Stubborn as I am Yesterday I went with Katie, Shirley and Santiago to Lake Ontario to try and swim for a while knowing how cold would be.
We got there, got changed and slowly I went into the water.
Katie surprisingly just dove in to get this shocking reaction of the cold taking your breath away… a few seconds and she was out.
Santiago tried as well while Shirley from shore was looking. Also just a few seconds.
Meanwhile I attached a thermometer to my swimsuit and kept getting into the water slowly. Trying to get adapted. As soon as my chest got into the water I knew this was the coldest water I've ever been in for that amount of time.
It was painful but kept going until I got my face in. Then started swimming. Santiago followed me for a while very worried asking me very often how I was doing. Surprisingly I was fine. Every stroke hurt but I was determined to keep going. After 15 minutes Santiago switch with Katie on the kayak and I kept swimming.
At 18 minutes I stopped feeling my hands and feet but kept swimming. It is a weird feeling to to have control over your limbs in the water because you can't feel them! However I was all the time thinking about how I was doing and aware of everything.
At 20 minutes Katie asked me how I was doing because I started to get choppy… I was dizzy. One minute more she asked me something else and I couldn't answer properly because I couldn't move my tongue as usual… then I knew I wast starting to get hypothermia.
I swam to shore then and the 22 minutes at 8 to 9 degrees Celsius adventure was finish.
Even with the 30 degrees temperature outside I was shivering … not for long but the experience was good enough to know that the decision to postpone the swim trial was right. I am sure I could keep swimming longer but would not be safe at all; and at the end probably someone would have to make the call of pulling me out.
We are just hoping and waiting for the water to get warmer. And this time change all the plans ahead. Many things will have to be adjusted.
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