-
Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:
- Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
- Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
- Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
- Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
- All this and much more...
You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!
whats it like freediving in cold water?
- Thread startersickbugs
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Hi sickbug,
Coldest I've been in freediving without a suit it 5-6 degrees celsius, surface water at around 8-9C. Here's what happens: You wade in. Your feet hurt and your shin bones start to ache. Then goosebumps fly up your legs. At this point it's best to splash your back, neck and chest to let you body know what's coming. This is really hard to do at first. The goosebumps spread all over. Now either you start hyperventilating at this point on your own or you start gasping when you lower yourself into the water. The goosebumps turn into needles. When your head gets wet it can hurt a lot. For me I also get pains across my chest. Others get wrist and foot pain. If you hyperventilated before dunking yourself, you might be able to take some smoother, less anxious breaths with the snorkel in. Otherwise, you gasp like a dying fish for several minutes. The trick is to relax at this point and wait for a time. I usually hold my breath because I find it easier to concentrate. Sometimes the ice-cream headache is too much and I have to lift my head out of the water. By now, your skin is being pricked by daggers to the point of near numbness.
Then, if you've done this before or can relax, the magic happens. Your skin is numb, yet you feel profoundly cold. You don't shiver. Amazingly, you can contemplate a dive. An exhale lets you sink like a seal into the depths. You notice a thermocline. Pain across the chest for a few seconds. It's dark and when you land on the wall and point yourself downward, you realize that you feels the water flowing all around you, you can feel the rocks and anemones with your hands and body. If a jellyfish lashes you, you might not feel its tentacles sting, though. The difference between diving with and without a suit is like having sex with a spacesuit on or naked.
Or something like that.
You're amazed that you are so cold, yet so relaxed.
You get two dives, three max. Then you get out carefully so as not to hurt your feet or hands. You dry off, feeling odd and really, really good. Then after some time, the shivering starts. You have to sit still and not move. Otherwise cold blood moving to you core from the extremities can cause arrythmias and possibly bad news. So you sit still and shudder when the cold blood from a leg or arm decides to go back to the core to get rewarmed. Shivering feels good because it's making you warmer. You might shiver for a full half hour and shiver violently. Your speech may be slurred because there's no blood in your face.
But those dives in the ocean without a suit on, with whitetopped mountains around you, without any effort, make it all worthwhile.
If you want to try this, be careful, do it gradually, don't stay in for longer than 3-5 minutes at the start and have a buddy in a wetsuit nearby. If you have a heart problem, it's probably a dumb thing to do.
pete
Coldest I've been in freediving without a suit it 5-6 degrees celsius, surface water at around 8-9C. Here's what happens: You wade in. Your feet hurt and your shin bones start to ache. Then goosebumps fly up your legs. At this point it's best to splash your back, neck and chest to let you body know what's coming. This is really hard to do at first. The goosebumps spread all over. Now either you start hyperventilating at this point on your own or you start gasping when you lower yourself into the water. The goosebumps turn into needles. When your head gets wet it can hurt a lot. For me I also get pains across my chest. Others get wrist and foot pain. If you hyperventilated before dunking yourself, you might be able to take some smoother, less anxious breaths with the snorkel in. Otherwise, you gasp like a dying fish for several minutes. The trick is to relax at this point and wait for a time. I usually hold my breath because I find it easier to concentrate. Sometimes the ice-cream headache is too much and I have to lift my head out of the water. By now, your skin is being pricked by daggers to the point of near numbness.
Then, if you've done this before or can relax, the magic happens. Your skin is numb, yet you feel profoundly cold. You don't shiver. Amazingly, you can contemplate a dive. An exhale lets you sink like a seal into the depths. You notice a thermocline. Pain across the chest for a few seconds. It's dark and when you land on the wall and point yourself downward, you realize that you feels the water flowing all around you, you can feel the rocks and anemones with your hands and body. If a jellyfish lashes you, you might not feel its tentacles sting, though. The difference between diving with and without a suit is like having sex with a spacesuit on or naked.
Or something like that. You're amazed that you are so cold, yet so relaxed.
You get two dives, three max. Then you get out carefully so as not to hurt your feet or hands. You dry off, feeling odd and really, really good. Then after some time, the shivering starts. You have to sit still and not move. Otherwise cold blood moving to you core from the extremities can cause arrythmias and possibly bad news. So you sit still and shudder when the cold blood from a leg or arm decides to go back to the core to get rewarmed. Shivering feels good because it's making you warmer. You might shiver for a full half hour and shiver violently. Your speech may be slurred because there's no blood in your face.
But those dives in the ocean without a suit on, with whitetopped mountains around you, without any effort, make it all worthwhile.
