For National Safe Boating Week (May 17-23) we’re revisiting some of the best safety stories, recommendations, and gear from our sister publications. Today, Passagemaker offers cold-water survival tips for boaters.
As the winter dockmaster at the Orienta Yacht Club on Mamaroneck Harbor in New York, I manage the dozen or so boats still in the water. My job includes periodically heading down to the snow-covered docks to ensure that the ice-eaters are churning away to keep the surface waters from freezing.
One recent morning, I made my rounds under blue-gray skies and reminisced about the bookends to winter wet storage. I remembered when the transducer on my Nordic Tug 42 read a warmish 64 degrees Fahrenheit.
While this may not sound very cold, being submerged in 64-degree water for 15 to 20 minutes can be deadly.
Stage One
Cold shock happens the moment cold water contacts your body. Clothing rapidly soaks up the frigid water, immersing your chest, back and abdomen. Cold shock can trigger involuntary gasping with rapid breathing, and unless you can control your reactions, the potential for inhaling water increases the likelihood of drowning. For individuals with pre-existing conditions, an increased heart and breathing rate can lead to a heart attack or stroke. For some, the sudden plunging into cold water can cause immediate panic, fear and stressful reactions that impair decision-making.
Stage Two
Incapacitation is the rapid cooling of muscles to a point where you can no longer move your hands, arms or legs. It can take a few seconds or a few minutes. You become progressively exhausted. A life jacket or flotation device that keeps your head above water means the difference between life and death in this situation. Without one, rescue becomes nearly impossible.
Stage Three
Hypothermia begins when our body core temperature drops below 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Without taking proper action, our body core temperature will continue to fall. Our vital organs will become cold, with increasing physical and mental impairment. Hypothermic individuals appear stuporous, are unresponsive, become comatose and succumb to cardiac arrest.
Stage Four
Core temperature afterdrop and circum-rescue collapse begin as heat is transferred from the warmer core to the cooler extremities, with cooler peripheral blood returning to the central circulation and heart. Any action or passive extremity movement—such as allowing the person to stand or walk—or immersion in warm water will increase the amount of cold blood returning to the heart, leading to cardiac instability. Circum-rescue collapse may occur before, during and after removal from cold water. Nervous system mechanisms allow blood to pool in the extremities, leading to reduced blood flow to the heart, profound low blood pressure, cardiovascular collapse and death.
To read the full story including what to do to improve your survival odds if you recognize these signs of hypothermia in a MOB situation, click here.
For more information and resources relating to National Safe Boating week, click here.
