Comments on Profile Post by spwath

This wasn't something you could figure out ahead of time?

Lol. I call that type of experience "a dose of reality", makes you appreciate being alive more afterwards.

@Kunlun no it was not.
@TwoEars yeah. Didn't realize how cold it was.

Hypothermia is incredibly painful. Had an incident with my hands getting exposed & it was horrible

Yeah, luckily I got out of the river pretty fast, but I couldn't really feel my legs or feet, it felt like they were freezing. Kinda felt like ice particles on me.

Crikey, that's NE USA in the middle of winter, even from the other side of the world that sounds really dangerous! Glad you're okay.

Hypothermia is, sort of, starting to die. And if not treated properly, the victim will.
Even in summer, novice sailors in British waters have to be firmly taught that the the water temperature even a mile or three offshore is not like swimming off a sun-warmed sandy beach. Serious stuff.

Yeah this water had to be in the 30s. Was a small river, so not far to go, but very strong current. The river rapids are what knocked us out of our $20 raft. Would have been bad if one of us got injured or dragged under the surface in the current. Not our best decision.

@Thad E Ginathom Indeed, 70 degree Fahrenheit water is nice enough to take a 30 minute swim in. But it's way less nice after an hour at night if you're waiting to be rescued. You can compensate for a while as long as you have energy to burn, but after a couple of hours even experienced swimmers are going to start struggling. You should definitely respect the ocean.

@spwath, fun on water can turn into scary stuff very easily and quickly. Glad you are OK.
I've done some damned silly things messing around in boats (some of them as big as 40-foot) and some of those memories make me cringe!

Stay dry: stay alive :)