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Staying Safe in the Water

As summer approaches and beaches are already open to the public, it is important for shoreline residents to understand this is the most hazardous time of year in our waters, with a large preponderance of drownings occurring from early spring until the onset of summer. Many water enthusiasts are unaware of the hazards associated with New England waters and how to prevent a water emergency.

Despite what even some medical and safety personnel publicly state, people rarely die from hypothermia in local waters, especially during the summer months. That is because most victims of water emergencies are dead long before hypothermia has an opportunity to set in.

What kills people is an entirely different physiological phenomenon called the Cold Water Shock Response. When a human puts their head under cold/cool water, there is an involuntary response called the Cold Water Gasp Reflex, which causes people to drown.

Many people have experienced this benignly, a cold shower or a jump in a cold pool, and you begin gasping uncontrollably and hyperventilating. That’s not because you’re a wimp; it’s an involuntary reaction all humans have to cold water and the primary factor in drownings in our area.

The very last thing you want to occur if you find yourself in the water, especially unexpectedly, is to be gasping uncontrollably as your airway bobs up and down below the surface of the water. Most people who drown via this mechanism are people who did not expect to be in the water and, as a result, are unprepared for the intensity of the effects and are not wearing a life vest.

This information is especially crucial at this time of year when there is such a large disparity between air temperatures and water temperatures. Though there is no data-driven threshold for if or when an individual will suffer the effects of cold water shock, it is well understood that water below 60 degrees is likely to initiate the gasp reflex. That limit will vary by individual and also with the air temperature. The higher the air temp, the more disparity between air and water temps, and the more likely the reflex will occur, regardless of your water experience.

Your survival time in waters below 60 degrees isn’t measured in hours or minutes; it’s often measured in seconds. Most people who drown as a result of this do so in less than 20 seconds, with little to no verbal calls for help, distressed shouting, or splashing.

Keep in mind Long Island Sound waters, especially the open ocean waters of eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island, can swing temperatures up and down more than 10 degrees in 24 hours. A warm weekend can shoot temperatures up six degrees in a matter of hours and plunge them back down in relatively short periods of time-check those forecasts.

It is critical to stress that one’s water experience and know-how is no protection from this phenomenon. Experienced swimmers and watermen encompass the largest percentage of drowning victims, all of whom thought that experience provided protection-it doesn’t. Legendary Hawaiian waterman Eddie Aikau, who invented modern lifeguarding and is credited with saving more human lives in water rescues than any other known person, drowned. If the ocean can take a man like Aikau, quite frankly, you don’t stand a chance.

A life vest is extremely important anytime one is engaged in water activities, but even a vest may afford little in regard to survival protection this time of year. Last year, a kayaker in the Connecticut River off Old Saybrook, who was wearing a life vest and a dry suit, barely survived the capsizing of his craft.

On that same weekend in 2022, two other people needlessly lost their lives to drowning, one at Lake Quonnipaug in Guilford, and a teenager at a pond in East Lyme, along with another near fatal incident at the Portland, CT quarry. All of which directly had cold water temperatures as a contributing factor.

It will be very tempting as temps rise in the coming weeks and the air is sweltering to go for a swim or a paddle; experts recommend staying out of the water until it is at least 60 degrees and or, even better, 65 degrees. That does not guarantee immunity from the gasp reflex, but it certainly improves the chances that a water emergency will not take your life in twenty seconds.

This information is especially important for anyone utilizing a paddle craft. I am utterly stunned by the number of stand-up paddleboarders (SUP) and kayakers in our area who do not wear a life vest. This simply ignorant. If not for yourself, wear it for your loved ones and for rescue personnel who will have to risk their lives searching for and recovering your body.

Paddlers should wear a vest at all times of the year, and they should file a float plan with a friend or family member. That plan includes where you expect to be recreating, when you’ll be back, and what to do should you not respond at a predetermined check-in time.

Stay out of the water until temps are 60 degrees at a minimum. When you do venture out on paddle craft, wear your life vest. And that means wear, not attached to your vessel or tied to your kayak, wear it on your person.

Ben Rayner is a former water and land survival instructor. He is the executive director of the drowning prevention non-profit WET, Inc., and is currently the assistant waterfront director for the Town of Guilford.