The truth about cold water

A very good article that shows some perceived misconceptions about cold water survival. I spent 4 years on 20 different large marine seismic exploration boats with most of them operating in the North Sea. I have taken 3 North Sea Survival courses and a many safety meetings for good measure. Every person that I have worked with has been well aware of the consequences of falling overboard in water barely above freezing. Larger boats take at least an hour to turn around and at least 10-15 min for the rescue boat to hit the water. Then, only if your lucky, will they be able to find you as you bob in and out of view from the waves. All of this of course, relies on someone seeing you fall over in the first place. Never work on deck unless you are working with someone, have an immersion suit, or are attached by a safety chain.

Another problem arises when you are rescued as he points out, but the stories I have heard are about the survivors being put in showers to raise their body temperature back up and collapsing and drowning in a puddle of water in the shower.

The whole thing, on the other hand, seems fairly moot. It's like telling someone that when you get shot, it's not the bullet that kills you, it's the bleeding.

The video Cold Water Boot Camp linked to at the end of the article strikes home the points very nicely.

Volunteers jump into cold water and demonstrate the 1-10-1 rule of cold water exposure.

  1  : Initial cold shock will last for about a minute
  10 : Physical incapacitation will occur after about 10 minutes
  1  : Unconsciousness from hypothermia in about 1 hour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1xohI3B4Uc

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I particularly like the tone in "I know that you think you know all there is to know about hypothermia already (and maybe you do), but read ahead and see if you aren’t surprised by something" given that someone actually downvoted me when I took exception to the line "whatever you just said, it's wrong" in the "Where Does A Tree Get Its Mass?" article[1] when it was posted to HN.

There is no need for all the hyperbole and Zed Shaw-like drama on HN, articles can be interestingly written without all that baggage. That someone such as yourself, who knows a lot about this, and someone like me who doesn't can both enjoy the article is a testament to the style.

[1]http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2008/11/where_does_a_tree_get...