Dangers of diving in cold water?

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Hey Kompressor,
Saw you want to kick my butt, Also saw you live in Norway and know your stuff about cold water. Here is another reason you may want to kick me. In my younger days I was in Copenhagen in December and fell into the Baltic Sea, drunk. Got a great photo though with the Little Mermaid. I do enjoy life! Sorry I degraded Denmark's statue. I suppose it is the same as our Statue of Liberty here in the USA and what I did back then I would never consider today.
I think "ice diving" is a little different in Norway. I think he was going to kick your butt because you were wearing a wetsuit.

Kompressor "ice diving" in Norway without a wetsuit :11:
 
Hey Kompressor,
Saw you want to kick my butt, Also saw you live in Norway and know your stuff about cold water. Here is another reason you may want to kick me. In my younger days I was in Copenhagen in December and fell into the Baltic Sea, drunk. Got a great photo though with the Little Mermaid. I do enjoy life! Sorry I degraded Denmark's statue. I suppose it is the same as our Statue of Liberty here in the USA and what I did back then I would never consider today.


The Little Mermaid has been degraded, painted, stolen(!), head chopped and I don't know what... Danes are proud people but not so easily offended. -As long as you pay for their beer! :D

I was **** drunk in Skagen harbour once, after some rough sailing (we like to think...) over from Norway. Anyways, these locals though I ws Swedish and wanted to give me a round of beating. But when they (finally...) figured I was Norwegian they paid for MY beers all night! Ha ha! So remember, don't pretend to be Swedish in Denmark!

Yes, I think I know some stuff about cold water diving! :14::D
-We dip our OWD-students in 34F easily! :crafty:



Look! No drysuit! :)

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(Me, last week...)
 
These papers on thermal protection from our suggested reading list have some really good background in them to cover signs, symptoms, and general problems associated with cold immersion. The best general overviews seem to be in the polar workshops.

As for a general overview of immersion hypothermia and first aid treatment, we did recently add this as a part of the new SPUMS collection:

Francis, TJR. Immersion hypothermia. SPUMS 1998 Volume 28 Number 3 Supplement. RRR ID: 5975

In fact, that whole supplement was on diver first aid and took forever to add since I could not stop reading.


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when a diver dive in cold water he suffers from vasoconstriction . this is the closing of the veins . this can result in a limiting or ristriction of circulation this can mean that a cold diver is mor subsetible to a bend than a warm diver .
the body has a core temp of 37'C just a 2' drop is enough to stsrt problems .

and trust me im an allyear round irish diver
 
One more factor.
Wetsuit diver diving with drysuit divers. The tendency is to try and hang with the group even past the point of cold.
When everyone is wet the tendency is to thumb the dive sooner before the cold is as deep.

Remember, if doing multiple dives to rewarm between dives.
You are not fully rewarmed until you are SWEATING.

Diving cold water can be done fine wet but it is best if the whole team is wet and plan SHORT dives with lots of rewarming time.
 
One more factor.
Wetsuit diver diving with drysuit divers. The tendency is to try and hang with the group even past the point of cold.
When everyone is wet the tendency is to thumb the dive sooner before the cold is as deep.

Remember, if doing multiple dives to rewarm between dives.
You are not fully rewarmed until you are SWEATING.

Diving cold water can be done fine wet but it is best if the whole team is wet and plan SHORT dives with lots of rewarming time.

Excellent points!

Following up on your first point, drysuit divers will often move at a slower pace because they are comfortable. If the wetsuit diver pokes along at their pace, he won't generate much heat.

Ever notice how wetsuit divers following drysuit divers are zigzagging back and forth? :D

I hate when wetsuit divers lead a cold dive....They always go faster than I like to go! :wink:

Dave C
 
I'm one of the Drysuit Weenies that dive with the OP. Thanks for the tips all. I'll try to keep him safe. I will say that he seems to tolerate cold water very well he doesn't act different (I won't say normal because in warm water I'm not sure he is normal). We do dive big single tanks but tend to try to get 2 shorter dives out of one tank when the water is colder.
 
Thanks All, esp 1T and Kompressor. I posed my question to DAN and recieved an excellent reply along with three .pdf's, reports from excellent studies. To sum up I will continue to hang in there with the "dry suit weenies". I love to get wet, and the cold water is refreshing. I also think it is cool to sit in a treestand deerhunting while the blowing snow sticks to my outerwear and converts me into a "snowman". I dive with 14mil on my trunk and actually am quite comfortable (except for the initial shock upon entry and removing my wet suit in cold changing room).
 
Being a seasoned canuck, I can say I know the shocking feel of a cold water dive in a wet suit. Just last weekend I was diving in glacial lakes up in the Rocky Mountains. A little tidbit of adivce I can give is to focus on your breathing and to keep your muscles and body as relaxed as possible as well as to keep moving. This will help with blood circulation and to avoid those tight muscle cramps cold water ( or air for that matter ) will bring. The added bonus is you also tend to conserve air as well.

hope it helps
 

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