 |
This blog starts with a deep intake of breath, not a voluntary intake but a reaction to a sudden, unplanned immersion in very cold water.
If you have never experienced it then you're lucky, or maybe live in Australia. I'll come back to that but first, stats...Jan | Feb | March | April | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
KM paddled | 12.96 | 120.71 | ||||||||||
Weight | 101.4 | 97.3 | 98.3 | |||||||||
VO2 Max | 49 | 50 | 48 | |||||||||
Resting HR | 54 | 52 | 53 | |||||||||
HRV | 45 | 48 | 50 | |||||||||
Training load | 434 | 804 | 1402 | |||||||||
5km | N/A | 33m 47s | ||||||||||
10km | N/A | 1h 7m 29s |
Not much to talk about here, weight is up a little, VO2 Max has dropped because I am not cycling, my training load was up because I am training again and, most importantly, my SUP distance has increased to normal levels for the time of year.
The time trial was by accident, at the end of the month I misread my training session from Michael and did a 10km TT and cropped a 5km TT from that, at a nice easy pace on the lake which still had some ice on it, slow water but a good time for my first paddle in 2024 on my EO SUP Nebula. For reference that was 75 seconds faster than the planned TT I did in February 2023, progress.
And, quite important news! I have a new Sponsor - Airboard. I now have one of their Discovery iSUPs for general touring and times when I do not want or need a hardboard. It's an interesting design and comes complete with a map of Sweden on the deckpad to stop me getting lost!
 |
| Airboard Discovery - COLD! |
Cold Water Shock
If you are one of those SUP paddlers who think a PFD is the solution for all your safety needs on a SUP then you probably want to skip to the next blog. I was not wearing a PFD and I am absolutely sure that, in this situation, a PFD would have made no difference. Part of me thinks one could have made it worse.
The Wikipedia definition for cold water shock is sobering, I have copied the start of their entry here
Cold shock response is a series of neurogenic cardio-respiratory responses caused by sudden immersion in cold water.
In cold water immersions, such as falling through thin ice, cold shock response is perhaps the most common cause of death. Also, the abrupt contact with very cold water may cause involuntary inhalation, which, if underwater, can result in fatal drowning.
The reason that this features in my February write-up should be obvious, I had an unexpected fall. Falling in is part of the game and I stubbornly maintain that I dress for immersion whenever I paddle. But on Monday 4 March that was not the case.
Cold Water Paddler
I am confident in cold conditions, I paddle year-round and have the knowledge and skills to do so, safely. I assess every paddle session before I get in the water, I need to know that I will get back before I start. I have made cold-water mistakes, learned from them and become a better paddler as a result.
I have trained as a lifeguard, both in the pool and in the sea and I have completed several SUP safety courses, I have also 'enjoyed' some winter cold swims, in colder water with sea ice. I am well aware of the impact cold water has on my body.
But that knowledge and experience did not prepare me for what actually happened.
In February I had paddled at the lake on my Nebula and set a reasonable time for my TT in my drysuit but I had overheated. That was my first time on my 23" board in 2024 and apart from a few wobbles at the start, the Nebula felt great so when I next paddled I opted to use a LongJohn suit, made with sections of perforated neoprene to help regulate heat. Air temp was higher than in February and I didn't think water temp would be an issue. I'm still wearing 7mm boots with waterproof wool socks keeping my feet warm, maybe that should have been my guide for the rest of my kit choice. My training session went really well and I didn't not think about my clothing choice once.
For my next session, on Monday 4 March, I grabbed the same suit, a long-sleeved rash vest and, luckily a lightweight windproof top because the forecast was a fresh wind.
That suit was a mistake.
Overconfident
The lake obviously had ignored the forecast from Windy. Windy had shown a steady wind at around 20 km/h with gusts past 40, reasonable conditions to paddle in. The reality was a lake covered with white tops as the wind tore through the valley, easily over 50 km/h for most of the time. Not ideal, but conditions I can handle without any problem. My plan was to start the session paddling into the wind and then get an easy ride back.
But it didn't work out that way.
8 minutes and 48 seconds into my workout I hit the water, a combination of wind and waves as I cleared an island, it was like paddling in a washing machine, if you can imagine that. I had been moving at a decent pace sheltered from the wind by a small island and I was moving at 10.7 km/h just before I went in.
It took me over 40 seconds to get back on the board and longer to start moving again, heading to the shelter of the next island. Those 40 seconds passed in very slow motion.
Breaking down the incident
Describing this as an incident might seem dramatic but I think that is the best term for it and make no mistake, this could have been very serious. Sharing this here will, I hope, give paddlers an idea of what cold water shock actually is.
One important bit of information that I do not have is the water temperature when I fell. Garmin says that the air temp was 6.1 degrees and around 2 degrees with wind chill. Mother Nature says the water was cold, so cold that three days later the lake was mostly frozen and completely solid a day later. Spring in Sweden!
 |
| Three days later, wider board, drysuit and ice |
The start
I had completed a short on-land warm up and was paddling through some rough water, not high-volume waves but lots of smaller ones from all directions that were big enough to break over the board. Two hit me at the same time unsettling me and the board and that combined with a stronger gust of wind tipped me off.
