Cold water survival

I remember Simon 'The Magician' and his girl being chased by the Russian mafia in the movie, 'The Saint.' They were at a waterway and were going to be found so they went down to the part where the river was frozen. The mafia leader's son took a peek at the river, and saw nobody. Good thing the girl was able to hide inside a hollow a ice pillar. Simon, however, needed a more drastic move. He was able to go unnoticed by submerging himself in the icy water. When he came up, he was shivering, and pale with a blush hue. The tell-tale signs of hypothermia.

To survive in cold water, we must know what hypothermia is, how to prevent it and how to deal with it.

Hypothermia is extreme exposure to cold. Shivering and muscle cramping is observed in mild hypothermia (32-35°C) cases. So even if you throw a line to a hypothermia victim in cold water, it will not help because they can't move their arms to grab on the line. In severe hypothermia (less than 32°C), the victim stops shivering, blood pressure goes down rapidly, and some become unconscious. For those that do remain conscious, there are instances where they have lose all rationality as they remove their clothing and dive into the winter water's icy depths

In winter months, the most common cause of hypothermia are small boats being capsized. So if you're planning on boating during the winter, might as well practice overturning a capsized boat during the summer. Of course, you've got to have a boat in tip-top shape, and you should always wear those personal flotation devices. Also make sure that you have several layers of upper clothing. For your pants, never wear blue jeans while boating in the winter. Most hypothermia victims have been found wearing those. Lastly, you should always tell someone you're going boating and at what time they should expect you to be back. This reminder should be noted by the teenagers, because most of them just getup and leave without even a post-it on the fridge informing their parents where they are.

You've got a friend you snatched off the river. The first thing you should do is to try to remove the clothes, if at all possible. Maybe you can also prop them up on a metal outdoor chair. Next thing is to do is cover the chest region, with your own dry clothes if possible. If not, then, you can just embrace your friend until the paramedics arrive. This is to bring back the core body temperature. The temperature of the heart and lungs. Then wait for help to come.

DO NOT massage the arms and legs. The blood vessels in this region are very constricted. Re-warming the extremities too fast will suck the blood from the chest and heart. This will result in a heart attack.

Best thing to do would be to avoid going near frozen rivers and lakes when you don't see anyone present.