The broader Sandycove group of open water swimmers in Ireland use this term as a descriptive to describe the cold but I genuinely don't know if it's just us or is it an international term?
"I had the Claw at 50 mins", "I had it at an hour", "I lasted until 2 hours before the Claw came on". " I did 6 hours and No Claw!".
It describes the finger spreading you all know, and is the easiest way for us to describe the water temperature relative to our various sizes. Especially since we have cold water here all the time, (warm for us is 60F).
So; us, or everyone?
Former Member
I am a little confused... are you talking about the cold coming on, or losing form due to both cold and fitness?
It describes starting to feel the cold coming on. Losing form obviously happens subsequently. Maybe it's because our water is cold for so much of the time. 60F is considered warm here.
