Cold water: what happens in an emergency
Cold shock, swim failure and hypothermia: why cold water is the biggest danger in packrafting and how to protect yourself.
Safety and rescue
Cold water, wind, swimming in a river, throw bags and emergencies: what can save lives.
19 terms in this topic
Guide
All terms
1-10-1 rule
The 1-10-1 rule sums up what happens in cold water: 1 minute of cold shock, about 10 minutes of meaningful movement, about 1 hour until unconsciousness from hypothermia.
Offshore wind
An offshore wind blows from the land out over the water. Near the shore everything looks calm, further out the waves get bigger, and the light packraft is pushed out.
Circum-rescue collapse (afterdrop)
Shortly before, during or after rescue from cold water, the circulation can collapse. Rescue hypothermic people horizontally and gently.
Fetch
The fetch is the distance over which the wind blows across the water without obstruction. The longer the fetch, the higher the waves.
Assisted rescue
In assisted rescue someone else helps: with a throw bag from the bank, with a boat on the water or by collecting boat and paddle.
Foot entrapment
If you stand up in fast current, a foot can get trapped between rocks. The current then pushes your body forward and under water.
Cold shock
If you fall into cold water, your body reacts with gasping and hyperventilation. In the first minutes that is the biggest danger, not hypothermia.
Nature conservation on the water
Packrafts can go almost anywhere. That comes with responsibility: respect protected areas, breeding seasons and water level limits.
Emergency plan
Before every trip it should be clear: who knows where we are? How do we get help? Where can we get out if necessary?
Paddling in a group
A group is safer when it's clear who leads, who sweeps and how you communicate.
Shipping traffic
On large rivers and the coast, commercial shipping has priority. Packrafts are small, slow and hard for ships to see.
Swimming in a river
When swimming in a river, first lie on your back with your feet downstream, then swim actively on your front to an eddy or the bank.
Swim failure
After a few minutes in cold water, arms and legs cool so much that you can no longer swim, even as a good swimmer.
Self-rescue
Self-rescue means getting yourself to safety after a capsize without outside help: into the boat, to the bank or into an eddy.
Visibility and lights
If you paddle at dusk or near shipping, you should be easy to see: bright colours, reflectors, a white all-round light.
Hypothermia
Hypothermia means the body's core temperature has dropped below 35 °C. In water this happens much faster than in air.
Weather and thunderstorms
Changes in the weather hit packrafters particularly hard: wind, cold and thunderstorms quickly make open water dangerous.
Wind force (Beaufort)
The Beaufort scale describes wind forces from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane). For packrafts on open water it gets strenuous from about 3 to 4 Beaufort.