Overcoming the Cold Water Face hit

[Fondueset]

I have a problem when the water is extremely cold (mid-upper 30s F). The initial face hit makes me nauseaous. My face adjusts in a few minutes - but the nausea stays and ruins the dive.

It's been a cold and steady winter here - so water temps are low. The inland lakes are mostly frozen over and there has been ice on the bay but unusually strong winds have kept it from staying.

Today I tried an experiment. I chewed raw ginger on the way to the dive site. I also ate half a bananna with sesame tahini figuring it's better to have a little something in my stomach - and the calcium in the tahini might help.

I kept a piece of raw ginger in my mouth - under my toungue - for the first 15 minutes or so of the dive.

I also used my Cressi Matrix - which covers more of my face than the Omer Alien.

When I noticed nausea starting to creep in I stopped swimming - this helps alot since the cold water hit is amplified by motion. I swam over in the rocks and stood for a bit - chewing my ginger and giving my face a break. This combination worked - in a few minutes my face was comfortable and I had a great dive - though there were zero fishies to look at. I didn't really spend much time on the bottom until I felt I didn't need the ginger any more - it's difficult to keep it in and spit out the snork. Visibility was in the 80 foot zone despite heavy overcast and freezing rain.

The 5mm Elios Black Shadow suit was phenomenally warm and comfortable.

 

[DeepThought]

If it's just the initial hit then maybe you can wash your face a few times with cold water before getting in, exposing them gradualy.
If it comes from a prolonged exposure, maybe try getting one of those ice caps (do a search and look for a picture of a gimp diving).
Maybe with time the sensation will start apearing later and later till it won't come back...

I have 0 expirience with cold water, so just speculating outloud.

 

[Alun]

that's even colder than what i have to deal with! (c40F) i think the solution is very simple... before you get in just cup some water in your (gloved) hands and splash it on your face. do this a few times until your face cools down, then you can fully immerse yourself without the shock.

 

[Fondueset]

Nah, this is working
splashing with cold water wouldn't do it - it's deeper than that.. you'd have to actually hold your face in a sink filled with icewater for like 10 minutes.

My technique is working great though, and I'm sure it'll get easier the more I do it.

The main thing keeping me out of the water has been the combination of wind and low temps - which spell frostbite where I dive.

 

[Jon]

I use a Henderson ICE CAP under my normal wetsuit hood. It's almost as good as a fullface mask- and you can actually use it for freediving!

They cost about $30.

Jon

 

[Fondueset]

looks like your mask goes over it - volume hit eh? How thick is it? seems like just a very thin mask would do the trick.

If today is any indication I should be good to go as long as I bring a little ginger along and give it a few minutes.

I'll see how it goes though - maybe pick one of those up - thanks!

 

[Jon]

It's opencell inside and smoothskin outside with a hole for your mouth and another for your eyes. It seals to your face and you face seals to the outside of it- no water leakage and it provides a great seal.

The whole thing is only 2-3mm thick and I can get it under my other hood without a problem. They really work, and for $30 you can't go wrong. Most dive shops should be able to order one for you.

jon

 

[Fondueset]

Sold

fyi - the scuba crowd here is convinced that I am insane 'Wet suit...you Freedive in december in a freakin Wet suit!!' Two counts of insanity - freediving and no dry suit.

 

[naiad]

I have noticed something different but which may be related. When I put my face in water which is anything less than warm (below 28C) I get an immediate strong urge to breathe. If it is even a bit colder (below 25C) it is accompanied by strong contractions, so I really have to stop myself trying to breathe in. It only happens the first time I put my face in the water, then it goes away. It is different from the urge to breathe which happens when I hold my breath, because that is a more general feeling, even when it is very bad, while the cold water feeling is a specific urge to breathe in.

It feels awful and makes it really difficult to even go swimming. I find it much harder to deal with than the normal 'struggle phase' of apnea.

I admire anyone who does open water diving in cold countries!

Lucia

 

[Fondueset]

25c <insane laughter> that generally does not occur here. Even when the surface temp is around 70f (rare!) there are pretty much allways thermalclines that are significantly colder - even mid-summer - I mean cold enough to make your ears burn if you don't have a hood.