If you want to try this, be careful, do it gradually, don't stay in for longer than 3-5 minutes at the start and have a buddy in a wetsuit nearby. If you have a heart problem, it's probably a dumb thing to do.
pete
wow interesting responce.. i dont think i'll ever try it, i allways say my body is made for the tropics, but i love diving without anything restricting me, apart from boardshorts and gloves of course..for me its another part of making freediving really free
i'll give u props for having the willpower to go into water that cold tho
iwith a thick suit on, do you feel the cold? if you cant feel the cold, it must feel weird.. being there but not being able to feel, im so used to detecting small temperature changes when im diving.. hmn... someday i must try some coldwater freediving
i'll give u props for having the willpower to go into water that cold tho
iwith a thick suit on, do you feel the cold? if you cant feel the cold, it must feel weird.. being there but not being able to feel, im so used to detecting small temperature changes when im diving.. hmn... someday i must try some coldwater freediving
Wow! You must be brave. :kinglaminar said:
I think I'll give it a miss. Even getting into 25C water has me gasping like a goldfish, so anything colder has a very real risk of cardiac arrest.
Lucia
hey sickbug,
Diving with a thick wetsuit in cold water is okay. Usually, you can last 30-45 minutes before you start to get cold. Usually, the main problem is cold hands and especially feet that start to go numb after too long. This can be a big problem if you continue diving despite the cold. Tendonitis can result.
Lucia, we never get water that hot here (25C)! That would be like a bath for me. rofl What's nice about the no suit thing is that in water that's 13-14C you can make two dives without a wetsuit and get out and possibly not even shiver, maybe just a little. So it means you can jump in the water wherever you want. Gives you lots of freedom.
It is hard to do it without some practice and gradual introduction. I haven't done it recently and the water here in Vancouver is unusually cold for the year, around 6C on the surface. That would be really difficult to start off with. Usually, starting at 10C and working your way down as the fall season progresses into colder temps is the way to go.
Pete
Diving with a thick wetsuit in cold water is okay. Usually, you can last 30-45 minutes before you start to get cold. Usually, the main problem is cold hands and especially feet that start to go numb after too long. This can be a big problem if you continue diving despite the cold. Tendonitis can result.
Lucia, we never get water that hot here (25C)! That would be like a bath for me. rofl What's nice about the no suit thing is that in water that's 13-14C you can make two dives without a wetsuit and get out and possibly not even shiver, maybe just a little. So it means you can jump in the water wherever you want. Gives you lots of freedom.
It is hard to do it without some practice and gradual introduction. I haven't done it recently and the water here in Vancouver is unusually cold for the year, around 6C on the surface. That would be really difficult to start off with. Usually, starting at 10C and working your way down as the fall season progresses into colder temps is the way to go.
Pete
I generally use my 3 mil plush lined suit down to about 50-55f - 10-13c - maybe a little lower. My 5 mil suit is good down to 1c. I find my hands tend to get cold - but then they warm up. I seem to stay pretty comfortable in this configuration for up to two hours - I generally get out and am not shivering or cold - unless the air is cold and it's windy - then sometimes I'll pick up a chill on the way back to the car. I use 6.5mil gloves and cheap 5 mil nylon lined boots. Same thing happens with my feet - they get cold then warm up.
I've also gone fairly cold (not quite THAT cold though - except for 30-40seconds in a thermalcline) with no wetsuit and I agree with laminar. I've called what I experience the 'boundary layer effect' because it feels like a sort of warm boundary just over the skin all over. the quickest way for me to get to that is to get under and holding my breath as quickly as possible - and relax into it. It's sort of the work of a moment where you 'welcome' the sensation of cold instead of clenching against it. I generally try not to stay in much past the point of shivering.
When the surface water here gets warm - say around 22c - I find myself diving down into the thermalcline to cool off! It's often radically colder down there.
I feel great after cold water dives.
I've also gone fairly cold (not quite THAT cold though - except for 30-40seconds in a thermalcline) with no wetsuit and I agree with laminar. I've called what I experience the 'boundary layer effect' because it feels like a sort of warm boundary just over the skin all over. the quickest way for me to get to that is to get under and holding my breath as quickly as possible - and relax into it. It's sort of the work of a moment where you 'welcome' the sensation of cold instead of clenching against it. I generally try not to stay in much past the point of shivering.
When the surface water here gets warm - say around 22c - I find myself diving down into the thermalcline to cool off! It's often radically colder down there.
I feel great after cold water dives.
Last edited:
I used to work on Trout stream rehab in my teens and cleaning them up was part of the draw. Swimming deep holes in spring water will give you some really nice cramps. I also hit a spring once while spearing in a old Gravel pit.If it wasnt for my snorkel I would have drowned. My whole body cramped at once! not a nice feeling. I also lost a classmate in gradeschool because we were always pushing the swimming season a little earlier. swim in cold water with out exposure protection and you to may expirence the joys of cold water.
Assuming that you use a proper wetsuit for the water temperature, the biggest change for you would be the change in buoyancy with depth. Lets say you do what is fairly common with spearfishermen in California and wear weight that make you neutral at around 15 or maybe 20 feet. You are positively buoyant on the surface and have to use muscle strength to get down to neutral depth, and then after that you are negative and sink faster and faster as the wet suit compresses.
At maybe 50 feet you are like a rock and need a lot of fin force to get started up, and of course its worse the deeper you go.
