SAFE BOATING WEEK – HYPOTHERMIA 101

Cold Water Overboard

 

Hypothermia. Say it out loud and it’s an unpleasant sounding word.

But it has a simple meaning. It’s when the core of your body drops to abnormally low body temperatures and if it goes too low and for too long eventually your heart can stop.

Many Canadian boaters are aware of hypothermia but most are not aware that it is the ‘final stage’ your body reaches after being in cold water. Many people die during the first few minutes of immersion in cold water and they are not hypothermic, they simply drown due to the immediate, involuntary and often deadly effects of cold water.

If you accidentally tumble into cold water, the initial cold shock will make you gasp and if you are underwater you can breath in about a litre of water.  If you are on the surface, your heart rate can skyrocket, your breathing will be uncontrolled and increase as much 600 to 1000 percent.  You can expect panic to set in as well.  For most, this initial shock will last about a minute and then the breathing will  slowly come back under control.

Photo: Canada Safe Boating Council

Depending on the water temperature, over the next ten minutes or so you will experience Cold Incapacitation. As your body struggles to preserve its core temperature your limbs will become numb and your ability to self rescue or even simply continue to swim will become impaired.  In cold water without a lifejacket, you will eventually become so incapacitated that you can no longer stay afloat.

If you do have a lifejacket on and have not been able to rescue yourself, even in the coldest water, you can expect to be conscious for about an hour and it will still be some time before you succumb to hypothermia.  This will give rescuers plenty of additional time to find and rescue you.  

There is one simple preventative measure that anyone can take to avoid drowning in cold water and to keep you floating if you become hypothermic.  Wear your lifejacket. It guarantees that you will float, especially in those first critical minutes when just trying to catch your breath and figure out how to rescue yourself. 

Learn more about Safe Boating Awareness Week 2015 by visiting the Canadian Safe Boating website at www.csbc.ca.

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The provincial marine associations from across the country, collectively representing over 80,000 jobs and $9.2B in national annual economic impact, announced the formation of a new national association whose mandate will be to represent the interests of recreational boating including recreational boat retailing and brokering, boat and engine & trailer sales, accessories, slip rentals, service, storage, fuel sales and more. Headquartered in Penetanguishene, Ontario, the newly formed Canadian Marine Retailers Association (CMRA) will focus on national issues facing the sector.

“The formation of a national voice to address the many aspects of our sector that affect the jobs and lives of Canadians from coast to coast is something many of our provincial associations have been calling for, for years,” says Brett Ramsey, President of Boating Ontario. “This is a positive step to ensuring issues facing our sector are represented to decisionmakers in the federal government.” READ MORE




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