Nice reference.
Folks have varying levels of temperature tolerance. But, the chart feels about right (at least for me). I was out yesterday morning surfing for a couple of hours in a 2mm in 62 degrees water (air temp upper 50s). Never felt cold but actually needed to cool off occaisonally from exertion. But I was on a waveski and not as āsubmergedā as the board surfers in the lineup.
sing
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and your hands are useless if they canāt function
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Perception can fool a person into ingnoring the actual temperature, but the effects of temperature on the body is still the same.
On my first trip of the season the air temperature was reported as 65Ā° and the water temperature was reported as 58Ā° (I need to point out that I didnāt measure it, but the actual temperature couldnāt have been too far off).
While paddling. I recalled thinking the water felt warm (58Ā° is hardly warm). Last week I was out on the water with the water temperature reported as 70Ā°, which is down from a high of 83Ā° just a month ago. The air temperature was reported as mid-70ās and I thought the water felt cold. My reaction was that if 70Ā° felt cold, despite my perception about the 58Ā° water feeling warm, in April, the reality would be very different if my entire body would be immersed in 58Ā° water.
I believe itās similar to how we view a 60 degree day in the middle of a cold winter and a 65 degree day in the middle of a hot summer. Our expectations skew how we interpret actual temperature, possibly because our body regulates internal temperature to adapt to conditions. That makes it all the more important to trust the charts rather than reacting to temperstures based on perception. As an extreme example, one of the advanced signs of hypothermia is a sensation of being overly warm that prompts many victims to remove layers of clothing. Not sure whether that regulatory mechanism is in play to partially descibe the sense that 58Ā° water is warm and not dangerous.
I thought that was a Greek dessert
Thatās a nice summary
If you know someone that paddles without protective clothing in cold conditions, talk to them about it. It may offend some people, but you could save a life.
We have administrative closures that end the season before freeze-up occurs.
My own practical reason to end the season is when my hands get too cold to paddle without gloves on. I have gloves and have used them in the past, but a few years ago I stopped being motivated enough to paddle with them. Thatās also when I end every paddle feeling cold. Again, I have clothing to go a bit deeper into the cold season, but it just doesnāt feel worth it anymore. We have so many months of forced time off the water that a few more sessions this year makes no difference when I start next spring.
My mind turns more to hiking at a time when fewer people are around anyway. With the postponed deadline for federal budget approval, Mesa Verde trails are calling me to hike them before they might be closed for who knows how long.
The problem for me is wind chill on wet exposed neoprene. SCUBA divers donāt deal with that.
Once that wind fires up, even a light breeze quickly chills me. Prior to that, I could have been comfortable, or even slightly too warm.
Definitely. Iād shift that chart by about 10 degrees, but Iām in Florida and have the thermal capabilities of a lizard.
Obviously we donāt have an āendāā to the season here, but my personal cutoff to break out the drysuit is water temps below 60F (we do get that here in west central FL for a few weeks usually late Jan-early Feb most winters.) Not sure if this is true but I have heard that FL gets more hypothermia cases than any other state because a lot of tourists assume the water is 85F everywhere and all the time. It isnāt.
When i did three consecutive years at the Santa Cruz surf kayak comp in March, I brought along my 3/2 wetsuit and a drytop for the water temps of low to mid 50s. The Cali folks though it was cold. I thought they were wimpy. The water felt really good to me, compared to NEās water temp in the 40s. RELATIVE for sure.
sing
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Water temps in the 50ās - do you have dry suits? If not stay stepping distance to the shore. IMO.
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Further relativity ā while I was surfing in my 2 mm wetsuit in 62 degree water temp this weekend, three open water swimmers with NO wetsuits swam by me, outside of the break zone, as I got out there. They came back around just before I called it quits. So, I assume that they swam 2 miles (or more) down the beach and back.
I think folks who are newbies and never experienced cold water or āplayedā significantly in it should absolutely be cautious and follow the standard advice. Then you have folks who have āplayedā (and āstruggledā occaisonally) in coldwater for years on years, know their conditioning, skills and their equipment. I think there is room for them (and I include myself in this category) to make a call about what they think is appropriate for their venues, in the conditions that they know/experienced and are prepared for.
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no temperature, just when water is HARD.
Mesa Verde is a beautiful place. Camped and hiked there when our son was less than 2. Heās 50 in March and still frequents the woods with his 2 sons.
They havenāt made it to the West yet .
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Paddling a lake and seeing an eighty year old Austrian lady breaststroking by to the other side messes with my head. These people must really be cold conditioned because I have seen so many arrive in the evening for the daily distance swim in water high 50s in a bathing suit, if that.
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Yes there are even cold water swim clubs.
In my mind one of the biggest risks to the OP is the gasp reflex. The gasp reflex is involuntary and happens to many people at water temps of 65F and below. It causes people to inhale water instead of air causing an instant emergency. As a solo paddler that paddles all year on rivers itās the risk I worry about most.
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Whatās the number? According to the ACA it is 60 degrees.
Here in southern New England the ocean hits 60 degrees sometime in June, and drops below 60 degrees sometime in October.
I heard on the news last week that Narragansett Bay was 61 degrees, so we are there now. Rivers and lakes warm up a little faster in the spring, and cool off a little faster in the fall. Around here, most rivers are now in the mid-50ās.
There are three major risks resulting from cold water immersion - cold shock, physical incapacitation and hypothermia.
Cold shock comes first. It is the loss of breathing control often referred to as the āgasp reflexā, but it is not iust the big gasp that you need to worry about, but the loss of breathing control in rough water conditions where the ability to coordinate your breathing with wave splash is required.
Physical incapacitation comes next. In frigid water you can lose the ability to use your hands in a matter of minutes, and the ability to use your arms and legs shortly thereafter, making a swim, self-rescue or even an assisted rescue more difficult. For folks without a PFD, this is probably what gets them.
Hypothermia comes next. Hypothermia results from a drop in your core body temperature. To compensate, blood flow shifts from your extremities to the vital organs in your body core. This will eventually result in confusion and disorientation, and if you are in the water long enough it will kill you. Hopefully you have your PFD on, and someone will rescue you before you get to that point.
Someone above mentioned the Center for Cold Water Safety. That is a great resource. I havenāt put my drysuit on yet, but Iāll definitely start wearing it now on whitewater/sea kayak trips. By November Iāll have it on for flatwater trips as well. It will stay on until May or June.
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In my neighborhood itās time for a dry bag and some immersion protectionā¦plus I try to make sure I have a rope (painter) on one end of the boat to help with recovery in case something bad happens.
Looks like we are at about the same place in New England - rivers in the mid 50ās. It timeā¦