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Re: skirt for Chessapeake boats --- short rant
By:Nolan
Date: 4/5/2000, 8:11 am

MmHm. Interesting reading this thread/rant and seeing nothing about what it's like to hit frigid water.

Some years ago, I used to be one of those wacko people who really enjoyed diving in the water right below the glaciers. Temperature about 32 degrees, on a warm day. Downright exciting. You hit the water, and your body locks. Most amazing sensation, as you cannot move. Gasping? Nah, lungs are locked up too. Good thing, as you cannot swim to the surface. You just count on the inertia of the dive, and good form, to get you to the other side. After a few seconds, your body softens a little, and you can make feeble motions, enabling you to crawl out the other side of the creek. Stand there waiting for shivvering to set in, then you start speaking again, going "wow! what a rush!". Or at least that's what you think you're saying. Generally you never get beyond "wwwwwwwwww". After another 10-20 minutes, you've recovered enough to do it all over again.

With a wife who's a commercial waterman in the Chesapeake region, and having spent several years playing in the Atlantic ocean on a Navy ship, I've learned a bit of those professional viewpoints on cold water as well. Even with the best of protective clothing (costing thousands of dollars), survival time in frigid water is measured in minutes, not hours. When you fall in those waters and need to be removed, it's called search and recovery, not search and rescue, for a reason.

Indeed, most people are far and away too casual about the dangers of the waters they are on. Of course, most people are far to casual about their driving, lighting the grill, using power tools, and a whole bunch of other things. But that's a rant for another day.

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Re: skirt for Chessapeake boats --- short rant
Nolan -- 4/5/2000, 8:11 am