There are still warm sunny days for some great boating, but the nights are cooler, and the water temperature is dropping. At this writing it is 60 and falling in the upper bay. This is the time to make yourself familiar with increased danger resulting from falling overboard. Recovering a person back on the boat is only step one. There is still the danger of hypothermia. This is a condition where the body has cooled below 95 degrees. It stops normal functioning of the organs and eventually the brain and heart shut down. How do you minimize the effects?

If your small boat is upside down, grab on and try to get as much of your body as possible out of water. There is much less heat loss in air than in water.

Teach your family the H.E.L.P. (Heat Escape Lessening Position.) If you fall overboard, (with your PFD on, of course,) don’t lose heat by thrashing around. Wrap your arms around yourself and draw up your knees. Save your body’s energy for producing heat. If there are several people in the water, assume the HUDDLE position where everyone forms a compact “group hug” position. Everyone’s heat will warm the water directly adjacent to your group and lessen heat loss. The PFD will give you some protection from heat loss also.

There are different degrees of severity for Hypothermia. A mild case exhibits shivering and sometimes dizziness. A more severe case has confusion, slurred speech, and the victim may stop shivering.

Re-warming a person the wrong way can kill them. If they are severely chilled, their extremities will be colder than their core. If you start rubbing their arms and legs you may drive colder blood up to the brain and heart and reduce their core temperature even lower, possibly to a fatal degree. Warm their head, neck, chest and abdomen first and keep them still. Throwing a blanket over a severely chilled person won’t help other than to keep the wind off them. They don’t have the body heat to warm the blanket. You need to remove their wet clothing, get them into dry clothes if you can, and use something warm on their body core. Heat up a damp towel in the microwave or fill an empty bottle with warm water. Use common sense and avoid burning them. If you have nothing to serve as a hot water bottle, you can even remove your jacket and use your own body heat to re-warm them.

If they are conscious and able to drink, give them warm liquids. Do not give hypothermia victims any alcohol or beverages containing caffeine such as coffee and tea. These tend to open blood vessels and allow cold blood from arms and legs to circulate to the core.

Young children and the elderly are most susceptible to hypothermia, and may exhibit symptoms even without falling overboard if they are sitting in the wind without proper clothing. 

Boating in late October with clear crisp days and spectacular foliage can be a rewarding end to the season, but be aware of the special cautions of hypothermia.

Trivia question of the week: If you are heading to port after dark and see ahead of you a vessel displaying two white lights one higher than the other, and a green light lower, what is it? For the answer, and more boating information, go to:  www.northstarflotilla.

com.

Safe Boating.