You get used to it though - I dive alot without a wetsuit - my daughter even more so. (I have very little body fat) You develop the ability to relax almost instantly in contact with cold water - this seems to create what I call 'the boundary layer effect' - it's like an area of comfort just over the skin and it keeps you comfortable and relaxed even in pretty cold water. It comes at a price - after I get out I usually shake for about 15 minutes - and get some numbness in my hands and feet - but the dive is generally pretty comfortable. When I dive like this I don't stay in to the point of feeling deep chills - otherwise recovery takes quite awhile. I never experience this kind of recovery when wearing a wetsuit - even my 3mil suit in temps in the 50s.

Anyway - I think the trick is to bodily 'welcome' the sensation of cold - and to relax into it. Eric F. has done alot of work with this - much more than I.

I'm pretty excited to do more winter diving!

 

[naiad]

Anyway - I think the trick is to bodily 'welcome' the sensation of cold - and to relax into it. Eric F. has done alot of work with this - much more than I.

That sounds like it would work. I have managed to do something similar with the urge to breathe during static and dynamic training. At first I couldn't get past the bad feeling, but now I can accept it and even welcome it... well, almost.

This is only if I have been training regularly - if I don't do much training, it is so much harder. The same applies to the cold. That is why I still go swimming, even if I don't like it, because it is much worse if I'm not used to it.

Lucia

 

[laminar]

Hi Lucia,

One possible explanation for feeling an urge to breathe or even contractions in colder water than you are used to (25C is pretty crazy, though! I don't think I've ever gone freediving in water that warm :duh ) is that your blood does not hold C02 in solution as well when it's cold as when warm. So the sudden feeling of an urge to breathe is caused by the drop in temperature and the release of extra C02 (probably carbonic acid). This I guess is the reason for a lot of drownings in cold water. The shock of cold water causes the person to gasp (burning lungs) and then they panic and swallow water or whatever.

If I'm doing a no suit dive in anything colder than 14C, I'll hyperventilate for 30 seconds, really hard, before getting wet. Then I just usually breathe passively for 1-2 minutes until I'm relaxed. It makes a big difference, since the hyperventilation blows off some of the C02 that comes out of the solution, bringing me back to my usual equilibrium.

Hope that works for you.

Pete

 

[Fondueset]

Thanks for that Laminar

 

[naiad]

Thanks Pete. That explains it well.

I'll try hyperventilating next time and see if it makes a difference.

It also explains why I am so bad at dynamics. For static I use a 5mm opencell suit, so I don't usually get cold, but for dynamic I use a 3mm suit which is baggy and doesn't keep me warm. My dynamic performance is very bad, one of the worst among the freedivers I train with, despite my good static times. The problem is that I get tired quickly and a strong urge to breathe starts after about 20m. This means that the longest I can do is about 40m. As the session progresses I get colder and my distances get shorter.

It's good to know what the problem might be, so that I can work on it.

Lucia

 

[Absolute]

All I have to say is hat's off to all of you cold water divers!

I'm getting cold just reading this thread!

 

[Fondueset]

Yesterday was awesome - but I gotta figure out where all the fish went!

 

[laminar]

Hope it works for your dynamic, Lucia... that would be cool. Have you tried staying on the pool deck until the last minute or so? Try just dropping into the water with 30 seconds before you "go," do a few quick breaths, then go.

Pete

 

[naiad]

Today I went on a scientific swimming trip - I went to the pool to test whether something works. I also forgot my goggles. :waterwork

I tried hyperventilating before getting in the cold pool and then going completely underwater. It worked - no contractions. However, my happiness was short-lived because about 30 seconds later I started swimming and the contractions kicked in with tremendous force.

Pete, your theory was correct!

I am glad to know what the problem is, but I still react very badly to cold water. The cold itself isn't as bad as it was because I have got used to it, so I don't shiver as much as before, but the contractions remain excruciatingly strong. They only last for the first few minutes, but that's enough for me!

Lucia

 

[Alun]

here's another interesting experiment for you...
next time get into the pool as normal without a wetsuit and perhaps you'll find that you shiver almost straight away(?). i do anyway! then just exhale passively and let yourself sink to the bottom (doesn't need to be deep). you should find that your shivering miraculously stops instantly! this is something i discovered during Seb Murat's clinic in Sweden. in all my years of freediving i had never experienced that before and it came as a real surprise!

 

[Fondueset]

I might be wrong - but I think this is essentially the same technique i use. Shivering is pretty much voluntary now. I think the exhale forces you to relax into the sense of cold. I haven't gone below the upper 50s F without a wetsuit - but at those temps I can maintain the sense of comfort for 20 minutes or so - it requires a certain quality of attention - and you have to sort of remember to relax past the instinctive contraction away from the cold.