal Yachting Association has capitalized the information about Cold Water Shock into the following:

Immersion in cold water rapidly incapacitates you and can kill you. ​

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The sudden exposure of your head and body to cold water can cause a number of involuntary body reactions – this condition is known as cold water shock. It is one of the most profound stimuli that the body can encounter and it cannot be prevented. It can be as swift as it is deadly.​

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Because cold water shock occurs well before the effects of hypothermia, it is far deadlier, yet less understood, by the recreational boater. ​

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Hypothermia kills over a period of time, as heat is conducted away from the body leading to a gradual decline in body core temperature, the loss of swimming ability, unconsciousness and ultimately death. ​

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In contrast cold water shock can be lethal in minutes as it can cause a number of instant, powerful, involuntary respiratory reflexes, such as sudden increase in heart and blood pressure that may result in cardiac arrest, even for people in good health. Your ability to ‘swim like a fish’ will have no impact on your body’s involuntary response. ​

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At a water temperature of below 15°C, and if you are not wearing a life jacket, especially an automatic one, cold water shock will:​

• cause you to inhale as you go under the water, due to an involuntary gasping reflex, and drown without coming back to the surface ​
• drastically reduce your ability to hold your breath underwater, typically from a minute or so to less than 10 seconds ​
• induce vertigo as your ears are exposed to cold water, resulting in failure to differentiate between up and down.​

What can you do about COLD WATER SHOCK?

1. Check your PFD to be sure there are no leaks, did that rescue knife punch a hole in your floatation tube?
2. Check the date, your PFD has an expiration date if it is auto triggered.
3. Check that the CO2 canisters are properly screws into the PFD.
4. If it is time to change the canisters, then pull the cord to see if they will work in an emergency. It might be a deflating experience.
5. If you are ambitious and really want that "immersion experience" find a warm pool and jump in wearing your PFD. There is nothing like going under water and having the sucker inflate, popping you up to the surface. It is better than that sinking feeling when you are expecting fireworks and you find your self sinking to the bottom of the pool. Better the pool than than the sea.
6. Check your jacklines. Are they ready for another season? Are they showing signs of UV deterioration? Did they save you last season from that impromptu swim and need to be replaced?
7. Check your tethers. Do the quick releases still open or are they crusted shut. Are the tethers of an age that replacement is now?
8. Have you examined your secure points and pad eyes recently? Has water seeped into the core of your deck because the screws bedding has deteriorated? Is now the time to add a backing plate to your pad eye/secure point because the fender washer you used is starting to pull through the FPR deck?

Safe boating season all!

 

[sail sfbay]

I always announce to my crew during the safety talk BEFORE leaving the dock that no one goes overboard........... San Francisco Bay is pretty cold year round (51.8 F winter and 55.4 F summer) ............ but I do go over the man overboard drill.

 

[jssailem]

I do go over the man overboard drill.

A great idea.

It helps if one of the Crew disobeys your order, that they are wearing a PFD.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

It’s all about perspective - we encourage swimming

 

[jssailem]

t’s all about perspective - we encourage swimming

Funny.
Realtors say "Location, Location, Location."

 

[cb32863]

It’s all about perspective - we encourage swimming

View attachment 193524

The current water temp on the lake here was 48F yesterday, in 6 feet of water in the slip.

 

[Tom J]

Cold Water Shock is very real to those of us who have voluntarily jumped into the water on a warm spring day. Maybe it is a good idea for all of us to try it under supervised conditions, so that we will be more cautious.
Walking by the boat ramp at Scituate, MA, one warm spring day, I noticed a trio of teenagers jumping onto the trampoline of a Hobie catamaran they had just launched. They wore only swimsuits, and no PFD's, and the water temp was about 42 degrees. I mentioned to them that if they flipped, they could all be dead, and at the least, they would be freezing without wetsuits on. I got the typical teenage response: "Yeah, whatever!', and off they went.

 

[capta]

I always announce to my crew during the safety talk BEFORE leaving the dock that no one goes overboard........... San Francisco Bay is pretty cold year round (51.8 F winter and 55.4 F summer) ............ but I do go over the man overboard drill.