I started my diving with no suit in Florida in the mid 1950s, but the only times I've been diving without a wetsuit in decades was in Mexico about 8 years ago, and it was a real treat. I couldn't believe how little my buoyancy changed with depth and how much easier it was to swim back the surface.
At maybe 50 feet you are like a rock and need a lot of fin force to get started up, and of course its worse the deeper you go.
I started my diving with no suit in Florida in the mid 1950s, but the only times I've been diving without a wetsuit in decades was in Mexico about 8 years ago, and it was a real treat. I couldn't believe how little my buoyancy changed with depth and how much easier it was to swim back the surface.
Exposure proctection is the key. IF you have on a good suit, mitts (not gloves) and socks, with a ice cap and face mask you can spend quite a long time in the water. When we ice dive I wear this and can go from hole to hole, tned lines, drop down and take pictures and then get out to fix a scubies reg without any probelm.
How does it feel? well, I won't say the you don't feel anything, but it's kind of like walking in the snow when you have a warm coat, hat and gloves on. You know it's cold, and can somewhat feel it, yet your cozy and can stay outside to enjoy it.
On the other hand. The closest I've ever come to drowning happened on a ski hill I worked at back in highschool and college. On the last day of the season we would try and jump the rive at teh bottom of the main run. One year the water was extremly high and I went down in the middle of it. As soon as i crashed my body froze up. It was really weird because I would normally consider myself to be a pretty stong swimmer, but I couldn't move a muscle to save mylsef. I drifted down river a bit to a sand bar and walked out, but it was a close one.:crutch
So, I guess if you have the time to acclimate anything is possible, but if you don't it's down right scary.
Jon
How does it feel? well, I won't say the you don't feel anything, but it's kind of like walking in the snow when you have a warm coat, hat and gloves on. You know it's cold, and can somewhat feel it, yet your cozy and can stay outside to enjoy it.
On the other hand. The closest I've ever come to drowning happened on a ski hill I worked at back in highschool and college. On the last day of the season we would try and jump the rive at teh bottom of the main run. One year the water was extremly high and I went down in the middle of it. As soon as i crashed my body froze up. It was really weird because I would normally consider myself to be a pretty stong swimmer, but I couldn't move a muscle to save mylsef. I drifted down river a bit to a sand bar and walked out, but it was a close one.:crutch
So, I guess if you have the time to acclimate anything is possible, but if you don't it's down right scary.
Jon
The ice mask seems to make a pretty big difference in really cold water - it eliminates the facial adjustment - but also saves alot of body heat overall. i never would have guessed how much it helpls.
I also agree on the mitts - my gloves work but I have to pump my hands periodically - esp if I'm holding something
I also agree on the mitts - my gloves work but I have to pump my hands periodically - esp if I'm holding something
COLD!!
Look on www.notanx.com at our New Years Day Dive under articles.
It wasn't that cold really, and I wasn't drunk either:friday
Dan
Look on www.notanx.com at our New Years Day Dive under articles.
It wasn't that cold really, and I wasn't drunk either:friday
Dan
Honestly I must be the biggest puss of a freediver...I hate cold water with a passion...If it's not 82F I'm shaking uncontrolably....
I literally stay awake at night before the "big dives" all worried about the cold water....If I could have the support back home to dive deep back home I'd completely be in my element.
I literally stay awake at night before the "big dives" all worried about the cold water....If I could have the support back home to dive deep back home I'd completely be in my element.
Thread revival
You're missing out on alot of cool water to dive in if you don't do cold water. I use an 8-7-6 xcel and it keeps me toasty. I've dove in 8 degree C water for 4 plus hours and come out feeling hot. I've dove in 3-4 degree C water for 30 minutes without feeling cold. Haven't tried the face mask but I will have to get one now that I am moving back to the world of winter ice.
You're missing out on alot of cool water to dive in if you don't do cold water. I use an 8-7-6 xcel and it keeps me toasty. I've dove in 8 degree C water for 4 plus hours and come out feeling hot. I've dove in 3-4 degree C water for 30 minutes without feeling cold. Haven't tried the face mask but I will have to get one now that I am moving back to the world of winter ice.
I'm the same. I can be in a 80F pool with a 5mm open cell suit, and if I don't move around, I start shivering.ApneaBlue said:
I have found it impossible to get used to cold water. Everything else has got easier, but cold water feels just as bad now as it did when I first started.
The only way I can acclimatise to the cold is to get cold every day. This is only possible if I have an outdoor job. Then I get used to it and it isn't bad at all.
I love cold water diving! I was thinking the other day that I don't really need my 3 mil suit - my 5mil is great year-round - then the water suddenly warmed up. YECH! I had to spend as much time as possible down near the bottom just to stay comfortable. I was good to go for up to two hours all winter - though most of my dives were around 1 hour and, at the end of two I'd often be shaking.
There are alot of factors that influence your capacity to tolerate cold however - I don't think it's all just will or 'toughness'.
There are alot of factors that influence your capacity to tolerate cold however - I don't think it's all just will or 'toughness'.