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Even With Cold Water, It Can Still Be An Endless Summer

When the open water is too cold for a safe swim, what can a swimmer do?

The first rule of them is not to push it. Know your limits and don’t take unnecessary chances. Hyperventilation, panic attacks, hyperthermia and shifting currents in cold water present significant risks for the unprepared and uninitiated. While the hardy crew of the marathon swim world swim year-round, they have gradually and willingly become hardened and acclimated to water temperatures that can literally kill the untrained swimmer in a matter of minutes.

Some people are more physiologically predisposed to naturally handling colder temperatures through a greater percentage of body fat or a slightly different blood chemistry that enables them to handle colder temperatures (similar to the ability for some to handle higher lactate levels during hard exercise). Others are simply psychologically suited to swimming in single digit water temperatures.

Swimmers from Cape Town regularly swim in water less than 10°C (50°F) without swim caps and would never even consider swimming with a neoprene cap. Bruckner Chase talks about swimming in less than 5°C (41°F) water. “I really enjoy it. For some reason, I can handle it and I don’t even hyperventilate. It doesn’t bother me.”

From Lake Tahoe and Lake Michigan to the Serpentine and Sandycove, swimmers without neoprene daily demonstrate their ability to mimic penguins as they traverse snow-covered shorelines and frozen lakeside banks to jump in the frigid borders of the aquatic world.

But swimmers like Ram Barkai and Donal Buckley, Marcia Cleveland and Karen Rogers, are the exceptions, not the rule. They are driven by a strong-willed desire to seek their cold-water potential. These cruel temperatures demand a commitment to acclimatization and are often performed together with other swimmers with a similar mindset.

For the second rule of cold-water swimming is to have a swim buddy. English Channel swimmer John Muenzer enjoys sub-10°C lake swims, but knows he and his teammates have cut it close at times. “Sometimes, we go out there and it might be for only a few miles, but the winds may be cold and we can find ourselves in trouble when we are too far out. But we have each other just in case something happens to one of us.”

While extreme swimming or crossing a channel may be the goal of some, it is not the call for most who enjoy the oceans and lakes around the world. For those whose goals are simply fitness, exploring the marine world and camaraderie with like-minded friends, use of neoprene hats that cover the ears with a chin strap, double swim caps, silicon ear plugs, gloves, neoprene socks or surf booties, large goggles that cover the face, rash guards and wetsuits are the tools of engagement.

For others who live in warm climates year-round, the exploits of their colleagues in colder climes are always mind-boggling. What is considered balmy in the British Isles and Melbourne in summer requires neoprene for those who swim regularly in the Caribbean Sea or South Pacific.

So for those slender triathletes and those who simply want to glide over the surface of the water without experiencing the discomfort of the cold, a wetsuit is a rather inexpensive tool of opportunity.

At prices that range as low as $200 for a new XTERRA Wetsuit, if a swimmer swims three times a day in the open water for the six months from fall to spring with the wetsuit, the incremental cost for each swim is between $2-3. These additional swims – dozen per year when they can improve their navigational IQ and increase their mileage under various conditions – can open up a whole new world for triathletes and casual swimmers.

Swimmers like Honolulu’s Mike Miller (see below) is the exception who proves the rule. “The water is always above 70°F (24°C) at home, so when I attempt the English Channel or something the Ederle Swim, I have to do a fast-track acclimatization program. It is tough mentally, but the body needs time to get used to the water. Once acclimated, then the goal is simple: get in, swim across and get out.”

Thought I’d share some of my training swims I did to prepare for my one mile ice swim…

I think what it mostly comes down to is to know how your body is going to react and that you will be ok when you go through these different bodily experiences, muscles spasms, cramps, severe ice-cream headaches, burning skin sensations, numbness of different body parts even hours after a swim, etc. The more experience the better your chances of surviving a brutal cold swim.

The experience gained is what adds to your mental strength which might be the most important factors in ANY swim!

When my first ice swim attempt was not successful I just knew the next one would be due to more experience and knowing how it was going to feel. My second attempt was even colder than the first, 38’F water temp with a windchill of 14’F, but I knew I was going to make it.

Other things like body fat and feeds also play important role, especially during a marathon swim but even more so it’s important to have a good support team with people who know YOU and how you swim so that they can make the right decision when the time comes and always be prepared for the worst case scenario.

I’m attaching a file of some things I experienced during my ice swim training…

Hope this helps a little!

Lelané Rossouw-Bancroft

“It doesn’t matter if the water is cold if you’re going
to have to swim through it anyway.”

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lanie-B-Cakes/181940055157030

For more time in the open water is the goal of many. Hardened swimmers and wetsuiters, channel swimmers and triathletes, can mutually benefit when they join together for workouts and informal swims. They keep each other safe; they enjoy the camaraderie of post-swim socializing. As the Orange County swimmers who gather in Laguna Beach or the Icebergers of Melbourne have demonstrated, the will to swim does not have to be paralyzed or curtailed when the water becomes cold. Swim buddies and the tools of engagement – from wetsuits to neoprene caps – can enable and extend the time in cold water.

And once you are awaken to the possibility of year-round open water swimming, the experience and lifestyle becomes similar to a surfer who enjoys the Endless Summer.

Copyright © 2012 by Open Water Source

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