As I started to fall I immediately knew what was going to happen next.
Cold
A cold water 'bath' as it is known here in Sweden is NOT preparation for falling from a board during a workout. Using a ladder to access cold water when wearing a swimsuit (or less if you are Swedish!) is a fantastic experience, the important difference is that you do from a dry, warm environment (Dryrobe etc) into cold air then into cold water, stay there for a period of time and then to straight back into warmth. Usually with a warm drink too.
Falling from a board during a workout means going from warm and probably wet (sweat) into very cold with no warm, dry environment after.
The difference in temperatures between the two is, I think, significant.
I know that cold will cause an involuntary intake of breath, I had experienced this with my cold bathing so I shut my mouth as I fell. But that made no difference to the violent gasp for air that happened as my torso went in.
Even knowing it was about to happen did not prepare me this.
As I went in I grabbed the board with one hand, I managed to get a good grip on the side and that stopped me from going too far under the surface. And that meant when I was gasping for breath I was gasping in air, not water.
Instead of fighting the cold, I stayed remarkably calm. In my session write-up for Michael, I told him I embraced the cold and, on reflection I think that is the correct way to describe it. And that is the benefit of cold water exposure in a controlled environment. I waited until I got a little control over my breathing before I tried to get back on the board. That means fighting the instinct to get out.
When I felt I could I pulled myself up and flopped onto the board, retrieved my paddle and, on my knees started to move towards the small island ahead of me. I was still gasping for breath, my body was still experiencing the shock from the cold. I got to my feet nearly 2 minutes after falling, this was to allow the remaining water to drain from my suit and to help me get warm.
Up to this point I had done what my knowledge and training had told me to do, get the situation under control and get to a safer place then assess what to do next.
Miscalculation
Here is where I made a miscalculation, I decided the best way to warm up was to paddle so I continued into the wind and with hindsight, I should have turned back, got to the van and into dry clothes.
I paddled for nearly an hour, up to the end of the lake and then back with the wind. No more falls although it was close at times and I finished with some sprints. But I still felt cold. The drive home was cold even with the heating turned up and the heated seat on max.
That evening I was cold, not shivering but cold inside. Sleep was difficult and the next day I still felt cold to my core. It took me nearly 36 hours before I felt OK after my fall.
Safety Equipment
I'll start with PFDs. I know what a PFD is, what is it designed to do and when to use one. I have used a lot of different designs and I currently own 3, one high-end, one budget and one inflatable. I had the inflatable floatation device on my belt, a Restube Lifeguard. At no point did I feel the need to inflate it.
In my opinion, a PFD would not have helped me, it may have made things worse.
- The majority of solid (that is a non-inflatable) PFDs will not keep the face of the user out of the water and they do not prevent initial immersion. If wearing one I probably would not have grabbed the board as I fell, confidence from PFD use, and I would have experienced exactly the same shock when I hit the water. But without the support of the biggest floating thing in the area. Bear in mind it took me 40 seconds to get my breathing under control when I was hanging onto my board...
- Solid PFDs make getting onto a board harder. Especially a dugout board.
- Solid PFDs hold water. Even the expensive one I have gets wet and stays wet, which would have kept me colder for longer.
I am more than happy to use my PFDs, in the right situation. This was not a situation where I would have been wearing a solid PFD and even with hindsight I would not do things differently.
A much more important bit of safety equipment was my drysuit. And I should have been using one.
If I had been wearing a drysuit then this blog would not have been written, it would be a normal stats based write-up (yawn!). No water would have hit my body, my reaction to the cold would have been far less extreme and I'd have continued with my session. I know this because I test my suits regularly. I rely on my suits to keep me safe and I frequently get in the water with one on. Mostly this is intentional!
Your board is a bit of safety equipment, despite what it might say on it. It floats and on water a big thing that floats is essential. Look after your boards!
Lessons Learned
Water is a tough environment to play in and making a mistake can have a big cost. When I got to the lake I should have realised that the kit I had brought was not suitable for the conditions and I should have gone home, I made a mistake reading the weather and water conditions which nearly cost me dearly.
Winter makes water a very tough environment to play in and I made another mistake in underestimating the cold, but knowledge, training and a bit of luck helped me get out of a situation I got into.
My boards are brilliant, my paddling kit is brilliant but I need to make sure that I select the best combination of both for the conditions, I failed to do that as a result of overconfidence.
That extra data helps you to invest in yourself!
Investing in yourself is the BEST upgrade you can make, with no exceptions. And that is what this series of blog posts are all about, investing in this paddler with the help of World Champion Michael Booth.
You can find out more about Michael's training on his website Booth Training, from his Booth Training Instagram account and on his YouTube channel BoothTV.
You can find me running the Facebook group SUP My Race and now, occasionally, on Instagram.
See you on the water!
You can read the previous training logs here Training Logs and you can get to individual blog posts using the labels in the sidebar.