On Jul 27, 4:16?pm, "JimH" ask wrote:
"Chuck Gould" wrote in message

oups.com...





On Jul 27, 2:12?pm, "JimH" ask wrote:
So what is the water temp in your boating area?

For us, 72 F with the temp taken at the bottom of the Lake (40 or so
feet) 1
mile off Cleveland (the western basin of Lake Erie is a shallow).

The water temp will climb to the mid 70's some time in August then begin
to
start backing down.

Check out this psychedelic water temp map.... :-)

http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/

Those colors are pretty intense by any standard.

We're a bit colder in Puget Sound than offshore in the North Pacific.
Less direct influence from the tropical currents. Water temperature
most of the year is in the high-40's to low-50's.

I would hate to fall in those waters from the boat as ones survival time
ranges from 1 to 6 hours, with expected time before unconsciousness of 30
minutes to 2 hours.

http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/coastal_...es/hypothermia

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And many people die almost right away from cold water immersion shock.
They either gasp involuntarily and get a lung full of water and drown
or go into cardiac arrest. When we do our 18 day cruise in August, we
probably won't see a single person swimming without a wet or dry suit.
Some exceptions in shallow bays where the mudflats collect a lot of
solar energy at low tides and then warm up a few feet of water during
high tide- but few people go swimming on purpose.

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...

And many people die almost right away from cold water immersion shock.
They either gasp involuntarily and get a lung full of water and drown
or go into cardiac arrest. When we do our 18 day cruise in August, we
probably won't see a single person swimming without a wet or dry suit.
Some exceptions in shallow bays where the mudflats collect a lot of
solar energy at low tides and then warm up a few feet of water during
high tide- but few people go swimming on purpose.


Good Lord! I thought our water was cold. We're like a paradise compared to
those conditions.
Our North Shore boasts the warmest salt water north of the Carolinas.
(actually the Gulf of St Lawrence, rather than the North Atlantic ocean.)

On Fri, 27 Jul 2007 22:21:00 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

And many people die almost right away from cold water immersion shock.
They either gasp involuntarily and get a lung full of water and drown
or go into cardiac arrest.

My only experience with really cold water, many years ago, was that it
was difficult to catch a breath because of involuntary contraction of
the chest and diaphragm muscles. Fortunately I was hanging onto the
edge of a canoe with my head above water, able to survive for a minute
on very shallow breaths. After that I was able to slowly work up to a
full breath but it took a while and some very concerted panic
avoidance.

On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 17:37:18 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Fri, 27 Jul 2007 22:21:00 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

And many people die almost right away from cold water immersion shock.
They either gasp involuntarily and get a lung full of water and drown
or go into cardiac arrest.

My only experience with really cold water, many years ago, was that it
was difficult to catch a breath because of involuntary contraction of
the chest and diaphragm muscles. Fortunately I was hanging onto the
edge of a canoe with my head above water, able to survive for a minute
on very shallow breaths. After that I was able to slowly work up to a
full breath but it took a while and some very concerted panic
avoidance.

Coldest I've ever been was on a body recovery on ice. Kids in a car
went through the ice. I was in my turnout gear (thankfully because
that's what saved me), the ice cracked under me while I was opening a
hole for the divers - ploosh.

I was hauled out after a minute, but I lost my boots in the process.
Literally couldn't feel my feet for five minutes, then when the
feeling returned, whoa did that hurt.

Even with the turnout gear, I must have lost a good three/four degrees
of body temperature. I didn't warm up for a freakin' day. :)

Side Note: One of the neatest things I ever did was an ice dive in
Lake Champlain at the invitation of the Burlington Fire Department on
a ice rescue class.

Ain't nothing like walking upside down on the bottom of two/three feet
of ice - totally weird and fun. Watching the fish was a blast too -
they would pick at the ice to get little pieces of algae and believe
it or not, there is a little crab like crustacean that lives on the
surface of the ice.

Neat stuff.