On a bright spring day a number of years ago, nine men training as US Marine Corp Cold Water Survival Specialists set out for a routine training exercise on the Potomac River. The temperatures were approaching 50 degrees, there was little wind, the water was calm and 36 degrees. When their boat capsized — for unknown reasons — they were thrown into the river just one hundred yards from shore. All of the men were strong swimmers in top physical condition, yet none survived. “It was,” a Marine Corps spokesman said, “like plunging a hot poker into ice water.” They never had a chance.
The incident is still regarded as one of the most notorious in the annals of small boating history and one of the most important in terms of the lessons that were learned from it. At the time boaters were advised, as they are today, to stay with their boat and climb back in as soon as possible to avoid the gradual, debilitating effects of hypothermia. But it wasn’t hypothermia that killed the Marines. In the wake of that accident experts have come to realize that sudden cold water immersion can be fatal within minutes — long before the affects of hypothermia set in. This is cold shock.
The first affect of cold-water shock is an involuntary gasp reflex that occurs as the body hits the water, causing involuntary gasping and hyperventilation. Drowning can occur almost immediately if the initial gasp occurs under water, or within minutes if the hyperventilation isn’t brought under control. The second affect is muscle incapacitation and swimming failure. Peripheral blood vessels constrict in response to the sudden cold immersion and blood is shunted from the arms and legs to serve the vital organs of the body’s core. As blood flow is constricted, muscles and nerves quickly lose the ability to function. It becomes harder to hold onto things and even the best of swimmers quickly struggle to keep afloat.
Today, these dangers are widely recognized but there are no safety standards in place to protect rowers from them. The federal government has exempted rowers in racing shells from the PFD requirements that apply to all other recreational boaters; state authority has been preempted in regard to this particular ruling; and USRowing — which calls water temperatures below 50 degrees “extremely dangerous” — has no cold-water standards in place and fails to recommend PFDs. In fact, USRowing has no safety standards for scholastic rowing, requires no training or certification for rowing coaches, no First Aid/CPR or boating qualifications, and keeps no records of the accidents that occur every year at all levels of the sport. Juniors, novices and varsity rowers train under the same safety guidelines and protections as master rowers and the US Olympic Team.
Rowers and the parents of scholastic rowers should be fully aware of this, but they often are not.
This information on this site is provided in the hope that it is useful, stimulates further discussion, and will lead to safer rowing practices. Your questions and comments are always welcome.