Hi John, A few years ago, a young lady from Dartmouth College, a sprint flat water racer, was visiting some friends and fellow racers in Germany (?). They went out for a paddle on a canal. On the return leg, she was lagging behind a little bit near the end of the run. The fellow next ahead of here looked back to see how she was doing and saw her boat was empty. Flat-water racers don't wear pfds under any conditions. She was missing for days. They assumed she had capsized and gone ashore. They eventually found her on the bottom about where the boat was first spotted. Cold shock, gasping, immediate loss of consciousness and drowning. In the case of the marines, on the Potomac River in early March of 1986 (I'll look it up), the nine marines were paddling a war canoe across the river (no rapids there, just a little bit of tide). They capsized about 100 yards off shore. Water temp about 36 degrees F. None of them made it to shore. They were water experts. They were dressed in sweat clothes and equipped with seat cushions for safety. This is cold paralysis that makes the arms and legs non-functional after about 5-10 minutes in the water. Some may have died from gasping and drowning. These were top conditions athletes, but none could make it to shore. I have other cases. Chuck Sutherland *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
There was a case in Bellingham, WA a couple of years ago in which a racer - with no pfd and no cold water clothing - was lost. I don't recall the details of that but it was talked about here for a while afterwards and since I keep all Paddlewise emails on Gmail I suspect we can come up with the info. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 5:23 AM, skimmer <skimmer_at_enter.net> wrote: <several fatal hypothermia cases> > I have other cases. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On 28/01/2011 10:52 AM, Craig Jungers wrote: > There was a case in Bellingham, WA a couple of years ago in which a racer - > with no pfd and no cold water clothing - was lost. I don't recall the > details of that but it was talked about here for a while afterwards and > since I keep all Paddlewise emails on Gmail I suspect we can come up with > the info. > > > Craig Jungers > Moses Lake, WA > www.nwkayaking.net > > Didn't Tord relate a story about some paddlers out training where one or more of them didn't make it. It might have been last fall that I remember reading his story. Experienced racers, IIRC. -- Darryl *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
One of the Euro examples was in Sea Kayaker a couple of years ago. There was a big swim-failure example a few years ago on the east coast (Maine?) where there were a number of muscular men who got into serious trouble not too far from shore after a capsize. Chuck S. brought that one up and it's when I really started to sit up and take notice of Chuck's message... I know for myself, it's the lack of dexterity that I notice first after a capsize and bail, and it can really inhibit rescue functioning. I always carry thin neoprene gloves and a hood in my PDF pocket now. Doug -----Original Message----- From: owner-paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net [mailto:owner-paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net] On Behalf Of Darryl Johnson Sent: January-28-11 2:00 PM To: Paddlewise Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] case studies-cold water On 28/01/2011 10:52 AM, Craig Jungers wrote: > There was a case in Bellingham, WA a couple of years ago in which a racer - > with no pfd and no cold water clothing - was lost. I don't recall the > details of that but it was talked about here for a while afterwards and > since I keep all Paddlewise emails on Gmail I suspect we can come up with > the info. > > > Craig Jungers > Moses Lake, WA > www.nwkayaking.net > > Didn't Tord relate a story about some paddlers out training where one or more of them didn't make it. It might have been last fall that I remember reading his story. Experienced racers, IIRC. -- Darryl *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Thank you all for the reports. Some of them I will use as case studies, with sufficient detail in the reports to enable further searching to complete the picture. I hadn't considered post-rescue collapse, as I didn't think there were many examples that were reported in detail enough to provide a compelling arguement, but I now see that this is not the case. I'll follow that up as well. Doug, you mentioned the loss of dexterity following immersion, and I think that is a big issue that is not often addressed in much of our training, and is so relevent to paddlers, so I highlight that. Keep the reports coming if you don't mind, there are far more than I was aware of. I'll dig out a few we've had and post them. Cheers JKA John Kirk-Anderson Banks Peninsula New Zealand *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Cold water and/or air temps demand some type of protection, both above the water and in the water. I don't know of any sport or commercial occupation wear all the requirements for protective and immersion apparel will meet everyone's demands or likes and dislikes. The only obvious fact to me is that the proper gear can increase enjoyment and survival exponentially. Getting that message out has comer a long way, in my opinion, in my geographical location, and applies generally to the public and specific groups of persons involved in a specific or cross-over activities. The message about cold shock and swim failure is a harder one to provide awareness levels that stick (and self-perpetuate in the various communities). At least, that's what I think. For sea kayaking, I need gear that provides protection while passing through the environment as well as providing some backup in the case of a longer swim. The later requires some degree of compromise. I see Mustang Survival has some new products out for 2011. They have never concentrated much on paddlers but the company continues to provide product and education for many aspects of the boating public, as well as commercial and military R&D (I have no association with this company). Much of the gear available to sea kayakers is adequate and beneficial but may require an outlay of money and a willingness to wear such gear, even when the wearer might not be 100% comfortable. For me, my gear is designed to allow a re-enter of my vessel in a moderate amount of time. Anything more excessive will probably hamper other aspects of endurance and enjoyment. I think it is beneficial to provide new paddlers with a good overview of the options, provide education with respect to hypothermia, cold shock, and swim-failure. As for government agencies regulation levels of immersion protection, to some degree that is done here in my neck of the woods through WCB for commercial situations in various industries but I'm not too happy yon see regulations promoted for the recreational end-users. I do wish more education was made available in our school systems, even at a young age. The dexterity issue is a big one for me, but pre-supposes a certain level of immersion apparel already in play. One's extremities do suffer dexterity loss relatively quickly for some of the tasks needed during self-rescue, especially. Good on your for pushing some of these agenda's John. Doug Lloyd > Thank you all for the reports. > > Some of them I will use as case studies, with sufficient detail > in the > reports to enable further searching to complete the picture. > > I hadn't considered post-rescue collapse, as I didn't think > there were many > examples that were reported in detail enough to provide a > compelling > arguement, but I now see that this is not the case. I'll follow > that up as > well. > > Doug, you mentioned the loss of dexterity following immersion, > and I think > that is a big issue that is not often addressed in much of our > training, and > is so relevent to paddlers, so I highlight that. > > Keep the reports coming if you don't mind, there are far more > than I was > aware of. I'll dig out a few we've had and post them. > > Cheers > > JKA > > John Kirk-Anderson > Banks Peninsula > New Zealand *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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