Getting used to colder water

I have used the cap and fastskin/legskins in openwater (catalina for the legskins) I found the fastskin to be a little bit cooling as it drys so fast it felt like any wind hititng it instantly cooled it. The elastic edging of the bubble cap chews my neck badly so I only used it for a few 3-4 mile swims before abandoning it.

and one more item, Ive found the Desoto neoprene caps chafe much less (not at all in fact) than the others, they are cut high in back and out of 1 piece through the strap and its very stretchy neoprene. The only problems are they are not legal for most ow swims and they float your head up a bit so my neck muscles work harder maintaining my preferred head position.

I do remember Carol Sing used a bubble strap cap for her English Channel record swim and The Swim Around Manhattan. I wear one but I am not doing more then 1 mile at a tme. Caps are cheap to try out and swim items like caps, goggles, wetsuits ect. used in a race should be tried and tested before the race to make sure they work . One thing for sure is how much heat leaves thru the head, Ive heard up to 50 percent, then the body shuts down the blood to the arms and legs to conserve the heat in the head and body core

dont do much open water myself...gonna change that....but my daughter has an extensive background, and the concensus is that the fast skins to not add any warmth over any other "conventional" suit. This cap looks like it would be the berries! If this is true this would help a lot. As my daughter completed the Manhattan Marathon, and only concern was hypothermia, which nearly ended her swim. Interested in anyones experience with this cap. Help, Hurt,no difference. Hope this help

Does anyone know if the neoprene caps with the chin straps increase chafing? Is it better to just use two regular latex caps? Thanks Tyr makes a neato neoprene cap that is light enough to fit under a regular cap. It doesn't have a chin strap, either. I love it. Wear earplugs for warmth and to protect your ears, too.

I have seen that recent report and will dismiss it . 10 % heat loss only Baloney! Rubbish as they put it. The actual % will vary from person to person depending on their body fat , heart condition , vascular condition and many other factors. The head is filled with blood its a radiator as such , so are the arms and legs but the body will constrict blood flow to the extremities if the core becomes too cold.. not so with the head . the body always maintains a full blood flow as the brain suffers with any less. Try swimming in cold water capless.. see how fast you get cold and try again with a cap, the difference is day and night. Swimmers have learned that a cap keeps you warmer.. Ask the San Franscisco Bay crowd as they have been cold water swimming for decades with only swimcaps and not wetsuits. And with that said whats your point? That a person is warmer with no cap or theres no difference?? Even accepting the 10% number you are warmer with a cap then without. My best advise : See your medical doctor before making any decisions about swimming in cold water. Cold Water Swim Caps www.geocities.com/.../coldwatercaps.html On Oct 26th Geocities will pull the plug on this page. Goodbye Geocities.

i too have a hard time gaining any weight. though i seem to move pretty regularly between 163 and 170. i have been trying to add some mass, as i have a few long swims planned for next season and a little extra couldn't hurt. i have been swimming twice per week in a lake for about an hour at 58 degrees followed by a cold down hill mtn bike ride of 20 minutes. i didn't think the ride had much benefit, but i swam a bit over 4 hours at coney island last sunday with ease... water temp was 60, so i think the extra cycling while shivering is an added bonus. the lake temp dropped 6 degrees in as many days and i'll be out of town for a bit so, it may be april until i get back there. i will try to get at least one 4 - 6 hour swim in per month in water between 57 and 62 degrees...... but i haven't figured out where i'm going to do them yet.

Recent studies show, contrary to the stories we've heard, that only 10% of body heat is lost through the head... "When it comes to wrapping up on a cold winter's day, a cosy hat is obligatory. After all, most of our body heat is lost through our heads – or so we are led to believe.Closer inspection of heat loss in the hatless, however, reveals the claim to be nonsense, say scientists who have dispelled this and five other modern myths. They traced the origins of the hat-wearing advice back to a US army survival manual from 1970 which strongly recommended covering the head when it is cold, since "40 to 45 percent of body heat" is lost from the head. Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll, at the centre for health policy at Indiana University in Indianapolis, rubbish the claim in the British Medical Journal this week. If this were true, they say, humans would be just as cold if they went without a hat as if they went without trousers. "Patently, this is just not the case," they write. The myth is thought to have arisen through a flawed interpretation of a vaguely scientific experiment by the US military in the 1950s. In those studies, volunteers were dressed in Arctic survival suits and exposed to bitterly cold conditions. Because it was the only part of their bodies left uncovered, most of their heat was lost through their heads. The face, head and chest are more sensitive to changes in temperature than the rest of the body, making it feel as if covering them up does more to prevent heat loss. In fact, covering one part of the body has as much effect as covering any other. If the experiment had been performed with people wearing only swimming trunks, they would have lost no more than 10% of their body heat through their heads, the scientists add."

48 here in the lake now, apparently. You would think Chicago would be a great place to do 50's-60's swimming but we have such a short window before it plummets!!! I'm toying with neoprene...help!!!! I need an intervention!!!:afraid:

48 here in the lake now, apparently. You would think Chicago would be a great place to do 50's-60's swimming but we have such a short window before it plummets!!! I'm toying with neoprene...help!!!! I need an intervention!!!:afraid: Lake was 50.0 F today at 9:15 a.m. I did not go in (wrecked my shoulders with multiple stresses). About 2 more weeks left; maybe we can push it into early November. :applaud: