Cold water - unprotected face,feet,hands??

I did a swim in the Hudson in May in 58-degree water. It's cold at first, but once you get going, you don't really notice it. I think that if you go with a neoprene cap, gloves and booties, you might end up being uncomfortably warm by the time you get through the whole 1.2.

Are gloves ever legal?  I know booties and the cap are.  But, give it 5 minutes and you will start to feel fine.  It's painful at first if your not use to it but you can swim through it. 

LOW 60's?!!!!! You're lucky. I've done Racine when the temps were low 50's. You may want to strip off a layer.

Seriously, I've used neoprene booties and the skull cap and they work fine. It takes getting used to, but you WILL get used to it and it's not that bad. They usually keep the buoys fairly close to shore, too, which helps with the temp. Plus, you'll have a great story to tell all your friends back in FL.


Also, DEFINITELY get in the water and get acclimatized before your wave goes in or the cold will take your breath away. Trust me on this.


Edited by scoobysdad 2010-07-07 7:51 PM

English Channel swimmers used to coat themselves in lard to help stave off the cold.  Might help taking off the wetsuit at transition also 

I had to do an OWS with temp at 58 and all I had was a sleeveless Wetsuit.  Someone gave me a tip of smearing vaseline on my face and exposed body.  Seemed to help, not sure if it was a placebo effect or not but I will use it again on my next cold water swim.

Low 60 is tolerable once you get used to it.  Do some good warm ups, and get in the water early.  
I believe neoprene caps are legal in races.  That helps protect you from brain freeze.  
I don't use gloves and boots, not even in high 50s water.  As long as my core is warm enough, it's ok to tolerate cold fingers and toes. 

50s / 60s it's the initial shock that gets you.  Once you're settled it's not so bad.  Definitely warm up first, as mentioned above.

I also stretch out prior to starting because you don't want to cramp up in cold water.

So for all the "you'll get used to it" responses, it's worth saying that water temps around 60F are no joke.  59F at IM St George resulted in a pretty significant number of hypothermic folks and some DNFs.  Depending on how long you expect to be in the water, your HIM swim could be no big deal or your could find yourself with issues from shivering or cramping.  (I do a lot of cold water swimming...up to half mile in no wetsuit at 56F...and still had some cramping around 2500-3000 yards in at IMSG.)  I wouldn't opt for neoprene cap or booties, myself, because I'm pretty acclimated to cold water, but I did add a second cap and earplugs at St George (both of which helped).  Be sensible and be guided by how you felt on your practice swim.  The odds of overheating in water that temperature are pretty low.

living in florida i have done only 1 race where the water was at 58 and even though it only had 500 yrd swim it was very difficult for me to warm up, no wetsuit.  with a wetsuit i would be totally fine.  then again i am not from miami originally and have high cold tolerance.

Coming from Hawaii and having done IM CdA in 61 degree water, I was fine with just using a neoprene cap sandwich (latex cap over neoprene cap over latex cap) and ear plugs. Wetsuit was an XTerra full suit. Feet were fine although hands were a little numb. The biggest initial shock was the cold water on my face. After a few minutes of swimming, though, I was fine and more concerned with how slow I was going.

Per the athlete guide gloves are not legal. Neoprene booties legal below 65.

I saw people doing all kinds of crazy thing in CDA this year. Even one super hairy dude putting on TWO wetsuits. I swam in a sleeveless and no neoprene cap and was absolutely fine and was in the water for over 90 minutes.

Thanks for replies. Goin to try to find a neoprene cap. I read rules about no gloves and booties < 65 degrees. I'm going to go to a diver shop here and talk to the guy and get some tips as well, plus race day is still 9 days out so I should be able to get in Lake Michigan a few more times and gradually increase my time in the water to get acclimated. The bonus is the water was beautiful, didn't have to worry about sharks, snakes or gators like back in Florida. Plus the water was clear and if you get some in your goggles or mouth you can "go with it", unlike salt. Good stuff

Again thanks.
tom

Swimoutlet has some reasonably priced neoprene caps. 

Consult your local polar bears. 

Another vote for earplugs really helping. Neoprene or double-cap (advantage of double-cap for me is that ... you can strap your goggles on between them, and if you get hot, you can pull a cap off. Race might count that as ditching equipment, though: read the rules).

Do NOT use Vaseline or any petroleum-based product near a wetsuit. It eats 'em.

Macks earplugs work very well. A open water cap is a must.

See http://openwatercaps.blogspot.com

I'll be swimming Alcatraz (expected temp is 58) next weekend and here in Michigan it's been hard to find ANY water close by where I felt I could wear my wetsuit and not totally overheat for months.  My plan, aside from the full suit, is to get in the bay a few days before and test it with a double cap.  I think once my face goes numb, I should be ok.  If not, I'll stop at Sports Basement and get a neoprene cap.

Ear plugs....another good idea.