The cold sucks the breath from you and you become very disorientated, very quickly.
Quite right, at this time of year the cold water is the killer. The river is full of snow melt and colder than the North Sea.
I remember one canoe capsize incident where we got a healthy young lady in a half wet suit to a safe position on a shallow shingle bank while we dealt with someone else. She had had about two/three minutes immersion in the River Dee in March. When we checked on her again a couple of minutes later she still had not got the strength to stand up and walk out of the water unaided.
You have to experience it to understand the effect it can have on you. If the heating is off at Stonehaven swimming pool that might be a safe environment to try a dunk in full wading kit.
Irvine
