Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Put Ger Kennedy in 1 km at 0.5ºC (32.9ºF) water in -20ºC (-4ºF) air and he feels the painful sensations of hypothermia and the after drop.

Refer to above photo by Shamil Tanna in the recovery room in March 2015 after a 1 km 0.5ºC swim.

But put Kennedy in the 6.4ºC (43.5ºF) water of Windermere at the 2016 Big Chill Swim 1 km event and he was confident before and all smiles later.

Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association