Читать книгу Carolina Whitewater. A Paddler's Guide to the Western Carolinas онлайн

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3. Everyone should have a complete change of clothing in a waterproof container that will withstand the pressures of immersion.

4. Each paddler should carry on his or her person a supply of matches in a waterproof container.

5. Remember that the classification of any particular river is automatically upgraded when canoeing in cold weather. This is due to the extreme effects on the body upon immersion in cold water.

COLD-WEATHER SURVIVAL

With more and more paddlers going out in the cold weather to engage in their sport, a basic knowledge of cold-water and cold-weather survival is necessary. When immersed in water, the body loses heat much more rapidly and survival times without suitable clothing in cold water become very short. For instance, wet clothes lose about 90 percent of their insulating value and lose heat 240 times faster than dry clothing.

The following table gives the approximate survival times for humans immersed in water at various temperatures.

The greatest change in survival time occurs as the water temperature drops below 50° F.