I thought I could handle cold water.
Like a lot of people, I took the “1-10-1” rule at face value — the idea that you have one minute to control your breathing, 10 minutes of useful movement and about an hour before hypothermia — and assumed I could handle the initial shock. I also used warm spring air temperatures to justify not wearing thermal protection on canoe trips.
I was wrong.
The only time I’ve been involuntarily in really cold water in Maine was years ago on the West Branch of the Penobscot River. I got bounced out of a raft in a rapid.
When I went under, I got an immediate ice cream headache and that instant urge to gasp. Fortunately, I came back to the surface just before I did.
According to Moulton Avery of the National Center for Cold Water Safety, the body’s automatic reaction in cold water is to gasp. It’s not something you can reliably control. If it happens while your head is underwater, you can inhale water immediately.
I also used the so-called “rule of 120” to rationalize not wearing thermal protection on canoe trips.
Air temperature doesn’t matter much. Water temperature does.
On a warm spring day, the air might be 75 or 80 degrees. But if the water is below 70, a fall can still be dangerous, especially if you can’t get out quickly. That’s why the U.S. Coast Guard defines cold water as 70 degrees or below.
I used to row on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Young and invulnerable, we thought nothing of heading out in a 16-inch-wide rowing shell in cotton sweats in early April, even with chunks of ice still floating in the river. None of us ever fell in.
Fifty years later, when I got back into paddling, I realized how much I missed being out on the water. When I decided to buy my first kayak, my wife made me promise that I would at least wear a farmer john wetsuit and a dry top when the water temperature was below 70 degrees, and that I’d stop paddling for the year when it reached 50. I also wouldn’t start again in the spring until it got back up to 50. I’ve kept that promise.
This year, I switched to a drysuit so I could get out earlier in the spring and stay on the water later into the fall. What pushed me to make the change was reading accident case studies and realizing how little margin for error there is in 50- and 60-degree water.
At the Songo River this spring, the water was 42 degrees. I saw close to 20 people fishing from shore, wading in the stream, or using canoes, fishing kayaks and even a stand-up paddleboard. I was the only one wearing thermal protection. I was also the only one wearing a PFD.
A Maine game warden I spoke with said he sees the same thing every year.
Once you’re in the water, it’s unlikely you will be able to put on a life jacket or recover the way you think you will.
One thing I did not fully appreciate before is how much less tolerant of cold we become as we age. Being strong and a good swimmer is not enough.
The older we get, the more important it is to take precautions.