I have two basic rules (laws, perhaps).
1) Do not go overboard. Consider the rail as if were a 908 foot cliff. You'd have about the same chances of survival at sea.
2) You are not allowed to injure yourself, or you will immediately be discharged at the next port. No exceptions.
After roughly 50 years of being in command of various vessels, I feel my proudest accomplishment has been that not one person has gone overboard unintentionally while underway, and that the most severe injury any aboard has ever had was a broken finger, toe or a cracked rib or two.
I certainly can not say the same about the various vessels I was on, but not in command of.

 

[jon hansen]

nice job capta

 

[jon hansen]

flipped the Ascow during a race. put the whole crew in the drink. ran into an underwater seaweed hedge in the shallows, daggerboard hung up, stopping the boat, on the next puff, over we went. blustery day.


got a fisherman to pick me up. got back to the dock and fired up cherrybomb. got back to the scow and righted it all before the CG arrived.

 

[jssailem]

I have been in the water a lot in San Diego Bay and the Southern California Ocean. It happens racing dinghy's and sailing small boats.

I have successfully avoided going in the water in the Puget Sound and Salish Sea... So far.

I am working to maintain this record.

Even so, I sail in a Dry Suit when out cruising solo. I wear a comfortable PFD. I figure if it feels good on it is more likely to be worn all the time. I exercise my jack-lines and tethers. I carry an ARC PLB and a handheld VHF radio.

If I go in I am hoping someone will get notified and haul me out. If not at least they may find the carcass. I'm to ornery to become fish food, at least till I soften up in a couple of days.

 

[capta]

"jack-lines and tethers".

Never had either on any boat yet, even commercial and work boats doing very dangerous work, like King crab fishing.

 

[ShawnL]

I have to say, cold water is not a joke. I consider myself a very strong swimmer (there was a time when swimming a mile wasn't a big deal). A couple of years back I took a couple of weird rollers and went over while kayaking with my son on Lake Superior in the fall. Of course that day I couldn't seem to get back in the boat correctly. I don't know if it was the rollers or what, but I just couldn't do it. After several failed attempts I finally gave up and decided to just swim the ~ 100 yards to shore. I swam (with my life jacket on) and my son towed my boat along side of me. Made it to shore, dried off, changed wet clothes, emptied the water out of the boat and continued on. But I have to say, that was the longest swim I can remember. Needless to say after that I found a warmer lake and practiced dumping and getting back in the boat until I figured out what I was doing wrong that day.

Before anyone asks, we were prepared for the possibility of going in the water. It was warm out, but we had dry clothes in the boats, were wearing our PFDs, had all our safety gear, stayed within easy swimming distance of the shore, were both well versed in getting back in a boat from the water and both strong swimmers.

What we did not expect is how quickly cold water saps your strength. Before experiencing it, I wouldn't have believed it.

 

[danm1]

When my son took a safe boating class he got his certificate and said to me "I can take the boat out by myself now, right?" I said he had to pass my course first.
"Oh no," he said. "I read about hypothermia, you don't have to throw me in."

Turns out I did.

 

[Tom J]

Never had either on any boat yet, even commercial and work boats doing very dangerous work, like King crab fishing.

I use tethers, and have lines to set up jacklines if necessary, but when I worked a commercial boat, there were no such provisions. We didn't wear PFD's, even in bad weather. Anything that hampered your ability to work was not acceptable. Your responsibility was to Not get hurt, or fall overboard.

 

[Tom J]

"Oh no," he said. "I read about hypothermia, you don't have to throw me in."

I had an instructor that had a creative way for us to get over the cold water shock. On a white water raft trip, my daughter and I felt good that our guide did not make us jump into the ice cold water when we launched the raft, like all the other poor slobs had to do. Once we got into the middle of the river, he told me to stand on the bow , and another crew member to stand on the stern. Then he told us to jump up and down, which we did, somewhat tentatively. NO, no, he told us. "You are supposed to fall in". So I did a back flip and got a hell of a shock when I hit the water, even with a wet suit on. The rest of the crew took their turns getting wet, and then we all warmed up while paddling.