U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Sierra Division 11

Author: Jack Leth Flotilla Staff Officer-Operations
Flotilla 11-01 North Lake Tahoe

For 29 years North Lake Tahoe has celebrated SnowFest with 10 days of winter carnival events from parades to Ice Cream Eating Contests. One of the events is a Polar Bear Swim hosted by one of our local waterfront restaurants, Gar Woods. Because swimming in 40° water can be quite hazardous to your health and safety the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office and the Incline Fire Department all had boats or jet skis at the event to help provide for the safety of the participants.

In the Coast Guard Auxiliary Sierra Division we are constantly trying to learn all we can about cold water immersion. Most people think of cold water immersion only in the context of hypothermia, but there is much more to it than that. Actually, there are four stages, and hypothermia is one of them, but it comes after the initial involuntary gasp and difficulty regulating breathing, followed by the loss of ability to move your extremities (think swim). (If you'd like to really learn more, take 10 minutes to watch this video on YouTube.

While we have watched videos and listened to Medical Doctors talk at length on this subject, the Polar Bear Swim is where you get to see it in real life, and it's a great learning experience, particularly when it has a happy ending.
Here we are, waiting off shore from Gar Woods. Our bow lookout is in place and has by her side a throwable floatation cushion with a line attached and a boat hook, ready to spot and help swimmers in trouble.

Since we were working with other agencies we met up with the PWC from Incline Fire (actually North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District) and discussed how to coordinate communications, handle emergencies, where to MedEvac serious cases, etc.

They're off! 44 swimmers (16 women and 28 men) started from the beach in two separate heats. Almost immediately some had second thoughts and went back. The swimmers had to swim about 150 yards from the beach to a rounding mark (green buoy on the right side of the photo) and then back.

As the race wore on some of the swimmers had had enough and got on the sled behind Incline Fire's PWC to be taken to the end of the pier.

Others however were bound and determined to press on. From our vantage point out near the buoys it was obvious some of the swimmers were experienced in these cold water swims and they made short work of the course. Unfortunately not all of them were in this category. Some started slowing down as the ability to swim ebbed from their bodies. At the same time they started getting disoriented. These are the ones we started watching closely. Our bow lookout had us move over near this swimmer because he was no longer swimming and appeared disoriented (had gone past the turning buoy).

He was quite disoriented and unable to answer simple questions. We moved him toward the swim platform at the back of our boat to bring him on board, but the PWC with sled came over and the decision was made to let Incline Fire take him back in to the pier.

Once the organizers advised us all the swimmers were safe and accounted for we stood down and did (as we almost always do) a debrief on the mission.

Lessons Learned- We now have firsthand knowledge of what a real person looks like as they go through the stages of cold water immersion (not just from a lecture or watching a DVD). All of us felt that this knowledge would be very helpful to us on future patrols...not just next year's Polar Bear Swim but anytime we are out patrolling on our cold, beautiful Alpine Lake. If you'd like to join the Auxiliary and participate in these kinds of patrols, just get in touch. We're always looking for more volunteers.

Photos by Auxiliarist Dee Walter
Flotilla 11-03 Reno,NV