From: "Jim Holman" <siguiriya_at_attbi.com> > if no protection gets you exhaustion or unconsciousness within > 30 to 60 minutes in 40 to 50 degree water, how would a wetsuit or drysuit > change those numbers? Too many variable to determine easily. A good dry suit will allow indefinite exposure, as will a heavy wetsuit. Ice diving is a popular activity for some. They'll dive through a hole in the ice and stay relatively comfortable for the duration of their dive. A 3mm farmer john, on the other hand, will buy you time, but not a lot. Fitness level is also a parameter, as is attitude and approach: On the Discovery channel a few nights ago, they showed a program on immersion hypothermia. A doctor that specializes in the topic dropped into a hole in the ice wearing winter clothes (GoreTex jacket, fleece, that sort of thing) and showed how to survive. The first thing to do is control your breathing. The initial reaction is to gasp or pant heavily and repeatedly. If you go under like this, you could ingest ice water and drown (he stated this emphatically, in spite of what others have debated here and on other forums). Once your breathing is under control, you can proceed with trying to rescue yourself. This approach will extend your time in the water (he lasted an hour - he let his sleeves freeze to the ice so as to prevent his slipping under if he became unconcious). His dexterity was severely hampered early on. He also had a demonstration of what happens when snowmobilers go thru the ice (a popular sport for the intelligence challenged. Since the warm winter kept ice off the lakes this year, fewer snowmobilers drowned. OTOH, they died hitting stationary objects, like trees and telephone poles, in significant numbers). He wore a regular snowmobile suit, while another person wore a survival-type snowmobile suit. The latter features closed-cell foam insulation like a PFD, rather than fiber fill. The combination of warmth with unsaturated floatation and allowed the wearer to swim, IIRC, 100 meters or so and get out, while the doc in the regular suit couldn't move after a while and had trouble floating. BTW, why "wear a flotation suit" is better than "stay off the thin ice and open water you idiot" is beyond me. And yes, many snowmobilers think that crossing open water is cool. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Apr 04 2002 - 10:22:29 PST
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