Maybe wetsuit wearers can comment on this: How does the water feel initially when you're suddenly immersed in it, as in the case here, where you jump in the water off the boat? Does it feel shockingly cold at first, and then you warm up, or are you warm from the outset?
SIPE Swimming Induced Pulmonary Edema
from what I've read is not an uncommon occurrence.... in water that no one would describe as shockingly coldIf you believe the always believable Jim Thornton, SIPE has more to do with Fish Oil than cold water. news.menshealth.com/.../
"Cutting to the chase"?
Right. So we may conclude that the cold water did not contribute to the man's death. He likely would have died during lunch.
I think you missed the point. An autopsy will reveal if he had atherosclerosis and suffered a heart attack. But he may in fact have developed a lethal arrhythmia on the basis of cold water immersion, without a pre-existing cardiac condition.
I didn't miss the point, but I think you are assuming that being in a wetsuit for 30 minutes qualify's as "cold". There has been no evidence that this swimmer was experiencing that. People have different opinions on what is cold based on their experience. Nevertheless, you don't know anything until you do an autopsy, and even then the results may not be conclusive. That was the point.
Maybe wetsuit wearers can comment on this: How does the water feel initially when you're suddenly immersed in it, as in the case here, where you jump in the water off the boat? Does it feel shockingly cold at first, and then you warm up, or are you warm from the outset?
Based on my only sub 60° wetsuit swim, when the cold water rushes into your suit it is almost as bad as no suit, but within minutes it is noticeably warmer. Same thing with neo caps although I question whether they are any better than traditional caps except for the first few minutes, and as a study shows, are very helpful when you first get out of cold water. Cold water on the face is cold water on the face. Capi;aries quickly constrict and unless you suffer from ice cream headaches it is a minor distraction at those temperatures.
My coldest experience was the swim chaos referred to which was swum in March and the water was 52°. That was 6° colder than I had swum before, and all I remember is that it felt no different jumping in than 58°. For me the sub 60° rule is jump in and swim like hell.
Cold water on the face is cold water on the face. Capillaries quickly constrict and unless you suffer from ice cream headaches it is a minor distraction at those temperatures.
Unless you fibrillate, of course.
Running along the beach is not the same as needing to getting pulled out... and currents don't explain why there were three times as many people pulled out in this swim as compared to previous swims, unless they misread the tide charts.
I have not swam in the Bay as much as others on the forum; but in the half dozen swims I've done in the open Bay the primary things affecting the conditions were the tides, the winds and the presence of stationary objects, whether natural or artificial - not necessarily where you are encounteringthe conditions. As for the Alcatraz swim, the roughest conditions have been when a fast tide runs against a strong wind in the opposite direction. It results in confused seas that can unnerve even experienced open water swimmers.
It would be interesting to see what the conditions were like in the middle of the swim. Based on what I've seen the wind can pick up quickly early in the morning vastly changing the conditions in less than an hour. It's my understanding that the great majority of the swimmers pulled were significantly offline. The wind may have been running with the tide which could have pushed people further west than anticipated necessitating that people be pulled from the water.
Frankly, having done it once in a wetsuit I can assure you that it is literally impossible to sink in tri wet suits with 5 mil torso & legs. However, if surface conditions were very rough, and swallowing a bit of salt water is not your thing, you may have decided you wanted out - or decided you couldn't make it. The smartest swimmers are the ones that know they need help before things get out of control.
I don't think it had anything to do with the cold. Everyone wears a neo cap and once it and your wetsuit fill with water, and your face adapts to the cold, even a skinny slow stroking triathlete can stay warm in 50+ water.
